Eagles Enjoy the Last Word Against Lions : NFC: Philadelphia defense befuddles Mitchell, and Peete has a strong game as Detroit streak ends in a big way, 58-37.

PHILADELPHIA —  If given the opportunity again, Detroit Coach Wayne Fontes might want to work on his pregame pep talk.

The Lions responded to Saturday’s first-round NFC playoff opportunity like a team trying to get its head coach fired. When Philadelphia city officials removed all snow from Veterans Stadium and any chance for snowballs and an Eagle forfeit, so went Detroit’s only hope for success.

The Eagles (11-6) put the brakes on Detroit’s seven-game winning streak with a 58-37 pounding before 66,492, and notched their first playoff victory at home since defeating Dallas, 20-7, in 1981.

Detroit tackle Lomas Brown had guaranteed a victory earlier this week, but there was no guarantee the Lions would return to the field for the second half after falling behind by 31 points.

The 95 points by both teams constituted a playoff record, while the Lions (10-7), who have not won a playoff game on the road since 1957, became the 12th consecutive dome team to lose a playoff game when forced outside.

“We were flat and they just outplayed us,” Fontes said, not explaining how a team can be flat for the playoffs. “We needed to win early, and if we had home-field advantage, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

“Seven weeks ago you guys were all on that boat and everyone was going to jump off. I’ll sit down with Mr. [William Clay] Ford and talk to him like I always do. Whatever happens, happens. We had a great ride to get to 10-6. I’d be surprised if anything negative came down.”

Most teams, however, show more in exhibition games, and here Detroit was being touted as the NFC’s great hope to dislodge either San Francisco or Dallas.

The Lions turned the ball over seven times, stood flat-footed in the end zone to allow Philadelphia quarterback Rodney Peete to complete a 43-yard jump ball to Rob Carpenter for a touchdown on the final play of the first half and then lost it all trying to mug Randall Cunningham.

Cunningham, who was 1-4 before losing his job to Peete early in the season, received thunderous applause in the fourth quarter in what should be the free agent’s final appearance as an Eagle in Philadelphia. A short time later Detroit safety Willie Clay was ejected from the game for a late hit on Cunningham. Lucky Clay, he found refuge in a warm Lion locker room, while his teammates had to endure further embarrassment.

The Lions arrived with the NFL’s No. 1 offense and Brown’s prediction that the game probably wouldn’t even be close after the first quarter. Wrong again. It was 7-7 after the first quarter, and then Philadelphia buried Detroit with a 31-point second quarter for a 38-7 halftime lead.

“We couldn’t have played a high school team and beat them,” Brown said. “It’s something I felt--that we had a better team. Today they had the better team. They beat us convincingly.”

Brown’s concession speech did not draw as much play as his early week proclamation, which was still hanging on the Eagles’ locker room bulletin board with appropriate comments highlighted.

“When you got a guy that starts guaranteeing things and he’s never been there . . . If he’s been to two or three Super Bowls that’s a different thing,” said Eagle Coach Ray Rhodes, who collected five Super Bowl rings while employed by the 49ers. “You’re talking about a guy walking into your house, slapping your family around and robbing you. That’s what a guarantee sounds like to me.”

Rhodes, who always looks like a man ready to brawl, had his Eagles fighting mad as early as Tuesday and Wednesday in practice.

“Let me tell you this, I know why Ray got [Associated Press] coach of the year honors,” Cunningham said. “If they had another vote, he should win it by a bigger margin. He got us ready to play. We were all fired up in practice and we were going at each other, and he had to stop practice and tell us to save it for the game.”

Philadelphia’s game plan was to shake, rattle and sack Detroit quarterback Scott Mitchell, who wound up looking like the befuddled quarterback of a year ago.

“Barry Sanders is a Hall of Fame running back and those two receivers [Brett Perriman and Herman Moore] are legitimate Pro Bowl receivers,” said Eagle linebacker coach Joe Vitt. “So our plan was to go after the trigger man.”

The Lions’ first two offensive series ended with Mitchell getting sacked, and the third came to an abrupt halt with cornerback Mark McMillian getting an interception off a tipped pass to Perriman.

“That was a good day, OK, a great day for the defense,” Eagle safety Mike Zordich said. “I think during the first couple of series Mitchell had no idea what was going on.”

McMillian’s interception return to the Detroit 15-yard line was immediately followed by Charlie Garner’s 15-yard touchdown run for the first points of the game. The Lions came back with a tying touchdown on Mitchell’s 32-yard toss over Zordich to tight end David Sloan, but then came the landslide.

Kicker Gary Anderson, who would set an NFL record with 17 consecutive field goals in the playoffs by day’s end, was good from 21 yards. The Lions punted, and Peete went 22 yards to Fred Barnett for a 17-7 advantage. Safety Barry Wilburn picked off an errant Mitchell pass and returned it for a touchdown, and it was 24-7. The Eagles kicked off, and two plays later Mitchell was throwing to Philadelphia once again.

Linebacker Kurt Gouveia tipped a pass intended for Sloan, grabbed it and then ran three yards to the Lions’ 31-yard line. Eight plays later, Ricky Watters bulled in from the one for a 31-7 lead, and it would get uglier.

The Eagles had the ball to close the half and appeared content to let the clock run out after Peete was sacked for a seven-yard loss at the Detroit 43-yard line. But Peete then unloaded a pass to the end zone, and Carpenter came down with a 43-yard touchdown reception.

“We tried that play several times during the season, but I never even got my hand on the ball,” Carpenter said. “I just went up, and it was there, and when we left the field with that touchdown, I knew the game was over.”

There was no end, however, to the scoring. Peete, who had been intercepted five times in his two previous starts and in danger of being replaced by Cunningham with another poor performance, passed to Watters for a 45-yard touchdown and a 45-7 lead early in the third quarter.

“That was a nice one, huh?” said Peete, who completed 17 of 25 passes for 270 yards with three touchdowns. “All week long we had heard a lot of criticism about the offense. We were totally focused, and we knew we had to do our part, because our defense was going up against their potent offense.”

Peete, a former sixth-round pick of the Lions who has gone 10-3 as a starter, said he did not play with revenge in mind. “But when it got to be 51-7, I was loving it,” he said.