The tale of two teams. The Eagles and the Cardinals are two of the most unlikely teams to play in the 2008 NFC Championship. Most Philadelphia fans wanted to fire Andy Reid, and run Donovan McNabb out of town after a meltdown in Baltimore in Week 12 that resulted in the benching of McNabb. The previous week the Eagles had just tied the lowly Bengals, a team that the Eagles should have beat. However, starting on Thanksgiving, the Eagles went 4-1 in their final five games, and landed the 6th seed in the Playoffs. Across the country, the Cardinals had just clinched the NFC West a week before playing the Eagles on Thanksgiving. After clinching the NFC West the Cardinals stumbled into the Playoffs going 2-3 in their final five games, with their wins against the Rams and the Seahawks. However, over the last few years all that matters is that a team just makes the “Tournament” because 2 of the last 3 winners of the Super Bowl were Wild Cards.  

The Cardinals are probably the biggest surprise to have made a Championship Game. Coming into this season they only won 1 playoff game in the last 10 years, and have been the laughing stock of the NFL for decades. Furthermore, it appeared that the Cardinals stopped playing after clinching the NFC West. Some experts questions how can a team just “flip the switch back on” after taking more than a month off. Nevertheless, the Cardinals changed their offensive philosophy once the Playoffs started; they started to run the ball. As a result, defenses had to respect the run, and this gave the Cardinals passing game an advantage by allowing their receivers to have a few split seconds to get open on passing plays. Also, do not forget the Cardinals have Kurt Warner, who has had success in big games. He is 2-0 in NFC Titles Games, and 1-1 in Super Bowls  

The Eagles have now made the NFC Championship Game 5 of the last 10 years. Believe it or not, only 6 players will have played in all five games (QB McNabb, OT’s Thomas and Runyan, RB Buckhalter, FS Dawkins, and K Akers). One of the biggest reasons the Eagles made the Playoffs was a change in offensive philosophy from Andy Reid. He realized that the offense had to continue to stick to running the ball throughout the entire game for two reasons. First, it kept defenses honest, and they had to respect Westbrook. As a result, the Eagles started using more play action passes that added another element to their passing game. Also, by continuing to run the ball it kept the offensive lineman in that mindset (pass blocking and run blocking are both different techniques and mindsets), and allowed the Eagles to convert more short yardage downs late in the game. 

I believe the Eagles will win this game 23-17. First, the game on Thanksgiving is meaningless for multiple reasons.

1. The Cardinals had to fly to the East Coast on a short week
2. The Cardinals are a different offense by now running the ball
3. Andy Reid has told the local media that he is not even using the game tape

There are a few keys to the game. First, the Eagles defense against the Cardinals offense. First, the Eagles defense will need to stop the Cardinals new found running game, and make their offense one dimensional, forcing Warner to make plays. The Eagles use a blitz scheme that is designed to attack and confuse the offensive line. In other words, it is up to the offensive line to read to the blitz rather than the QB. Why is this important? A lot of other teams who blitz use their linebackers or defensive backs to come from the outside of the tackle, and try to avoid attacking the offensive line. Kurt Warner is one of the best QB’s in the game to not let blitzes affect him. In fact, he has made big plays by picking up the blitz, and throwing to the open receiver. In this game, Warner will have to rely on his offensive line to pick up the blitz (The Eagles had the 3rd most sacks in the NFL), and keep pressure off of him.  

A match up within the Eagles defense and the Cardinals offense is the Eagles secondary against the Cardinals wide receivers. The Eagles have one of the best, if not the best secondary in the NFL, and have 3 Pro Bowl cornerbacks along with a Hall of Fame free safety. Asante Samuel has made 2 key interceptions that led to TD's in the previous two Playoff games. On the other side, the Cardinals have the best wide receiver core in the NFL. Boldin, Fitzgerald, and Breaston each had at least 1,000 yards receiving. The objective for the Eagles secondary is to not give up the “Big Play”, and contain the Cardinals wide receivers.  

The other match up is the Eagles offense against the Cardinals defense. The Eagles will need to continue their commitment to the running game even if they only gain 1 or 2 yards a play because eventually the offense will have a big play either through a screen pass (see Minnesota Game) or a play action pass (see New York Game). Westbrook is pretty banged up, and look for Buckhalter to play a big part in the running game. Also, look for Westbrook to be more of decoy during the game, which will allow other players to make plays. McNabb should take advantage of the 22nd ranked pass defense, and spread the ball around to Jackson, Avant, Curtis, Baskett, and Celek. However, the most important job for McNabb is to either not force a play that would result in a turnover, or in other words implode like Jake Delhomme did a week ago. This is important because the Eagles defense is good enough to keep them in the game until the offense can make a play. Finally, the when the Eagles reach the Red Zone they have to score touchdowns, and not settle for field goals. The Eagles got away with field goals in the first two playoff games, but they are now playing against a team whose offense can put up points.

In conclusion, I expect the Eagles to win a low scoring game 23-17. The Eagles defense will not blitz as much as they normally do because of having to respect the Cardinals wide receivers. However, when they do blitz it will be too much for the Cardinals offensive line, and will lead to a few interceptions from Warner. The Eagles offense will run the ball throughout the game, while attacking the Cardinals weak pass defense. McNabb will make one or two big plays on offense that will be the difference in the game, while not turning over the ball.