well, a few things...
(1) way too much is being made of the McNabb injury. yes, it was a cheap shot, but even if a flag had been thrown, or even if it didn't happen altogether, the Eagles didn't give themselves a chance to win for the following reasons...
(2) the wideouts either need to be more physical, or get replaced with wideouts who are willing to be. the first pick was a result of pinkston running the wrong route, so he wasn't in position to prevent the INT, but on the Thrash play, you've gotta hang onto that ball, and on the sideline Thrash play, he's gotta turn his head around and look for that ball.
(3) the offensive line played abysmally. williams, thomas, and fraley got their lunches handed to them, especially on that textbook stunt the panthers run so well.
(4) brian dawkins needs to play like a big-time player in big-time games. the delhomme TD pass was in the air far too long for him not to make a play on it. period.
(5) andy reid never got over his grudge with duce staley. correll buckhalter just didn't bring much to the table yesterday. yes, the eagles missed westbrook, but if they can get by the packers without him, they should have gotten by the panthers. staley was the most motivated individual player on the field, and with the expection of one early drop, he was playing like it. if someone's hungry, feed them.
(6) with the exception of four or five tackling breakdowns (you'd think simoneau only has one arm by the way he played yesterday, the eagles' defense played their style of game - i.e. give up yards, but not a lot of points. they played well enough to win that game, limiting the panthers to 14 points (on a day when the offense committed 4 turnovers).
(7) the coaches don't get a pass overall, however, I felt the playcalling was marginally better than last year's NFC title game. I counted eight flat-out DROPS from my vantage point, and when offensive guard bobby williams has as many catches as the two starting wideouts COMBINED, that's not going to get you to the superbowl. the plays were called, but the players didn't make plays. it's great that todd pinkston has nice hands, but he's gotta be able to catch footballs that hit him in other body parts. rumor has it he called his barbershop today for a cut and they told him not to come in. kind of silly to let ANYONE hear his head with a pair of scissors today, if you ask me.
(8) koy detmer played a gutsy game. while he looked like a deer in the headlights on TV, we've gotta consider the situation he was thrust into.
even if the birds had somehow pulled that one out, there's no way they could have beaten new england with that kind of performance.
(9) brandon whiting needs to be more of a force at defensive end. with a lot of action coming his way, for him to make just one tackle and get no pressure on an immobile QB is unacceptable.
(10) speaking of unacceptable, todd pinkston's post-game comments would be enough to have me screaming for him to be cut if the signing bonus wouldn't impact the salary cap.
(11) if any long-tem silver lining can come out of this, it was nice to see McNabb finally holding people accountable and getting in their faces for not doing their job. being a nice guy is great, but it's time he took people to the woodshed when they screw up. unfortunately, it was too little, too late.
so now that the season has ended for the big mean black quarterback who was too much of a man to take rush limbaugh's bait, the racists among us can get back to having brett make them sweat.
the above was off-the-cuff, and I may have missed a few things. in fact, coming to mind now is the special teams of the panthers, who played an excellent game with the one exception of kickoff coverage. but I think I got most of my main thoughts down.