NFL Capsules: Eagles beat Giants, reach NFC title game, 23-11

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Donovan McNabb and his Philadelphia Eagles get another week to keep chasing that elusive Super Bowl crown. Eli Manning and the New York Giants get a whole offseason to wonder what went wrong.

McNabb made all the big plays that Manning did not, and the Eagles eliminated the Super Bowl champions 23-11 Sunday to reach the NFC title game for the fifth time in eight seasons.

Throw in Philadelphia's hard-hitting, ball-hawking defense, and these NFL playoffs are now for the Birds - the underdog Eagles, Cardinals and Ravens all won on the road this weekend.

McNabb lunged for one touchdown, threw for another and converted several key third downs to move the sixth-seeded Eagles (11-6-1) into next Sunday's title game at Arizona (11-7). Philadelphia beat the Cardinals 48-20 on Thanksgiving night.

"It feels like it was years ago," McNabb said.

Gusting, swirling winds played havoc with any ball in the air, and also helped produce an odd-looking score: This was the first game in NFL history to finish 23-11, the Elias Sports Bureau said.

One year after road success fueled the Giants' route, the Eagles are taking the same path. They opened the postseason by winning at Minnesota and, after their sixth victory in seven tries, look nothing like a team that needed several breaks on the final day simply to make the playoffs.

David Akers added three field goals - extending his NFL record to 18 straight in the postseason - to fend off the top-seeded Giants (12-5).

Manning never resembled the quarterback who won last year's Super Bowl with that one perfect spiral to Plaxico Burress. MVP of that huge upset over New England, Manning was in trouble from the start. His first pass wobbled out of his hand, got caught in the wind and missed a wide-open receiver.

Manning ended up 15-for-29 with two interceptions, often overthrowing his targets. The Giants did not score a touchdown and lost for the fourth time in five games.

"It all comes down to what you do in the playoffs. That makes your season a good one or a disappointment," Manning said. "This is a disappointment.

"We felt this was a special team that could go far. The defense played outstanding today and gave us opportunities. Offensively, we didn't do our job. We didn't score enough points."

By the final two minutes, more than half the crowd had left; Big Blue hasn't won a playoff game at Giants Stadium since 2000. Philly fans, meanwhile, headed down the New Jersey Turnpike after another big win for their city - the Phillies won the World Series in October.

"In the locker room, there was so much energy in there. We were ready to play early in the week," McNabb said. "The city of Philadelphia is buzzing; this team is buzzing."

Three road teams won on the same weekend in the NFL playoffs for the first time since 1971. Also for the first time, none of the top three seeds in NFC made it to the conference championship.

With Arizona and Philadelphia advancing, it guaranteed the NFC will send a team with no more than nine wins in a full, regular season to the Super Bowl since the Los Angeles Rams in 1979. Those Rams lost to the Steelers.

Playing in freezing temperatures with a swirling wind, it was the kind of game many people expected from teams meeting for the eighth time in three seasons. Several skirmishes broke out early and the bruising hits lasted all afternoon.

McNabb, however, kept Philadelphia moving. Benched by coach Andy Reid in late November for half a game, he never has acknowledged that the slight hurt him. He has, however, seemed to play with a huge chip on his shoulder, to the Eagles' benefit.

McNabb converted a third-and-20 set up Akers' 34-yard kick for a 13-11 lead in the third quarter. On the first play of the fourth quarter, he made a perfect play-action fake for a 1-yard TD toss to Brent Celek.

It was the Eagles' second win at the Meadowlands this season. They were the only team to win on Giants' turf.

Overall, McNabb's stats were not overwhelming: 22-for-40 for 217 yards and two touchdowns. He also got called for intentional grounding in the end zone for a safety.

Yet on a day where the conditions weren't ideal, McNabb kept his composure.

Once Ahmad Bradshaw returned the opening kickoff 65 yards, little went right for the Giants. John Carney missed two of five field-goal tries, New York missed open-field tackles and the team did not demonstrate last season's resolve.

Then again, coach Tom Coughlin's team has changed: Michael Strahan retired, Osi Umenyiora and Super Bowl hero David Tyree were injured, and Burress was suspended after accidentally shooting himself in the thigh. New York went 1-4 since that banishment.

Moments after Manning missed his first throw, he made a much more costly pass.

Flushed from the pocket deep in his territory, Manning slung a pass that badly sailed - right into the hands of cornerback Asante Samuel. It was Samuel's seventh career postseason pick, and he brought it back to the 2.

McNabb made it count, stretching the ball over the goal line on a sneak for a 7-3 lead.

Unable to sack McNabb in two games this season, the Giants did even better early in the second quarter. The elusive QB dropped into his end zone and, facing pressure from the front and Justin Tuck's rush from the back, McNabb simply got rid of the ball into open space.

A penalty flag flew a split-second later and McNabb was called for intentional grounding, resulting in a safety that cut Philly's lead to 7-5. Tuck celebrated by walking toward the seats and flexing for the fans.

