Watters in Flow for Eagles : NFC: After being benched briefly, Peete comes back to help Philadelphia run away from Washington, 14-7.

Ricky Watters showed why he’s the driving force behind the resurgence of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Watters ran nine yards for one touchdown, used a few creative moves to set up his one-yard score and went over the 1,000-yard mark as the Eagles beat the Washington Redskins, 14-7, on Sunday.

The Eagles (8-4) have now won three consecutive games and seven of their last eight--since Rodney Peete replaced Randall Cunningham at quarterback.

Peete, however, was replaced by Cunningham for two series in the third quarter and was unhappy about it after the game.

“Rodney wasn’t as effective as we thought he could be, so we decided to take him out for a couple of series and let him watch,” Eagle Coach Ray Rhodes said. “We wanted to put him back in the fourth quarter, because he’s the guy we came to the dance with and we were going to stay with him.”

Peete, who was 11 for 18 for 81 yards when he left the game, returned and completed three consecutive passes for 53 yards on a 75-yard scoring drive. Fred Barnett’s 31-yard reception put Philadelphia at the 20 to set up Watters’ second touchdown of the game.

Watters ran for 124 yards in 25 carries to break the 1,000-yard barrier for the second time in his career. Of his three 100-yard games this season, two have come against the Redskins.

Washington (3-9) has lost four in a row and six of seven, guaranteeing the Redskins’ third consecutive losing season for the first time since 1963-65. Linebacker Ken Harvey had three sacks for the Redskins.

There were nearly 6,000 no-shows at the usually packed RFK Stadium. Shuler started his first game since the season opener and was 12 for 27 for 164 yards and a fourth-quarter interception.

Terry Allen, who had 91 yards in 22 carries, scored Washington’s only touchdown with a seven-yard third-quarter run.

Peete’s benching overshadowed the Redskins’ quarterback controversy, which seemed to lose some of its steam as the team clinched a third consecutive losing season with a trip to Dallas coming next.

Shuler was soundly booed when he entered in relief of Gus Frerotte last week, but his reception this time started off more indifferent than hostile.

Shuler was cheered for a five-yard scramble in the second quarter, and heard chants of “Go Heath” just before being booed for his fourth-quarter interception.

“I can’t go out on the field worrying about what the fans are going to say,” Shuler said. “There was one point in the game [right after the interception] when the guys looked at me in the huddle and said, ‘We’re with you,’ and that means more to me than the fans.”