PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia Eagles are on their way to the Super Bowl after beating the Washington Commanders in their NFC championship contest 55-23. In New Orleans in two weeks, the Birds will face the Kansas City Chiefs.
The energy at Lincoln Financial Field throughout the game was electric. The underdog Commanders, led by rookie quarterback sensation Jayden Daniels, put up a fight, nipping at the Eagles' heels. It got tense at times—with the Eagles down 3-0 at one point. Then they had a two-point lead. And then, at end of the first half, the Birds took a commanding lead with 27 points on the board to the Commanders' 12 — and Washington could not recover in the second half.
In fact, the Eagles set a scoring record for a conference championship game. Not since the Bills, in 1991, has a team broken 50 points in a conference championship game.
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The Eagles were expected early on to be among the teams vying for a Super Bowl berth, and they have been dominant all season long. Not so for the Commanders, who in Dan Quinn's first year as head coach, went from one of the worst records in football, to entering the playoffs as the 6-seed this year, and getting all the way to the NFC championship game.
But the Eagles came out very ready to play. Jalen Hurts, after managing a knee injury throughout the week, was stupendous. He spread the ball around to his playmakers, who did a great job getting open for him. He also found the end zone himself a few times. He eluded pressure well enough. Saquon Barkley set the tone for the game with a 60-yard touchdown run on the Eagles' first offensive play.
The defense had multiple takeaways against a team that had not turned the ball over all postseason before today.
Dallas Goedert had said he and his teammates who had been this close to the Super Bowl the last few years were fighting to get back to this point.
"Going to the Super Bowl two years ago, going into the season last year, having high expectations and kind of falling short. You know, it just kind of built a little bit of hunger in all of us," Goedert said.
It was not just a trip to the Super Bowl at stake, but bragging rights in the NFC East. And it was not just an NFC championship game, but one against a division rival. However, Michelangelo from Philly says he wanted that.
"I was rooting for the Commies to win that game against Detroit, so we can have a home game at the Linc — and the road to the Super Bowl, it rides through Philly," he said.
There's no home field advantage like playing at the Linc, said Ron Schiltz from West Chester.
"Eagles fans are different. You go to other cities, you don't have this. Obviously, I'm biased, but I think Eagles fans are as good as they get — at least in this country."
Fans were buzzing as they poured out of the link after the convincing win, most of them as hyped up as Raymond Jackson from North Philly.
"Oh, listen, it feels good," he said. "I was at the last one. I'm at this one. We're going all the way. We're going all the way! Philly, baby! Eagles, E-A-G-L-E-S! Eagles!"
Meanwhile, for Aidan Perez, the win solidified Hurts as elite.
"Anybody saying Jalen Hurts is not a top 5 quarterback, they should rethink," Perez said. "They should rethink now, because Jalen Hurts is a top 5 quarterback, and Jayden Daniels is definitely not a top 10."
Sharon Conyers from South Jersey was at the Linc two years ago when the Birds clinched the Super Bowl berth, but she says there's more buzz to this one.
"It feels a lot different. It's more exciting now to me. It's more people out here. There's a lot going on."
Once upon a time, the Eagles struggled to win the NFC championship game. Now they've won their third in eight years, all of them at home, giving the faithful a chance to make South Philly pop at the sports complex.