Down 8-7 in the final two minutes of the first half, McNabb drove the Eagles into the wind for the go-ahead score. Rather than run out the clock, he threw a series of quick passes and made a nifty scramble that led to Akers' 25-yard field goal on the final play for a 10-8 lead.

Carney made a 36-yard field goal for an 11-10 edge, but the Giants didn't score again.

Steelers beat Chargers 35-24, meet Ravens again

PITTSBURGH - There is a home-field advantage in the NFL playoffs after all, and it belongs to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Now they've got to prove it means something against the team they despise like no other, and in the game they lose at home like no one else.

The Steelers, owners of the NFL's best home-field record since the 1970 NFL merger, shook off a 7-0 deficit barely two minutes into the game, controlled pint-sized playmaker Darren Sproles and returned some normalcy to the postseason by beating the San Diego Chargers 35-24 in an AFC divisional game Sunday.

With a now-healthy Willie Parker running for 146 yards and two touchdowns, Ben Roethlisberger ignoring his late-season concussion to throw for a score and lead an efficient offense, the Steelers did what the favored Titans, Panthers and Giants couldn't do by winning at home. It was the first time since 1971 that three road teams won during a single playoff weekend, and the Steelers made certain that road teams didn't go 4-for-4.

"We talked about that, all the home teams - the No. 1 and 2 seeds - weren't playing as well," said Santonio Holmes, who got Pittsburgh going with a 67-yard punt return touchdown in the first quarter. "But we knew the road to the Super Bowl can run through Pittsburgh when we saw Baltimore won (at Tennessee). It was time to turn it on."

This will be the Steelers' seventh AFC title game, and sixth in Pittsburgh, in 15 seasons. They were 2-4 in the previous six, with an unprecedented four losses in five tries at home during the 1994-2004 seasons.

The Steelers had the worst offense of any playoff team coming in, only to put up 35 points to support the NFL's top-ranked defense. Now, it's time for Ravens vs. Steelers Part III next Sunday - the third and most intriguing matchup this season between the can't-stand-each other AFC North rivals.

"What else would you expect, us and the Ravens," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "It would be big if it was a scrimmage. This is for the AFC championship."

Pittsburgh won the earlier two games, 23-20 in overtime in Pittsburgh - when the Ravens supposedly put bounties on several Steelers players - and 13-9 during the Dec. 14 rematch in Baltimore that secured the divisional title.

"We have a tough, tough, tough team coming in here," Brett Keisel said.

The Ravens-Steelers games were two of the NFL's most physical this season, with injuries all around, and playing to go to the Super Bowl will only ratchet up the intensity, physicality and, no doubt, the dislike.

There was much to like for the Steelers in this one as they made certain that the Chargers' stars from their 23-17 wild-card upset of the Colts didn't repeat their performances and allow San Diego to become the first team to go .500 during the season and then win twice in the postseason.

The Steelers spotted San Diego a 7-0 lead on Vincent Jackson's acrobatic 41-yard catch of Philip Rivers' pass four plays into the game, but, like San Diego's 7-0 lead in its bizarre 11-10 loss in Pittsburgh on Nov. 16, the Chargers couldn't make it stand up as 1,100-yard rusher LaDainian Tomlinson sat out with a groin injury.

Sproles, coming off his all-around 328-yard game against the Colts, wasn't much of a factor despite a 63-yard kickoff return and a 62-yard TD catch in the game's final two minutes after Pittsburgh had opened a 35-17 lead.

Sproles was held to 15 yards on 11 carries after rushing for 105 the week before and. He had 91 yards on five catches and 164 yards on five kickoff returns.

"I don't think he ever broke one (run). We contained him pretty good," the Steelers' LaMarr Woodley said.

Of course, it's tough to score when a team doesn't have the ball.

The Chargers had the ball for only 17 seconds of the third quarter to the Steelers' 14:43, thanks to a nearly eight-minute scoring drive that ended with Roethlisberger's 8-yard TD pass to Heath Miller. Rivers also threw an interception on a first down from the Pittsburgh 23, and a Steelers punt bounced off Eric Weddle's helmet, with Pittsburgh recovering.

"We were standing on the sideline and it was like, 'We were in for one play in the quarter and it was an interception,'" Rivers said. "There was a little bit of disbelief. ... You can't call it a fluke, those guys made plays, but that was crazy."

Given the 11-10 game, it's hardly unusual this game was ... well, a little unusual. The Steelers, one of the NFL's worst return teams, scored on their first punt return score since Holmes' 65-yarder against Carolina on Dec. 17, 2006.

After that, keeping Rivers and Sproles off the field so long allowed Pittsburgh to stretch its lead from 14-10 late in the second quarter on Parker's 3-yard run to 28-10 early in the fourth on Gary Russell's 1-yard run. Weddle was flagged for a 44-yard interference penalty before Russell scored.

Rivers went 21-of-35 for 308 yards and three touchdowns on a 25-dgreee day as snow flurries briefly coated the field - hey, this isn't southern California - but the Chargers failed to improve on one of the NFL's most curious records. They're 0-13 in Pittsburgh during the regular season, but previously were 2-0 there in the playoffs.

