Donovan McNabb passed for 285 yards and two touchdowns to lead Philadelphia to a 27-14 victory over Minnesota and their fourth straight trip to the National Football League semifinals.
Philadelphia (14-3) became the first team to reach four straight conference championship games since the 1992-1995 Dallas Cowboys.
"We have a lot of confidence in the players we have and we showed today that we were ready," McNabb said.
"Coach had us prepared. We spread the ball around effectively and our defense played real well," he said.
The Eagles lost in their previous three appearances and acquired all-star receiver Terrell Owens in the offseason to help get them into the Super Bowl.
However, Owens tore ligaments in his right ankle in a Dec. 19 win over Dallas and will be sidelined for at least two more weeks.
Not having Owens did not prevent McNabb from taking the Eagles back to the National Football Conference championship game.
The all-star quarterback nearly was flawless in the first half of Sunday's game, completing 16-of-22 passes for 209 yards and two scores when the Eagles built a 21-7 lead.
Freddie Mitchell, who moved into a starting role after Owens was injured, caught a two-yard scoring pass from McNabb in the first quarter and recovered a fumble by tight end L.J. Smith in the end zone for another score in the second quarter.
Best known for catching a 28-yard pass on a fourth-and-26 play in last year's divisional playoff win over Green Bay, Mitchell finished with five catches for 64 yards.
Brian Westbrook also figured prominently for the Eagles, rushing for 70 yards on just 12 carries and catching five passes for 47 yards, including a seven-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, the Eagles' secondary, which features three Pro Bowlers -- cornerback Lito Sheppard and safeties Brian Dawkins and Michael Lewis -- put the clamps on Moss, who finished with three catches for 51 yards.
The Vikings' controversial receiver created small stir last week when he pretended to pull down his pants and motioned as if to moon the Green Bay fans after catching a 34-yard touchdown pass. Moss was fined US$10,000 by the NFL for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Mitchell celebrated his first touchdown by poking fun at Moss. After catching a two-yard scoring pass with 6:18 left in the first quarter, Mitchell pretended to pull up his pants.
Daunte Culpepper threw for 316 yards and a touchdown and ran for a score for Minnesota (9-9), but also was intercepted twice.
In the other Sunday quarterfinal, Peyton Manning's record-setting season ended in despair against a familiar foe.
Corey Dillon rushed for 144 yards in the first playoff game of his eight-year career and the New England Patriots prevented Manning from throwing even one touchdown pass and rolled to a 20-3 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in an AFC quarterfinal.
Seeking their third Super Bowl title in four years, the Patriots (15-2) will visit the Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday in the AFC championship game.
This divisional playoff was a rematch of last year's AFC championship game here that the Patriots won, 24-14, as Manning was intercepted four times.
With Dillon in the backfield, the Patriots were able to consume a total of 24 minutes and 47 seconds on three scoring drives and keep Manning off the field.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB