Victory Is McNabbed by Eagles

Donovan McNabb struggled in his first NFL start Sunday, but the Philadelphia Eagles took advantage of six Washington turnovers to beat the Redskins, 35-28.

The Eagles (3-7) won even though McNabb, the No. 2 overall selection in this year’s draft, had one of the worst statistical debuts ever for a Philadelphia quarterback.

McNabb was eight of 21 passing for only 60 yards and had his only interception nullified by a penalty. He did rush for 49 yards and twice converted two-point conversions.

Eagle Coach Andy Reid, who took a lot of heat for waiting until Week 10 to start McNabb over Doug Pederson, liked what he saw.

“There are times when you look into a player’s eyes and you see a hollow look,” Reid said. “It wasn’t a hollow look.”

Redskin quarterback Brad Johnson completed 18 of 33 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns, but lost two fumbles, was intercepted three times and was sacked on fourth down on Washington’s final play.

Eric Bieniemy scored the decisive touchdown on an 11-yard run with 3:17 left that followed an interception by Al Harris, who simply stole the ball from Albert Connell. That was the last turnover by the Redskins (5-4), whose offense was more to blame than their defense--which came in ranked 30th in the league.

For the Eagles, Duce Staley rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown, and Allen Rossum had an 89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and an 86-yard kickoff return to the Washington 14 to start the second half.

Stephen Davis rushed for 122 yards and two touchdowns for the Redskins.