McNabb was playing well but not great, under fire way too often, with the running game not working. Buckhalter, once again, reeled off a 27-yard run, got nowhere on his next carry, and would have needed a gun and a ransom note to get the ball again.
Not enough weapons, not enough push up front, not enough Westbrook, who had run for a paltry 18 yards on 14 carries, even though Vikings run-stuffer Pat Williams missed the game with a shoulder injury.
"They got into the running lanes early and often," Westbrook said afterward.
Sooner or later, Minnesota was going to break another run, like the early 40-yard TD burst that was Adrian Peterson's only really notable carry of the day. The Vikings would get on the board somehow, and that would be that. So close, but so far, etc.
Then, as those words were being typed, what just happened? Flip to Westbrook as the rush crashes into McNabb, yet again. Seventy-one yards. Nine-point lead. Fans in purple headed toward the exits. A mass decision that it was time to shovel the walk and salt the steps.
Just like that, Reid was 4-0 in wild-card playoff games.
"We needed it," Reid said when asked about the screen. "They were flying upfield and Brian hit that son of a gun."
McNabb said that before that, the offense was really doing a little better than its results suggested, and he had a point - remember those two first downs the Birds punched out when they were backed up at their 4?
"I wouldn't say we were struggling," McNabb said. "We sustained some drives. We just weren't able to come up with touchdowns . . . Obviously, when you're watching you want to see touchdowns, but [driving the ball] puts pressure on the opposing team, because we were able to back them up, and they have to go the long field."
The Eagles defense might have seemed a little vulnerable early, but it ended the day right where you would have expected it to be - Vikings QB Tarvaris Jackson completed 15 of 35 passes for 164 yards and a 45.4 passer rating. NFL rushing leader Peterson, the 40-yard TD run aside, gained 43 yards on 19 carries. The Vikings managed six first downs in the second half.
"All the things that we went through, we stayed together," said Brian Dawkins, who laid a staggering hit on Peterson early. "We didn't finger-point. We didn't say it's this unit's fault or this unit's fault. We didn't do that. We carried on."
Now they will carry on to New York, where unlike yesterday, they will be underdogs.
"We're 1-1 [against the Giants]," Samuel noted. "Hopefully, we can get the tiebreaker." *
For more Eagles coverage and opinion, read the Daily News' Eagles blog, Eagletarian, at www.eagletarian.com.
