Local Media Love for Garcia

"Not bad for an old man," he said with a smile. "It's been a while since I felt this good after a game."

Garcia's last win as a starter came last year in Detroit against Cleveland. In his last 11 starts prior to Monday night, he was 1-10..

"I really believe I can still battle with the best of them," Garcia said. "I think that tonight was a great opportunity to showcase my physical and mental toughness. I don't think like I have lost it. I don't think like I am holding this team back in any sort of way. I believe I can still do quality things on the field and I can still lead this team in a positive way. It might not always be pretty, but we are going to find a way to get it done.

"That has kind of been my life, so to speak. Unfortunately over the past few years I have not been able to find that rhythm or have not had that game, but I knew it was in me."

Kind of like that mythical Philly character on the Art Museum steps, whose alter ego, Sly Stallone, just happened to show up Monday night.

A guy who just won't quit.

A guy who just keeps getting up.

Garcia was even booed after he was pancaked to the ground in the third quarter and pulled himself up ever so slowly, like one of those tough guys in the old gangster movies, after being riddled by a trillion bullets. Yesterday there was this second-day spin about the fans actually booing the replay of the hit and the lack of the call, but the truth is it went on too long and actually increased when Feeley - a few feet onto the field - was returned to the sideline as Garcia signaled he was OK.

"I am learning it and you guys are learning it. This guy has a big heart," Reid said. "He took some shots back there when he was moving around and bounced back up. It seemed like the more he got hit, the tougher he got and the better he played... "

Garcia's own performance was effective but it wasn't textbook. He made every completion look like a magic trick. He scrambled away from pressure, threw on the run, took the hits necessary, and depended on his receivers to get open after their routes were finished and something else had to be tried.

"Tonight, what I did is what I have done so many times in the past," Garcia said.

He stuck around and took his shots, is what he did. When he had to throw the ball deep downfield - deep being a relative term, in Garcia's case - he nearly left both feet with the effort of willing the ball there.

"It might not always be pretty, but we are going to find a way to get it done," Garcia said.

For one week, anyway, he was right, and he earned more than just another game as replacement for the injured Donovan McNabb. In the huddle and in the locker room, Garcia earned something from his teammates. Confidence might be too big a word, but respect probably covers it. And that could be enough.

"You know, he's a leader," linebacker Jeremiah Trotter said. "He goes out there and takes charge."