PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Even with Chad Pennington back, the New York Jets still can't beat the Philadelphia Eagles.
Pennington threw an interception in the fourth quarter that helped set up Donovan McNabb's four-yard touchdown pass to fullback Jon Ritchie as the Eagles posted 24-17 victory over the Jets.
The NFL's top-rated quarterback last season, Pennington missed the first six games with a fractured and dislocated left wrist. He made his 2003 season debut with 5:37 left in the first half when he replaced Vinny Testaverde.
Pennington completed 14-of-24 passes for 154 yards, but his lone mistake proved costly.
With the Jets clinging to a 17-14 lead, Pennington was intercepted by strong safety Michael Lewis, who returned the ball 23 yards to his own 43 with 10:43 to play.
Pennington took the blame for the loss.
"I allowed the Eagles to get back in the game," Pennington said. "He (Lewis) made a great play on it. I made a bad throw and that's that. This is pretty simple. It's not real complicated. This game is about who makes plays and who doesn't and I didn't make that one play I needed to make."
"I read the quarterback," Lewis said. "I saw the play action and the ball on his hip. As a defender, when you see play action you have to get deep. Luckily, I saw the receiver coming across the middle."
Jets coach Herman Edwards, who played for the Eagles the last time New York visited Philadelphia in 1978, praised Pennington.
"I thought Chad was a little bit rusty, but he did some good things," Edwards said. "He moved the football team. The one pick he threw, he didn't get enough elevation on the ball. For the most part, I thought he did a pretty nice job."
McNabb, who has struggled this season, led a seven-play, 57-yard drive. He had a 10-yard run and Duce Staley also broke off an 18-yard run to the Jets 4.
One play after Staley's run, McNabb rolled to his right and found Ritchie for a touchdown, giving the Eagles a 21-17 lead with 6:42 remaining.
McNabb's lone touchdown of the game helped the Eagles (4-3) improve to 7-0 all-time against the Jets. The Eagles are the only team in the NFL that the Jets have not beaten.
Playing without the wrap on his sprained right thumb, McNabb completed 17-of-23 passes for 141 yards with one interception.
"Obviously I'm not at 100 percent but still improving," said McNabb, who entered the game's as the NFL's lowest-rated quarterback. "The release was a lot slower with the tape on, you try to rush it and sometimes it will flutter on you. Without the tape and obviously having the strength in the thumb, you have a quicker release and put the ball where you want to put it."
"I thought he did a great job of battling and like any quarterback, I am sure there are a few throws he would like to have back but he hung in there and made some big time plays," said Eagles coach Andy Reid about his quarterback.
McNabb was helped by a strong running game that amassed 194 yards. Correll Buckhalter, who shares time in the backfield with Brian Westbrook and Duce Staley, led the way by carrying 15 times for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
"I don't expect anything," Buckhalter said. "I just take my opportunities. It's not a matter of expecting anything. It's just a matter of when you get the ball in your hands, you take advantage of it."
After McNabb's TD pass, the Eagles received a huge play from their defense on the Jets' ensuing possession.
Faced with a 4th-and-1 at their own 46 with 4:34 left, Edwards elected to go for a first down. But LaMont Jordan was stopped just short of the first down by defensive tackle Darwin Walker.
"I felt on this play that we got penetration and I hit the line of scrimmage and I am not one to complain about the referee situation," Jordan said. "I know on this play that I had the first down."
Edwards had no doubts about going for the first down.
"There was 4:12 left and we were moving the ball, and I just felt like we had to keep the ball in our hands," Edwards said. "They had just went on a long drive on us with their offense and scored. At that point, we had the ball and I wanted to keep going. We've got to make the 4th-and-1."
Prior to Jordan getting stopped, Santana Moss had a 16-yard reception on 3rd-and-17. Replays indicated that Moss may have picked up the first down, but he was marked short.
