McNabb unable to bring Eagles all the way back

Jan 19, 2009 - 4:16 AM By Tom Torrisi PA SportsTicker Pro Football Editor

Donovan McNabb's performance in Sunday's NFC title game typified his roller-coaster season.

Despite a strong second-half performance by McNabb, the Philadelphia Eagles dug too deep a hole to climb out of in a 32-25 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

The game was a microcosm of the season for McNabb and the Eagles, who rallied from an 18-point deficit only to see Arizona respond with a winning touchdown drive to deny Philadelphia its second Super Bowl appearance in five seasons.

It was an all-too-familiar ending for McNabb, who has guided the Eagles to five appearances in the championship game in 10 seasons - tying the New England Patriots for the most by any team in that span.

"It's always tough when you get this close," McNabb said. "You know, obviously you're one game away. Really it was a couple of minutes away from being in the Super Bowl and being able to continue on our goals.

"To look up at the scoreboard and see that we lost that game, and the confetti comes down, it's tough. It's really tough."

McNabb threw for a postseason career-high 375 yards on 27-of-48 passing, connecting on all three of his touchdown passes in an 8 1/2-minute span as the Eagles scored 19 unanswered points to take a 25-24 lead with 10:45 to play.

Yet Philadelphia surrendered a late score to the Cardinals to fall to 1-4 in its title-game appearances and thwarting its attempt to follow the path of its bitter NFC East rival, the New York Giants, who won three road games en route to winning last season's Super Bowl.

"The second half really told the tale," McNabb said. "We got things going. We felt like any play that we called was going to be a great play for us, but they were able to prevail."

Of course, at one point this season neither McNabb or the Eagles figured to make it to the postseason - let alone the Super Bowl.

After hitting the halfway point of the season with a 5-3 record, Philadelphia went into a deep funk, dropping a 36-31 decision to the Giants, tying the lowly Cincinnati Bengals and absorbing a 36-7 beating at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens.

The loss to the Ravens was the low point of the season for Philly and McNabb, who was benched at halftime by coach Andy Reid.

That led to questions about McNabb's future with the franchise - questions that were renewed Sunday when he was asked if he expected to be back with a new contract next season.

"I don't know," McNabb said. "We'll see what happens. Let's just understand what happened here in the game and get over that aspect. We'll handle (that) at a later date."

In much the same manner as he bounced back from the benching, throwing four touchdowns four days later in a 48-20 rout of these same Cardinals, McNabb refused to wilt Sunday following a dominant first-half performance by Arizona, which bolted to a 24-6 halftime lead behind a raucous home crowd.

The 10-year veteran showed his mettle by recovering from his own fumble on the opening possession of the second half to guide the Eagles 90 yards on 13 plays, including a clutch 50-yard pass to Kevin Curtis on 3rd-and-18.

McNabb capped the match with a 6-yard scoring pass to Brent Celek and then found the tight end again, this time from 31 yards, to pull Philadelphia within 24-19 entering the fourth quarter.

"He's our leader. He's got to stay calm throughout the whole game," Celek said. "He played great. I don't know how else to say it. He had a good game. I feel more bad for him than I do for myself."

The Eagles finally nosed in front when McNabb connected on a 62-yard strike to rookie DeSean Jackson for a 25-24 lead with 10:45 to play.

"We got into a comfort zone," McNabb said. "We started running different plays and got opportunities. We felt like every opportunity we would step on the field we were going to score."

But on this day, McNabb was outdone by another veteran quarterback, as Kurt Warner brought the Cardinals 72 yards in 14 plays for the winning touchdown, an 8-yard pass to Tim Hightower.

Warner's fourth scoring pass came with 2:53 left, giving McNabb ample time for a potential tying touchdown.

A 19-yard pass to Brian Westbrook got the Eagles past midfield before McNabb threw four consecutive incompletions to end their postseason run.

"You never want anything to end, especially the way things went for us, just the streak and being able to play as well as we did in the two playoff games," McNabb said. "You never want it to end. I think guys really challenged themselves to do better, bring their 'A' game, and make sure that they were there for their teammates.

"To end this way, it's tough when you're that close to making it to the Super Bowl."