PHILADELPHIA – He did it. He actually did it.
Andy Reid yesterday talked to the Eagles about the Super Bowl. With so little time and without the customary two weeks between the conference title games and the Super Bowl, Reid discussed some preliminary arrangements with his team, which many believe is merely an invited guest this weekend in St. Louis. “I got it in and out of their minds real fast,” Reid explained. “It’s 100-percent Rams now.”
It figures to be 100-percent Rams late Sunday night, given that the Eagles are a fat 12-point underdog, are up against one of the most prolific offenses the NFL has ever seen, are playing inside a dome that accentuates the home team’s blazing speed and that the Eagles, after a nice little season, are supposed to play hard but eventually go away.
Believe that if you will. The Eagles aren’t buying it and are confident they can not only hang with the high-flying Rams, but make enough plays in the NFC Championship Game to slay the blue-and-gold monster and make the trip to New Orleans for Super Bowl XXXVI.
Just ask them.
“We’re confident, they know we can play with ’em and we know we can play with ’em,” said safety Damon Moore, who has three interceptions and one touchdown in two playoff games. “We got to come out and show ’em in the championship game. Who’s to say they shouldn’t be worried about whether they can play with us?”
Who’s to say? The Eagles won their first division title in 13 years and all they’ve done in the playoffs is hasten the firing of Tony Dungy with a 31-9 pummeling of the Buccaneers, followed by a trip to Chicago to unceremoniously end the Bears dream season with a decisive 33-19 victory. They are buoyed by what they see from Donovan McNabb, who is on a major roll, and are comfortable relying on their multi-dimensional quarterback to run, pass, lead and make the difference.
“Incredible talent,” Pro Bowl tight end Chad Lewis said. “He’s needed to play at a high level and in the biggest games he’d got himself in a rhythm and a zone.”
McNabb, who never seems flustered, says “The level of confidence is at a high right now,” and, when asked about the hefty point spread, added “We don’t get caught up in what people say.”
People are saying the Eagles have little or no chance of derailing the Rams, who scored three defensive touchdowns in last week’s ridiculously easy 45-17 humbling of Brett Favre and the Packers. The Eagles say something quite different. They recall their season-opening 20-17 overtime loss to the Rams and use that narrow defeat as evidence that they have what it takes to stage a huge upset.
“The Rams keep making comments that no one can stop them but them,” linebacker Carlos Emmons said. They’re not looking at us as someone who can come in and cut them down. That doesn’t bother me. That’s fine if they’re taking us lightly. They still have to play us on Sunday.”
What the Eagles bring into the Dome at America’s Center is perhaps the league’s most aggressive defense, a blitz-happy band of athletes who will take dead aim at Kurt Warner. Jeremiah Trotter at middle linebacker sees Marshall Faulk in his sleep and the Eagles are deep and gifted in the secondary, with the only possible Achilles’ heel the likely loss of cornerback Troy Vincent to a strained groin muscle.
“We’ve been pretty much underdogs all season long,” Vincent said. “I like that role. Going into a game of this magnitude, no one expects you to win, so you have nothing to lose, so you just let it go.
“Most people say we’re just lucky to be in this position but we fought each week. No one gave us anything. We’re not going to bend, we’re not going to break. We expect to go to St. Louis and play a great football game.”
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FOUR FOR THE MONEY
A look at the current odds to win the Super Bowl, compared to the opening odds:
CURRENT OPENING
ODDS ODDS
RAMS: 1-5 6-1
STEELERS: 5-2 40-1
EAGLES: 7-1 22-1
PATRIOTS: 14-1 70-1