PHILADELPHIA (KRT) – They waited. And they waited. And they waited.
But there was no miracle finish this time. No fourth-and-26 completion to lift the Philadelphia Eagles by the bootstraps.
Just the Carolina Panthers hammering away with running backs Stephen Davis and DeShaun Foster.
Just Jake Delhomme firing an occasional completion to a receiver or a running back.
And, of course, rookie cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. intercepting Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb three times.
As uninspiring as it might have been, it was enough to send the Panthers to Super Bowl XXXVIII with an old-fashioned, down-and-dirty, 14-3 victory in the NFC title game before 65,158 at Lincoln Financial Field.
The loss sent the Eagles into their third consecutive winter of discontent with a 13-5 record.
The Panthers (14-5) and New England Patriots (16-2) will play for the Lombardi Trophy in Houston on Feb. 1.
For the Eagles and their frequently unruly fans, it was the third consecutive NFC championship game loss, a phenomenon they could not have expected after McNabb’s 28-yard completion on fourth-and-26 set them up for a second-round victory against Green Bay a week earlier.
Against Carolina, however, they looked like just another also-ran, a team incapable of putting together an offense or controlling the Panthers’ double-barreled running attack of Foster and Davis.
McNabb eventually left the game after being battered for three quarters by the Carolina defenders.
His replacement, Koy Detmer, was intercepted by linebacker Dan Morgan to finish the Eagles for the day, and for the rest of the season.
Former Michigan State wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad gave Carolina the lead with a 24-yard touchdown catch from Delhomme early in the second quarter, and Foster finished the scoring with a one-yard run in the third quarter.
The Eagles scored on David Akers’ 41-yard field goal late in the first half but couldn’t add to it.
Neither team had a lot of trouble moving the ball in the early going, but scoring was another story.
The Panthers moved smartly, with Davis carrying five times for 24 yards on the opening drive, but they stalled at the Eagles’ 32 and lined up for a 50-yard field goal attempt.
Instead of attempting the field goal, however, placekicker John Kasay took a direct snap from center and pooch-kicked the ball 21 yards to the Eagles’ 11, where it was downed.
McNabb brought the Eagles back, taking them from the 11 to the Carolina 36, with a 12-yard completion to tight end L.J. Smith and a 23-yarder to running back Correll Buckhalter, but the Eagles couldn’t go any farther.
The Panthers took the lead on their second possession. Delhomme completed a 21-yard pass to Davis and a 15-yarder to Muhammad to get to the Eagles’ 24-yard line.
On first-and-10, with the Eagles’ pass rush closing in on him, Delhomme launched a pass toward the end zone.
It was underthrown, giving Muhammad a chance to come back to it before Eagles defensive backs Bobby Taylor and Brian Dawkins could react.
The result was a 24-yard touchdown catch for Muhammad, giving the Panthers a lead with 4:48 gone in the second quarter.
The Carolina defense made the touchdown stand up for a 7-3 halftime lead, giving up only a 41-yard field goal by David Akers late in the half.
With running back Duce Staley and Buckhalter doing much of the work on the ground, and with McNabb missing one play after being sacked by Mike Rucker and rolled over by Greg Favors, the Eagles moved painstakingly from their own 33 to the Carolina 33.
A McNabb 10-yard throw to wide receiver Freddie Mitchell was called incomplete when officials ruled the ball had bounced off the ground, but when the play was reviewed, it was called a completion, setting up Akers’ field goal from the 31-yard line.
It was early in the second half, with the Eagles seemingly driving toward a touchdown, that Manning made his presence felt.
The rookie cornerback, who had intercepted McNabb late in the first half, got two more in the first nine minutes of the second half.
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c 2004, Detroit Free Press.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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