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So much for my Ravens/Eagles Super Bowl. As a Baltimore transplant living in the Philly area, it would have been a dream matchup. Both teams had opportunities to win, but the Eagles probably feel more disgusted about their loss. I was only expecting 6 wins from the Ravens, so their run to the AFC Championship was an unexpected surprise - especially with a rookie coach and a rookie QB. Flacco throws a beautiful deep ball down the sidelines, but he needs to improve his passing in between the numbers - especially looking off safeties as he check down his progressions. The team can help him out with more offensive weapons - especially at the wideouts. The defense was solid - except for a thin secondary.

As for the Philly? This game was a microcosm of the Eagles season. Their 24-6 first half deficit mirrored their 5-5-1 start of the season, which prompted fans to cry for Reid & McNabb's dismissal. But when all hopes were lost and the final fan jumped off the bandwagon, the team rallied. 4 out of 5 wins plus miraculous help from the Texans and Raiders to just make the playoffs...then 2 playoff wins including a decisive victory over the defending champion Giants. Similarly in this NFC championship game, the Eagles rallied with 19 straight points to take a 25-24 lead. And in true Philly style ('08 Phillies excluded) the team couldn't hold the lead and lost a game that they were finally favored to win. The stat that resonates the most with long suffering Eagles fans is: 1-4 in the NFC championship. The Eagles were favored in 4 of those 5 games.

So does this spell doom for Reid and McNabb? A fed up Joe Banner reportedly made the "insanity = trying the same thing over and over again while expecting different results" Numbers don't lie: Reid & McNabb can't win the big game. McNabb has never led the team on a clutch game winning drive in a significant game. So it makes sense to demand a change right? There are a lot of big name coaches available (Gruden, Shanahan, Billick, Cowher) As for the QB, there's one problem: the alternative to McNabb is bleaker. Kevin Kolb does not impress me and there are no free agent QBs on the market. Getting rid of McNabb would set the Eagles back in rebuilding mode for years. Retool the weaponry around Donovan and give him another shot. It took Elway 14 years right?