The Eagles suffered arguably their worst loss at home in franchise history in the NFC Championship Game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who went on to win Super Bowl XXXVII.
The most drama probably occurred in the fourth quarter when a strange airborne substance, which turned out to be pepper spray used by stadium security, began making players and fan cough near the Philadelphia sideline.
With a punt formation in, the direct snap went to Brian Mitchell who started to run and then flipped it past the defense to Dawkins, who raced 57 yards for the score.
With less than two minutes left in the half and Jacksonville set to punt, the Eagles were flagged with too many men on the field, resulting in a Jaguar first down.
Donovan McNabb, who was sacked five times and was visibly ill in the fourth quarter, rallied the Eagles to two late touchdowns, but Philadelphia came up three points short.
Duce Staley and the defense turned in great performances as the Eagles scored a big win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Philadelphia scored first on a 30-yard field goal by David Akers, however the Bucs took the lead when Derrick Brooks picked up a Donovan McNabb fumble and returned it 11 yards for a touchdown six minutes into the first quarter.
In the second quarter, after Brian Mitchell returned a punt into Tampa Bay territory, McNabb hit Todd Pinkston on a fly route for a 42-yard touchdown and a 10–7 lead.
The Eagles and Bucs traded field goals in the third quarter as the Philadelphia defense (ranked #2 in the league behind Tampa) preserved the narrow lead.
Staley rushed for 152 yards on 24 carries, while the defense registered four sacks and knocked Tampa quarterback Brad Johnson out of the game with cracked ribs.
After a big win over Tampa Bay, the Eagles did not let down, defeating the New York Giants at home on Monday Night Football 17–3.
The Giants best chance to score was broken up when safety Blaine Bishop stripped Charles Stackhouse near the goalline, knocking the ball out of the end zone for a touchback.
In probably the gutsiest performance of Donovan McNabb's career, the quarterback played an entire game on a broken ankle and threw four touchdown passes to lead the Eagles past the Arizona Cardinals 38–14.
With Arizona ahead 7–0, McNabb (who was limited to either throwing quickly or handing off), took the Eagles down the field and completed a 2-yard touchdown pass to James Thrash.
Jake Plummer and the Cardinals tied the game at 14–14, but McNabb hit Todd Pinkston with a 27-yard pass to give Philadelphia a lead it would not relinquish.
The Eagles picked off two passes (including one by Troy Vincent that ended a late St. Louis scoring threat) and recovered three fumbles.
Brian Mitchell had a good return on the ensuing kickoff, Feeley then converted a couple of big third downs before connecting with James Thrash for a 6-yard touchdown pass.
Playing in the final regular season game at Veterans Stadium, the Eagles clinched their second straight NFC East title after an easy 34–21 win.
Ahead 17–7 in the third quarter, Eagle linebacker Carlos Emmons recovered a fumble, and after not being touched by the Redskins, proceeded to return it 44 yards for a touchdown.
A Joey Galloway punt return inside the Philadelphia 10-yard was wasted for Dallas when the Eagles defense held and forced a turnover on downs.
Philadelphia moved down the field on their opening drive, scoring on a 20-yard reverse to James Thrash, but their offense would struggle throughout the rest of the game.
With the score tied and five minutes left, Dawkins stripped Barber (his third fumble) and the Eagles recovered at the Giant 26-yard line, but David Akers missed a 35-yard field goal and the game went to overtime.
Though they stumbled towards the end of the season, losing three of their final four, the Falcons upset the 12–4 Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in the Wild Card round 27–7.
Seven minutes into the game, on Atlanta's second possession, Vick was intercepted on the left side by cornerback Bobby Taylor, who returned the ball 39 yards for a Philadelphia touchdown.
After the Eagles punted, Vick took the Falcons on a 9-play drive in two minutes to set up a 52-yard Feely field goal to end the half with the score 13–6.
Brian Dawkins delivered a crushing hit that left both players sprawled on the turf, but Vick had reached the end zone and it appeared the game would be tied.
The defense played a strong game, sacking Vick three times, holding Warrick Dunn to 45 yards rushing, and limiting Atlanta to just two field goals.
Jurevicius badly beat veteran safety Blaine Bishop, who was playing injured, on the coverage and ran down the sideline all the way to the Eagle 5-yard line.
With less than four minutes to play, the Eagles drove to the Tampa Bay 10-yard line, but McNabb was intercepted by Ronde Barber who returned the ball all the way for a touchdown to end the game.
The heartbreaking loss, which was made all of the more painful when Tampa Bay went on to easily defeat the Oakland Raiders in the Super Bowl one week later, is consistently rated as one of the worst in Philadelphia sports history and became known as "Black Sunday."