Wind is the worst. It ruins sunny days, rainy ones, picnics, long car trips and ones in which you choose to wear a hat.
Yes, wind is the worst. That's especially the case when it comes to sports. In baseball, the speed and direction of the wind - no matter how slight - often determines whether the pitcher or hitter will have a good day. A baseball doesn't weigh all that much and when it gets up in the air, it's at the mercy of the elements.
Football is a little different only because the wind has to blow a little harder to become a player in the game. But when it straps it on and mixes it up, everyone notices. And by everyone we really mean it. The camera guy can't hold it steady, the fans have layer up with clothes that appear to be borrowed from the ballplayers, and the guys on the field have to change the way they do things.
But Mother Nature is perfect in her own little weird way. In that regard, the Eagles can be very grateful. With nature as the guide, all of the answers were blowing in the wind for the Eagles on Sunday at the Meadowlands.
Quick, someone call Bob Dylan so he can write a song...
"God is good," Donovan McNabb said immediately after the game.
"This is beautiful."
Well, McNabb wasn't exactly talking about the weather, but he should have been. After all, it was McNabb and the Eagles and not the hometown[1] Giants who figured it out. During the early going, McNabb and coach Andy Reid were content to lay the foundation despite the poor results. For instance, Brian Westbrook had negative-four yards on his first four carries and the entire offense had a rousing negative-four yards until the 8:53 mark of the second quarter.
More remarkably, the Eagles punted twice, took a safety and had a turnover in four of their first five possessions, yet somehow seemed to be in control with a 10-8 lead.
How could that be?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind...
While the Eagles went yard-by-yard and cashed in where they could, Eli Manning and the Giants tried to put their stamp on the game as early as possible. Like a guy who repeatedly beats his head against a brick wall strictly for entertainment purposes, Manning insisted on throwing it high and long.
With the wind blustering and blowing through old Giants Stadium, Manning's passes floated like paper airplanes. One of those passes floated gently into Asante Samuel's hands as if it were a quick kick. So while McNabb and the offense worked to gain its footing, Manning's pass to Samuel helped set up the Eagles' first touchdown.
"Turnovers are the name of the game," said head coach Andy Reid before launching into a few more sentences of the typical coach-speak stuff in order to drive home the point. "Turnovers are the name of the game. It's hard to win in the playoffs without them."
Make no mistake, McNabb figured it out. Watching as Manning continued to butt his head, McNabb threw darts. His passes during the second half were short and quick like one-iron shots intent on negating the elements so that they simply keep the ball in play.
One such pass came on 3rd-and-20 where McNabb scrambled a bit to the right before firing a laser to the other sideline so that receiver Jason Avant could dash 21 yards for the first down. On that same third-quarter drive, McNabb hooked up on a another short pass on 3rd-and-10 for a 19-yard gain to set up a field goal for David Akers.
It wasn't pretty or fancy, but it was effective. It was so effective that the short little darts set up a 48-yard bomb to DeSean Jackson that led to Akers' final field goal to make it 23-11.
"Donovan had some unbelievable throws there," Reid said. "They were throws only he could make."
It was a game of contrasts. Because the Giants were not able to fire the ball down field effectively, the Eagles' defense was that much more prepared for New York's bruising running game. Actually, the of the biggest plays of the game came when the hard-running Giants could not pick up a combined two yards on a pair of fourth down plays to sustain drives in the fourth quarter.
"If you're known for running the ball and you have fourth and one and you can't run the ball, I imagine that is frustrating," cornerback Sheldon Brown said.
Frustration. It was plastered all over Manning's face and body language that he clearly stole from Danny Ainge circa 1985. You that look - the squinched brow, pursed lips and squinty eyes that makes one want to walk over to the young quarterback and give him a big kick in the shins.
Maybe a punch in the arm.
But it was understandable. Manning looked like he was trying to open an umbrella in that wind. Just as soon as he got it open and placed it over his head, another gust would blow the damn thing inside out and send it skittering away. It was a maddening day to say the least. With his umbrella in tatters, spirit broken and dreams for another Super Bowl appearance crushed, Manning had to stand there and take it.
Worse yet, the weather sucked.
But it was sunny on McNabb's side of the field. It will be even sunnier in Arizona next Sunday when the Eagles go for another Super Bowl bid against the Cardinals. In fact, late in the fourth quarter, McNabb stopped on the Giants' side of the field, picked up a phone and checked on his hotel reservations.
Everything is all taken care of.
[1] Do the Giants have a hometown or just some exit off the Turnpike?