Sam Donnellon: McNabb's heroics in NFC Championship Game come a little too early

GLENDALE, Ariz. - The ball hit Kevin Curtis in the hands. Maybe Rod Hood clipped his feet, maybe he did not, but the ball hit Curtis on both hands well ahead of the first-down marker, with a lifetime of clock remaining for Donovan McNabb to engineer his second game-winning comeback of yesterday's NFC Championship Game.

That's right, second. Who among us didn't think, the way the entire second half had gone, that McNabb already had engineered one of the greatest come-from-behind championship game victories in history? Two hundred sixty six yards passing in the second half. Three touchdowns. Sticking balls into tight coverage, sticking balls to second and third reads, taking full-running hits from defensive backs, rallying the Eagles from 18 points behind and into a 25-24 lead early in the fourth quarter?

Who among us does not believe that had Curtis caught that ball, the feeling in these precincts would be much different this morning? Or had the defense not lost its panache on that last Cardinals drive - and for the entire first half - that McNabb would be this city's best story since Game 5 of the World Series?

Who among us now, even the biggest of bashers, does not now concede the subtle point he made at the start of this improbable late-season run, that "I'm asked to win the game every week."

I'll say it again: I thought it was his ego then. It was, I now believe, the latest call for help during his rocky marriage here, a defense maybe of his play prior to his infamous benching. Anyway, he issued a variation of it after last night's loss when asked whether the Eagles built something for the future with this late-season run.

"I guess I've been building for 10 years,'' he said. "I can't sit and say anything about the building aspects of things."

Except that . . . he just did.

"Each year is an opportunity to add more weapons," he said. "And add more guys who can contribute."

In midseason, one of those places seemed to be quarterback. At the end, it seems about the last place to start. The Eagles added DeSean Jackson this season. It was huge. He outfought rookie Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie for the go-ahead score, tipping the ball twice before reeling it in. Imagine if McNabb had three of those guys the way Kurt Warner did yesterday, or even a second.