On first down, Buckhalter ripped off a 14-yard run to the 32. After two runs by Staley, McNabb converted on 3rd-and-6 when he swung a pass to Todd Pinkston, who gained seven yards.
The drive stalled inside the 15 and David Akers kicked a 30-yard field goal with 1:12 left, giving the Eagles a 24-17 lead.
Working without a timeout, Pennington moved the Jets to the Eagles 42 before his "Hail Mary" pass on fourth down fell incomplete.
Testaverde started at quarterback and looked good, leading a 12-play, 56-yard drive on the game's opening possession. Testaverde had an 18-yard completion to Wayne Chrebet to the Philadelphia 38 and Curtis Martin a 13-yard run to the 26.
Martin, who carried 20 times for a season-high 110 yards, said the Jets have confidence in both of their quarterbacks.
"We have so much trust in both of them that whoever's in there, we trusted that they're going to get the job done," Martin said. "We've seen it over and over."
Testaverde also converted on a 3rd-and-6 play with a seven-yard completion to Curtis Conway. But the Jets failed to register another first down and Doug Brien kicked a 30-yard field goal.
The Eagles managed just 134 total yards in last week's win over the Giants, but they went 53 yards in seven plays on their opening drive.
McNabb had a 14-yard completion to rookie tight end L.J. Smith to the New York 14 and an eight-yard run to the 6. Buckhalter capped the drive with a six-yard TD run around left end to give the Eagles a 7-3 lead.
But the Jets responded with some trickery when Testaverde converted a flea-flicker. Martin ran into the line and tossed the ball back to Testaverde, who found speedster Santana Moss for a 60-yard touchdown pass with 3:25 left in the first quarter.
"We had discussed that earlier in the week, that we were going to call that play," Testaverde said. "We felt like they were vulnerable for such a play."
Testaverde went 7-of-11 for 112 yards before being replaced by Pennington. The veteran signal-caller was not upset at being pulled since Edwards had said earlier in the week that Pennington would play.
"I didn't try and talk Herm into keeping me in," Testaverde said. "I knew the situation coming into the game."
The scoring continued as the Eagles answered with a 12-play, 68-yard drive. McNabb found Freddie Mitchell for 19 yards on a 3rd-and-5 play and hit Westbrook with an 11-yard pass on 3rd-and-8 to the New York 20.
Buckhalter again capped the drive by bursting around the right side for a four-yard touchdown, giving the Eagles a 14-10 lead with 11:36 left in the first half.
"Today was just a little bit of a sign of the kind of offense we have," McNabb said. "I know in the past couple of weeks we weren't able to display a lot of things tha we're capable of doing. Hopefully we can feed off this and improve as the weeks go on."
McNabb completed 8-of-9 passes for 76 yards in the half, but was sacked five times. He went just 9-of-23 for 64 yards and an interception last week.
On his first series, Pennington came on with the Jets pinned at their own 8.
Pennington completed 5-of-7 passes for 48 yards as the Jets reached the Eagles 20. But on first down, Pennington swung a pass for Moss, who fumbled and safety Ike Reese recovered for the Eagles.
As time expired in the half, Brien's 55-yard field goal fell just short.
On their opening possession of the third quarter, the Eagles moved into Jets territory before Buckhalter lost a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Sam Cowart at the 24.
The Eagles also advanced into Jets territory on their next possession when McNabb was intercepted by cornerback Aaron Beasley, who returned the ball 25 yards to the Philadelphia 49.
It was McNabb's seventh interception of the season, one more than he had last season.
After Martin ran for four yards on first down, Pennington found tight end Anthony Becht for 15 yards to the Eagles 30. He also hit backup tight end Chris Baker for 12 yards to the 18.
Pennington was sacked for a seven-yard loss, but Martin ran around the left side for a 21-yard gain to the 4. On the next play, Jordan barreled up the middle for a TD, giving the Jets a 21-17 lead with four seconds left in the third quarter.
The Jets finished with 377 total yards, compared to 306 for the Eagles.
