PHILADELPHIA — When there was nothing more they could give, no more comebacks to be had, no more improbable Super Bowl runs left in them, the tears finally fell.

Josh McCown had set out to be the latest Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback to lift the team to postseason glory. But as the curtain closed on their final game of the season, and likely the last of his 17-year career, all he could do was drop to his knees and weep.

He and his teammates lamented the lost opportunity, the plays they gave up and those they failed to make. Most of all, these bruised and battered Eagles rued the cruel twist of fate that left them without their young leader when it mattered most.

Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz is hit by Seahawks defensive end Jadeveon Clowney during the first quarter. (Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports) More

Carson Wentz had carried them on his shoulders for weeks, all the way to Sunday’s NFC wild-card round against Seattle. And for the first time in what felt like forever, Philly finally got to see the face of its franchise, healthy and under center, in the playoffs.

The moment would be short-lived.

Wentz — the last healthy man standing in an offensive huddle littered with practice-squadders and backups plucked off the street — was forced out of the game late in the first quarter after a helmet-to-helmet hit from Seahawks pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney.

The 27-year-old suffered a concussion on the play and he never returned.

“There might be death threats this week,” Clowney said, smiling, after Seattle outlasted the home team, 17-9, to set up a matchup with Green Bay in next week’s divisional round. “I’ll tell you once I get on my Instagram, because they usually light me up, tell me to go to hell, die, go to prison, you need to be in jail — you and your family, all of y’all. You should’ve seen the messages I had last year.”

Philly fans are all too familiar with Clowney. Last year, when he was a member of the Houston Texans, he briefly knocked out Eagles backup quarterback Nick Foles during their Week 16 contest at Lincoln Financial Field.

On Sunday, Clowney didn’t mince words when it came to the Philly faithful either, calling them the “worst fans in the world.”

While he downplayed the severity of his collision with Wentz, he insisted the hit wasn’t intentional.

“I was just playing fast,” Clowney said. “And he turned like he was running the ball, so I was trying to get him down. It was a bang-bang play. I don’t intend to hurt anybody in this league, let me just put that out there. I’ve been down the injury road. It’s not fun.”

Clowney drilled Wentz in the back of the head as Wentz was falling to the ground after trying to evade a first-quarter tackle. There was no flag, no penalty yards enforced at the time, and no initial indication that something was seriously wrong with the Eagles quarterback. It wasn’t until the Seahawks’ ensuing drive that Wentz was escorted to the locker room for testing.

“I hope he’s OK,” Clowney added. “Like I said, I didn’t intend to hurt him. I didn't even know he went out of the game until the next series. I thought it was just a small hit, but everybody was going crazy on the sidelines. I was just trying to finish the play, but it happened.”

While Eagles coach Doug Pederson and several of players said they didn’t see the hit, there was one person who took extreme offense to it: Wentz’s left tackle, Jason Peters.

“I just told him, ‘Man, that’s a dirty play,’” Peters said, disclosing his in-game conversation with Clowney. “And he’s like, ‘My bad,’ and we just kept playing. But I kept reminding him, ‘C’mon man, stay off my quarterback.’ I didn’t even know he was out until that next series.”

The officials saw things differently, of course. Asked about the no-call, NFL referee Shawn Smith said of Wentz: “He was a runner and he did not give himself up. We saw incidental helmet contact, and in our judgment, we didn’t rule that to be a foul.”

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