Garcia leads Eagles to victory

Jeff Garcia can’t make them forget Donovan McNabb in Philadelphia, can he?

Well, if he plays like vintage McNabb, as he did Monday night in leading the Eagles past the Carolina Panthers, 27-24, Garcia certainly will ease the pain of not having the injured star quarterback.

And if he guides them into the playoffs -- at 6-6 they are tied for the NFC wild-card spots -- Garcia won’t be hearing the boos Eagles fans sent his way in the first half.

Garcia threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns, and Brian Dawkins’ 38-yard interception return set up David Akers’ 25-yard field goal with 3:13 to go. After Garcia struggled early, he was nearly unstoppable, using his arm and his legs to offset Carolina’s dangerous pass rush.

The 36-year-old veteran, who replaced McNabb (torn right knee ligament) two weeks ago and lost twice, had touchdown passes of eight yards to Brian Westbrook, 30 to Donte’ Stallworth and 40 to Reggie Brown. When Lito Sheppard picked off a fade pass to Keyshawn Johnson with 25 seconds left, the Eagles were back in the playoff chase, tied with Carolina, Atlanta and the New York Giants.

Garcia has thrown for six touchdowns and no interceptions since taking over for McNabb.

Delhomme almost matched Garcia until the two late picks. He threw for 269 yards and touchdowns of nine yards to Steve Smith, one to Johnson and 35 to DeAngelo Williams.

But the interceptions ruined his night and continued the inconsistency that has marked the Panthers’ season. They lost two, won four straight, lost two more, won two and now have dropped two in a row again.

“We made some improvement offensively,” Panthers Coach John Fox said. “The turnovers were a key and they made some big plays on defense, particularly that last one.”

It took the Eagles nearly the entire first half to get the offense going, in part because Garcia almost continually was running away from Julius Peppers and other Carolina rushers. Stallworth made a stunning one-handed grab down the left sideline and sped to a 51-yard gain, surpassing Philadelphia’s total offense in the entire first quarter.

Garcia scrambled again to keep a third-down play alive before throwing over the middle to Brown for a first down at the 8. Then he connected with Westbrook cutting across the middle to tie it at 7 with 2:12 left in the second period.

But Carolina, despite committing penalties for offensive pass interference (Johnson) and grounding (Delhomme), made two big plays on a weird 78-yard drive capped by Johnson’s one-yard touchdown reception just four seconds from the end of the half. Johnson caught a 27-yarder, then Smith outleapt Michael Lewis, who also missed the tackle as Smith picked up 38 yards to the Philadelphia 17. Lewis broke his nose on the play.

Smith forced a pass interference call in the end zone on Sheldon Brown on the next play, then Delhomme lofted a pass into the right corner of the end zone for Johnson.

Not that the Panthers carried any momentum into the second half. They went three-and-out, then Garcia kept several plays alive by scrambling away from the rush some more.

By now, the sputtering offenses had found their rhythm, and Carolina moved 71 yards on eight plays to take a 21-14 edge.

A roughing-the-passer call and Westbrook’s 20-yard run keyed Philly’s 63-yard drive to David Akers’ 28-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. But John Kasay answered with a 45-yarder, pushing the lead back to seven. Garcia responded with two perfect throws, one to Westbrook for a 29-yard gain, then to Brown for the 40-yard score that made it 24-24.