Making it to the playoffs has become so routine for Philadelphia that they don’t even celebrate it now.
Donovan McNabb ran for one touchdown and passed for another, while DeSean Jackson got 140 receiving yards as Philadelphia defeated San Francisco on Sunday 27-13 to clinch a spot in the playoffs for the eighth time in the decade.
However, none of the other seven playoff berths have resulted in winning the Super Bowl.
McNabb said, clinching a playoff spot early is always a good thing. However we still need to put our foot to the pedal. It is exciting, but we can’t get too excited about this. We have a goal of winning the NFC East and getting a bye week. The only chance we have to get that is to win our last two games.
The loss by the 49ers gave the Cardinals their second NFC West title in a row.
Philadelphia (10-4) has won five games in a row and has a one game lead in the NFC East over Dallas. In two weeks the Eagles will visit the Cowboys.
The game’s starting time got pushed three hours back because Philadelphia was still trying to recover from the second biggest snowfall in the city since records started being kept in 1884. On Saturday Philadelphia received 23.2 inches of snowfall.
Inside of Lincoln Financial Field it didn’t appear to be too bad until some of the fans start to throw snow during the fourth quarter. When LeSean McCoy ran the ball in for a touchdown from 2 yards to give Philadelphia a 27-13 lead, a few die hard, frozen fans threw snow up into the air to celebrate. Some of the fans also threw snowballs, aiming for 49er fans. They stopped after a warning message was flashed over the video screen.
Andy Reid, Eagles coach said, we don’t really need to be throwing snowballs. Here in Philadelphia we are a classy group. Save it for out in the parking lots.
49ers running back Frank Gore rushed for 107 yards. He became the first player in 24 games versus the Eagles to go over 100 yards. However San Francisco (6-8) wasn’t able to overcome Alex Smith’s three interceptions.
McNabb went 21 for 36 for a total of 306 yards passing. He had two interceptions for only the second time all year.
McNabb said, I definitely would like to have those throws back. It was very uncharacteristic for me. I tried forcing the ball.
Trailing at halftime 20-3, San Francisco was able to score 10 points quickly to close the gap. On the kickoff for the second half Josh Morgan had a return of 52 yards. However the 49ers offensive wasn’t able to take advantage and they had to settle for a field goal of 25 yards from Joe Nedney.
Dre’ Bly then intercepted a cross-body pass by McNabb into double coverage. The 49ers were able to take advantage this time. Smith threw a touchdown pass of 12 yards to Morgan to bring the score to 20-13.
Early fourth quarter Philadelphia had an 89 yard drive and increased the score to 27-13 on a touchdown run by McCoy. On third down and 2, McNabb had a pass of 59 yards to Jackson to keep the drive alive.
On Philadelphia’s opening possession, McNabb scrambled and then connected on a touchdown pass of 19 yards with Jackson to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead. It was Jackson’s shortest touchdown reception of the season. He has 11 touchdowns in total and has tied an NFL record with his eight scores of 50 yards or more, including one rushing and two on punt returns.
Jackson said, it’s challenging for me going out there and having people focus on me all the time like they do. It’s a great challenge for me and our team to still go out and be able to make things happen.
On the first possession for the 49ers, Nedney booted through a field goal of 51 yards.
Coming off their impressive Monday night win over the Cardinals, San Francisco started slowly after their short week and flight cross country. However, Philadelphia wasn’t very sharp either.
Mike Singletary, 49ers coach said, this wasn’t our best performance obviously. We came out to play a much different game. There were things we needed to do. We just didn’t get them done.
During the first quarter, Michael Vick left due to a quad contusion and didn’t return to the game. On fourth down and one from the 29 yard line of Philadelphia, Reid made a very gutsy decision to go for it. However Michael Lewis and Takeo Spikes, two former Eagles, stuffed Lenard Weaver.
San Francisco was unable to take advantage of great field position. Delanie Walker was stripped by Sheldon Brown after a catch of 8 yards. The ball was recovered by Asante Samuel on the 6 yard line. McNabb then led Philadelphia on a nine play, 94 yard drive. He ran the ball in from 8 yards out to make the score 14-3.
On the next possession of the 49ers, Samuel picked off a pass from Smith. He returned the ball down to the 28 yard line of the 49ers to set a field goal of 22 yards up by David Akers.
