NFL | Pennsylvania wins 2

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Road to the Super Bowl no longer goes through Giants Stadium in the NFC. It no longer leaves the New Jersey Turnpike at Exit 16W. It no longer has Tom Coughlin's winter-red face or the Giants' D or that big rhino of a runner Brandon Jacobs after Philadelphia beat the Giants 23-11 Sunday.

Difficult as this is to believe, the road to the Super Bowl in the NFC now officially runs through the desert, out through Phoenix and around Loop 101 to a place that sprung up overnight between the cactus called Glendale, where Sunday afternoon the Arizona Cardinals, of all people, will welcome the Philadelphia Eagles.

Both are party crashers. The Cardinals have never been invited to anything worth attending in their natural lives, 85 or so years in the NFL. The Eagles have plenty of pedigree but were discounted for this season.

Nonetheless, the Philadelphia Eagles are favored to reach the Super Bowl because they took down the defending champs. The team that was 5-5-1 and appeared closer to being dismantled than contending for anything came to Giants Stadium and stuffed Eli Manning and the G-Men. In one of those matchups that former Philadelphia quarterback Ron Jaworski likes to characterize as "Manhood Football" the Eagles were the manliest men on the field.

They held the Giants to three field goals and a questionable safety. The highlight of the inartistic, brutal affair had to be the Eagles, on back-to-back series in the fourth quarter, slamming the Giants backward on critical fourth-down plays that sent freezing New York fans to their cars. Defenders named Brodrick Bunkley, Trent Cole, Stewart Bradley, Brian Dawkins and Chris Gocong were the heroes and their Yoda of a defensive guru, Jim Johnson, put Manning and the Giants in his pocket again.

Andy Reid even jumped out of his monotone when he said, "People say I like to throw the ball around and coach on the offensive side. I know that you win games on defense and mashing the football. I'm partial, but I've got the best defensive coordinator in the National Football League. The guys believe in him and the things he does. He's kept it fresh for them. For being almost 100 years old, he's kept it fresh."

Meanwhile, the offensive line (with help from the tight ends and running backs) held the Giants without a sack for the third time this season. That left Donovan McNabb just enough time to make some wonderful third-down conversion passes that had his coach and teammates singing his praises afterward as we've rarely heard during his 10 years as the starting quarterback in Philadelphia.

Yes, even though 22 for 40 for 217 yards and two interceptions with a passer rating of 58 is hardly the stuff of legends, McNabb was the star in many ways. And it was certainly better than Eli Manning, who completed only 15 of 29 passes to go with a pair of interceptions and a 40.7 passer rating.

But McNabb, who was benched in that loss to Baltimore and was the subject of immense ridicule in Philadelphia for at least a couple of weeks, completed the passes he absolutely had to and scrapped the seven-step dropback passes early because the Giants' pass rush was in his face too often. There are McNabb watchers who follow the team who swear he has never played better than he has these last seven games (6-1, 11 touchdowns, four interceptions).

McNabb doesn't really dispute that, saying afterward, "I've been having a great time during this run."

He apologized to teammates and coaches for picking up a 15-yard penalty for goofing around with a telephone on the Giants' sideline late in the game, saying it resulted from getting caught up in the moment.

A lopsided 48-20 victory over Arizona in Philadelphia on Thanksgiving night started the U-turn. The birth of his twins several days later also relieved a ton of anxiety.

"It may have affected the way I thought and played," McNabb said.

Suddenly, with McNabb one victory from a second Super Bowl appearance, nobody is talking about where he might be playing the rest of his career. McNabb (and Reid) are going to their fifth NFC Championship Game in the last eight years.

NYG — FG Carney 22, 9:59.

Phi — McNabb 1 run (Akers kick), 5:58.

Second quarter

NYG — Team safety, 12:34.

NYG — FG Carney 34, 1:33.

Phi — FG Akers 25, :00.

Third quarter

NYG — FG Carney 36, 12:33.

Phi — FG Akers 35, 7:45.

Fourth quarter

Phi — Celek 1 pass from McNabb (Akers kick), 14:56.

Phi — FG Akers 20, 3:58.

A — 79,193.

Rushing — Philadelphia, Westbrook 18-36, McNabb 5-16, Buckhalter 5-7. N.Y. Giants, Jacobs 19-92, Ward 12-46, Manning 1-0.

Passing — Philadelphia, McNabb 22-40-2-217. N.Y. Giants, Manning 15-29-2-169.

Receiving — Philadelphia, D.Jackson 4-81, Avant 4-43, Curtis 4-40, Buckhalter 3-19, Celek 3-12, L.Smith 2-12, Westbrook 2-10. N.Y. Giants, Ward 5-24, Boss 3-52, Hixon 2-37, Toomer 2-26, Smith 2-17, D.Johnson 1-13.

Missed FG — N.Y. Giants, Carney 46 (WR), 47 (WL).