Phew. Take a deep breath, Philadelphia.
The Eagles are heading back to the NFC championship game.
After some tense moments in the waning stages of Saturday's game, the Eagles pulled off the upset win over Atlanta, 15-10, and will host the NFC championship game next weekend (see Roob's observations).
The game came down to a 4th-and-goal from the Eagles' 2-yard line with just over a minute remaining. Matt Ryan rolled right but his pass to Julio Jones fell incomplete and the Eagles avoided disaster. Their defense shut the Falcons out in the second half.
Before Saturday's divisional round playoff game against the Falcons, there was a fear that Challenger, the performing bald eagle, wouldn't be able to fly during the national anthem because of gusting winds.
The Eagles' offense actually had more trouble getting off the ground.
NFL
Eventually, though, Challenger soared through the air during Dr. Jesse McGuire's rendition of the anthem, and the Eagles soared one step closer to the Super Bowl.
Nick Foles didn't have a great game, but eventually, he did enough and led a game-winning drive to give the Eagles a win (see report card).
This is the first Eagles' home playoff win since the wild card round over the Giants in 2006. It's the first playoff win of any kind since 2008, when the Eagles also went to the NFC title game.
After an ugly first half, the Eagles' defense locked down the Falcons in the second half and their offense started to get a little more momentum.
The Eagles had a really sloppy first half, that included two turnovers. The first turnover came on their second offensive play. Jay Ajayi fumbled the ball away and the Falcons took over and scored a touchdown.
All 10 of the Falcons' first-half points came off turnovers. The other turnover happened on a punt that got held up in the wind in the second quarter. The Falcons were able to score a touchdown off that.
But thanks to a quick 15-yard pass to get the ball into field goal range, Jake Elliott was able to drill a long field goal to have the Eagles down one point, 10-9, heading into the locker room at halftime.
Turning point
The Eagles got the ball at their own 7-yard line down by one point and traveled 74 yards into the wind to kick the go-ahead field goal.
Key stat
This is the fewest points the Eagles have allowed in a playoff game since Jan. 23, 2005 — that was a 27-10 win over the Falcons in the NFC title game.
Offensive stud
Sure, Ajayi fumbled on his first carry of the game, but after that, he was really hard to stop. He had 98 total yards of offense.
Offensive dud
Zach Ertz didn't have much of an impact Saturday. Foles eventually made some throws but got off to a terrible start.
Defensive stud
Nigel Bradham had a big sack and made a few good plays Saturday afternoon. Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham also had very good games.
Defensive dud
Hard to pick one guy, but the Eagles missed several tackles throughout the game. At times, it hurt them.
Key plays
• The stop on 4th-and-goal was huge. Bradham forced the play outside more and Jones couldn't come up with a catch in the end zone. Ballgame.
• After it looked like Mohamed Sanu caught a ball for a first down with about 3½ minutes left in the game, a Doug Pederson challenge overturned it, but then Matt Ryan hit Julio Jones for a first down on fourth.
• The Eagles went 80 yards on 14 plays in 7:57 in the fourth quarter before Elliott hit a 21-yarder to give them a 15-10 lead. The biggest play of the drive was a 32-yard screen pass to Ajayi on third down.
• Rodney McLeod had a huge sack on a safety blitz on first down late in the third quarter. The Falcons lost 10 yards on it and it gave the Eagles the ball back for another drive.
• Foles hit Jeffery for a 21-yard pass on 3rd-and-8 in the third quarter to move the chains and eventually set up Elliott for a 37-yard field goal to give the Eagles a 12-10 lead late in the third quarter.
• Foles hit Alshon Jeffery with a 15-yard pass to get the ball to the Atlanta 35-yard line with one second left in the first half. Elliott then hit a 53-yarder to make the score 10-9 Falcons at halftime.
• On 3rd-and-goal from the 6, Ryan somehow avoided a sack and threw a weak, wobbly pass to Devonta Freeman for a touchdown to put the Falcons up 10-6 with 5:41 left in the second quarter. Malcolm Jenkins left Freeman too early and Ryan was able to make him pay.
• The Falcons were punting into the wind in the second quarter when the ball got caught in the wind and hit an Eagle. The Falcons recovered the ball. After a terrible personal foul call on Rodney McLeod, they moved closer to the end zone.
• Pederson dialed up a nifty misdirection run to Nelson Agholor on 3rd-and-3 in the second quarter to pick up 21 yards. A few plays later, Pederson used a stretch play with LeGarrette Blount to get into the end zone. Elliott missed the extra point to make the score 6-3.
• The Falcons kicked a 33-yard field goal to take a lead. On third down, Ryan hit Taylor Gabriel for what might have been a short gain and a fumble, but Pederson didn't challenge it after it was ruled as an incompletion.
• After the Eagles picked up 42 yards on a defensive pass interference on the first play of the game, Ajayi fumbled the ball away on the second. Ricardo Allen popped the ball free.
Injury report
Dannell Ellerbe (hamstring) came into the weekend listed as questionable but was able to start.
Up next
The Saints and the Vikings play at 4:40 p.m. Sunday. The Eagles will host the winner of that game in the NFC Championship Game next weekend.