By Barry Wilner

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — 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 fans at the Linc 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 the injured McNabb (torn right knee ligament) two weeks ago and lost twice, had TD passes of 8 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.

One of the great benefits of life in the NFC is that a .500 record makes you a contender.

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

Delhomme almost matched Garcia until the two late picks. He threw for 269 yards and TDs of 9 yards to Steve Smith, 1 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.

“It will test our character,” Panthers coach John Fox said. “We have four games left, and we’re fortunate we have four.

“We made some improvement offensively. 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 over rookie cornerback Richard Marshall 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 hit 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 1-yard TD reception just 4 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 the 6-foot-4 Johnson. At 5-10, safety Quintin Mikell had no chance to stop the touchdown for a 14-7 Panthers lead.

That go-ahead march took 50 seconds.

Not that the Panthers carried any momentum into the second half. They went three-and-out, then the nimble Garcia kept several plays alive by scrambling away from the rush some more. Most notably, he found Stallworth down the right side for a 30-yard TD on third down to tie it midway through the third quarter.

By now, the sputtering offenses had found their rhythm, and Carolina moved 71 yards on eight plays to take a 21-14 edge. Delhomme somehow spotted Williams in a crowd on a left screen and the rookie weaved through four Eagles for a 35-yard TD.