Falcons, Eagles building quite a rivalry

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons were heading back to the locker room after pregame warmups when Ike Reese gave some inside info to his new teammates.

"They're going to stomp on our logo," Reese said, motioning back to his former teammates, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Sure enough, the Eagles gathered on the 50-yard line, hopping up and down on the Falcons' odd-looking emblem. Led by Reese, the Atlanta players charged back onto the field, muscling for position on a tiny patch of artificial turf with their increasingly bitter rival. Just as it looked like another brawl might break out, the officials stepped in to break the teams up.

"Sure, it's kind of childish," Falcons coach Jim Mora said Tuesday, breaking into a devilish grin. "But you've got to admit — it's fun."

No doubt. These teams have developed quite a bit of animosity for each other in a few short seasons, which was clear Monday night when they got into it BEFORE their season opener. The jawing started in warmups, punches were thrown and two players were ejected.

Then came the showdown on the Falcons' logo, which is the sort of petulant behavior that might happen between college rivals, but is rarely seen in the buttoned-down NFL.

"A team thinks they're going to come into our stadium and disrespect our emblem? Because that's what it is," Mora said. "Well, I don't think we have to take that. And we didn't."

After Jeremiah Trotter of the Eagles and Kevin Mathis of the Falcons were tossed out, the teams spent the next 3 1/2 hours trying to knock each other out.

Atlanta started quickly with two first-quarter touchdowns. Philly rallied. Finally, with Monday night having faded into Tuesday morning, Donovan McNabb's final pass fluttered harmlessly to the turf after a vicious hit to the midsection from Rod Coleman, preserving Atlanta's 14-10 victory.

It wasn't pretty, but no one could deny the effort. Both teams went at each other with an intensity usually reserved for the playoffs.

"I know I was feeling it," said Mora, who spent the final minutes stalking up and down the sideline, flapping his arms to egg on a Georgia Dome crowd that already had taken the noise to deafening levels. "I thought I was going to throw up."

The seeds of this rivalry can be traced to the playoffs three seasons ago, when the Falcons became the first visiting team to win a postseason game at Green Bay's Lambeau Field but couldn't get by the Eagles at the decrepit ol' Vet, losing 20-6 in the divisional round.