The Steelers weren't as dominant defensively as they were while holding eight teams to 10 or fewer points during the season, but they also weren't as rusty as the other three home teams this weekend and now are 13-4. The Chargers ended 9-9, following an unlikely five-game winning streak that came after they looked to be out of playoff contention at 4-8.

Roethlisberger, again looking like the can't-shake-me quarterback who led three road playoff wins in three weeks as the Steelers won the Super Bowl three years ago, converted three times on third down plays of 8 yards to go or longer ahead of his TD pass to Miller. He went 17-of-26 for 181 yards as the Steelers outgained the Chargers 342-290.

That scary concussion Roethlisberger sustained against Cleveland?

"It was a non-issue for us," said Tomlin, who won his first playoff game as Pittsburgh's coach.

And for the supposed difficulty of beating a team three times in a season, as the Steelers will attempt to do against Baltimore, Tomlin said, "I personally don't subscribe to that hocus-pocus."

For all of Roethlisberger's playmaking - on one play, he even threw a block to help Holmes pick up extra yardage - it was a healthy Parker who made the major difference in a Steelers offense that was the worst statistically of the 12 playoff teams.

Parker, who fought through knee and shoulder injuries during his first sub-1,000-yard season as a starter, had his most productive game since running for 138 yards and three TDs against Houston in the Sept. 7 opener.

"We knew we could do that," Holmes said. "That's Steelers football, run the ball. Pound them down, once we get them down we can do whatever we want to do with them."

-- Alan Robinson

Eagles-Cards for spot in Super Bowl

Say that again. The Eagles visiting the Cardinals for a spot in the Super Bowl?

Well, believe it, because next Sunday, the long-downtrodden Arizona Cardinals will host Philadelphia in the NFC championship game. A franchise that had one playoff victory in 61 years before this month against a team that barely sneaked into the postseason.

Philadelphia ensured that strange matchup Sunday by eliminating the defending champion New York Giants in the first 23-11 final in NFL history. Arizona did its part with a stunning 33-13 rout at Carolina on Saturday night.

"I know it is going to be a great atmosphere and it is going to be electric," Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "The home-field advantage is huge for us because we don't have to travel."

The Eagles do have to go cross-country, but they are flying high after road playoff wins at Minnesota and the Meadowlands. Remember, Philly needed Tampa Bay and Chicago to lose, then to beat Dallas on the final weekend of the season just to get in, and all that happened.

"In the locker room, there was so much energy in there. We were ready to play early in the week," quarterback Donovan McNabb said. "The city of Philadelphia is buzzing; this team is buzzing."

Pittsburgh and Baltimore are buzzing, too. The Steelers (13-4) were the only home team to win this weekend, beating San Diego 35-24. Seeded second in the AFC, they will play their division archrivals, the Ravens (13-5), who knocked out No. 1 Tennessee 13-10 on Saturday.

"What else would you expect, us and the Ravens," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "It would be big if it was a scrimmage. This is for the AFC championship."

The Eagles are 3-point favorites at the Cardinals, while the Steelers are picked by 5 by the oddsmakers.

NFC

The early game next Sunday features a franchise that has made a habit of getting this far in this decade. It will be the fifth NFC title contest in eight years for the Eagles (11-6-1); they went to the Super Bowl only once, though, losing after the 2004 season to New England.

"This team, we have a lot of unity," said high-priced cornerback Asante Samuel, whose early interception led to a touchdown. "We stick together and we know what we have to do to execute. We're playing consistent."

That's exactly how the Eagles performed on Thanksgiving night, when they blitzed the Cardinals 48-20 at Philadelphia. But this game is in University of Phoenix Stadium, where the Cardinals (11-7) are 7-2, including a wild-card win over Atlanta.

Experience might not be such an advantage for the Eagles, either. Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner led the St. Louis Rams to the 1999 championship and lost the 2001 NFL title game to New England. Running back Edgerrin James had plenty of postseason work when he was with the Colts.

And Whisenhunt won a Super Bowl as an assistant coach with the Steelers after the 2005 season.

This weekend's results meant that a team with nine wins in the regular season will be in the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1979 season, when the Los Angeles Rams got there, only to lose to the Steelers.

AFC

Expect brute force versus brute force when the Ravens and Steelers put their defenses on the field.

Also expect lots of jawing, maybe even some taunting, and all kinds of highlight hits from two teams that despise each other.

Baltimore is on a roll, with two impressive road wins in the postseason: 27-9 at Miami, and then the resilient performance against the Titans in which the Ravens forced three turnovers.

There won't be any nerves on either side, nor any lack of familiarity, naturally. Pittsburgh swept Baltimore during the season, 23-20 in overtime and 13-9. Those games were filled with close calls, clutch plays and immeasurable animosity.

Pittsburgh's offense looked great against San Diego, with a balance of running and passing and clock domination. Then again, the Chargers' defense isn't quite what Baltimore brings.

"It's about playing a physical football game and causing turnovers," said Ravens safety Ed Reed, the only unanimous choice for the All-Pro team. "In crunch time like this, ball security is huge on either side of the ball."

-- Barry Wilner