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CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Donovan McNabb was an easy target to blame for Philadelphia's 0-2 start. Now that the Eagles have rallied for a share of the NFC's best record, he wants little of the credit.
McNabb overcame an interception on the first play - his first pickoff in six games - to throw for a touchdown and 182 yards, leading the Eagles to their seventh consecutive victory, 25-16 over the Panthers on Sunday.
The win kept the Eagles tied atop the NFC with St. Louis and stalled Carolina's attempt to wrap up the South.
But there was little celebration in the Philadelphia locker room, especially from McNabb.
"This is no time to go wild, you only go wild in February," he said. "Everybody counted us out early and nobody went crazy in here. We knew what we had to do to get this ship righted."
What the Eagles had done was avoid mistakes and get better production out of McNabb. They went four consecutive games without a turnover as McNabb went 127 attempts without an interception.
That ended on the first play when McNabb looked left, then right, and tossed the ball straight to Mike Rucker.
It took McNabb all of two minutes to forget about it.
"You can't harp on mistakes," he said. "The guys want to see how you adjust to mistakes."
The Eagles made several against Carolina - Brian Westbrook also fumbled away a punt and they failed on a two-point conversion - but the Panthers made more.
John Kasay, who came in 24-of-27 on field goals this season, missed three plus an extra point. The 10 points he failed to put on the board was the difference in the Panthers not ensuring their first winning season since 1996.
"I just missed the kicks and it's my fault," Kasay said. "Usually when something like this happens you're not doing this anymore; you've moved on to another career. So hopefully I'll keep this to a minimum."
Coach John Fox said of Kasay's misses, "I don't think that is the entire reason we lost."
The Panthers also turned over the ball on downs at the end of the first half on the Eagles 8-yard line when they went for it on fourth and 1.
And Jake Delhomme fumbled on a fourth-quarter sack at the Carolina 11. McNabb put the Eagles ahead 22-10 two plays later when he hit James Thrash, who reached the end zone with a second-effort dive.
Philadelphia needed David Akers' four field goals and a 2-yard touchdown run by Duce Staley. Akers, who made field goals of 35, 48, 38 and 29 yards, empathized with Kasay. The two dueled for a spot on Carolina's roster in 1999.
"Nobody taught me more than John Kasay," he said.