PHILADELPHIA -- Errant passes. Underthrown balls. Receivers bending like Yoga instructors for off-the-mark spirals in traffic.

	Donovan McNabb proves he is one of the NFL's great ones in more ways than one.

Those were some of the scenes witnessed by 65,791 mostly green-clad fans in the Vet -- and millions more on national television -- as they watched Donovan McNabb try to drive the Eagles downfield during Monday night's bitter NFC East matchup with the New York Giants.

But that's not all they saw from the league's highest-paid player.

Despite an off throwing night, McNabb kept the Philadelphia offense moving with Houdini-like escapes from collapsed pockets and dazzling runs on broken plays. And when it counted, the 25-yard-old quarterback drove his squad 99 yards down the field, the last 40 yards thanks to his scintillating touchdown run after he was chased out of the pocket in the fourth quarter to secure a 17-3 victory over the Giants.

Like all the 'Great Ones,' whether it be Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky or Joe Montana, McNabb found a way for his team to triumph in the end even though he wasn't at his best for most of the night. His way, once again, was via his legs, which carried him 111 yards on seven rushes, just 26 yards less than his passing yardage on the evening.

"He was just being Donovan," said Antonio Freeman, whose only catch on Monday night was a huge five-yard conversion on a third-and-4 during the 99-yard drive. "He's a guy who goes back and looks through his progressions, and when it doesn't look comfortable for him and he sees a hole, he goes for it. You saw him a few times tonight go for huge plays. They were momentum-like plays that changed the game.

"That's what he does."

What he usually does is use his wheels to keep the defense off-balance and to set up the defense for the passing game. But from the get-go, McNabb couldn't find his rhythm against a Giants defense that was sitting back in a zone with a spy shadowing him at all times.

"Early on, I was trying to adjust to the ball. The ball was a little slippery," said McNabb, who completed only six of 19 passes for 64 yards in the first half. "At times, the ball got out of my hands and went high or went low."

Not connecting with his wideouts stalled the offense, despite a possession advantage of 11 minutes in the first half. It resulted in four field goal attempts, three of which were converted by David Akers to give the Eagles a 9-6 lead at the break.

The Giants failed to take advantage of their defensive stops with the most frustrating example coming at the beginning of the second half when Charles Stackhouse fumbled the ball at the Philadelphia 1, resulting in a touchback for the Eagles. Not converting on such opportunities gave a talented athlete like McNabb too many chances to create the type of magic he's accustomed to practicing, particularly under the bright lights of primetime where he is now seven for his last seven.

So when he and his teammates took the field at the start of the fourth quarter and stared at the 99 yards they had to drive, only feelings of confidence were flowing through their veins.

"When 'Don' gets in there in crunch-time situations like that, he thrives," said James Thrash, who caught seven passes for 69 yards. "He'll come in the huddle and calm everyone down. He'll crack a joke, and that's important, especially for receivers. He does that for us. And we know he'll make the big play."

Coach Andy Reid knew that too, which is why he gambled and called for a passing play on first down despite the risk of a safety.

"We wanted to come out firing and that was really it," Reid said. "We do that down there, and we've had a lot of success down there. That was the decision that I made -- to come out and shoot."

And McNabb responded by completing three passes, including a 32-yard timing pattern to Thrash on a rollout that went for 32 yards. When faced with a third-and-11 at the Giant 40, McNabb simply let his instincts take over.

"They were playing the Okie defense (four DBs and a spy) and the check-down was Dorsey (Levens)," explained McNabb. "What happened was Dorsey made a move to try to cut to the middle and two guys jumped on him."

McNabb saw that at the same time Cornelius Griffin closed on him to his right. But before the defensive tackle could grab a piece of his jersey, the former Syracuse University star shot out of the pocket and raced down the left side of the field. Once John Welbourn sealed a block for him near the 25-yard line, McNabb saw an open alley and ran right through the blocks of both Pinkston and Levens for the TD.

"What a great run that was," Reid said. "Great vision and you saw the acceleration there. That's a big man (6-foot-2, 226 pounds) running. He put it into high gear and took it in."

"He never ceases to amaze me … He's a competitor and he makes things happen," said Thrash, who admitted to talking to McNabb to calm him down a bit in the first half. "Donovan is not concerned about stats and how other people look at him. His main concern is getting points on that board and getting the offense to move. That's why he's getting out and running. He has that fire inside of him, and everyone feeds off of that."

Going over the century mark is something QBs of yore simply didn't do. That's what made Randall Cunningham such an anomaly in this league when he burst on the scene in the mid-80s. Yet, after a weekend that saw Michael Vick run wild for Atlanta and similar performances out of McNabb over the past four years, it's hard to not view such players as "running" quarterbacks. But that's not a term that is thrown around the Eagles locker room.

"I wouldn't put that label on him," Thrash warned. "I don't think he is a running quarterback. He throws the ball a lot and he throws the ball well. He spreads the ball around to all his receivers and tight ends."

McNabb would rather be viewed as a player who, like the 'Great Ones,' just finds a way to chalk up W's. If it comes by way of the run, so be it.

"Whatever it takes to win," he said. "That's always been my attitude. You don't have to go out and pass for 300-400 yards every game. It's me rushing for whatever so we can get that big win. I think that is the most important thing."