PHILADELPHIA -- There comes for virtually every successful NFL quarterback a seminal moment, that galvanizing event in which potential merges with production, the occasion to which observers will point in future years as the instant in which a passer came of age.

Somewhere down the line, when he is in his football dotage and recalling with fondness some of the triumphs that accelerated his learning curve and hastened the end of his apprenticeship, there is a pretty good chance that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb will look upon his team's 24-21 victory on Sunday as one of those defining moments.

	Even Michael Strahan, shown here recording one of his 3.5 sacks, said Donovan McNabb was "pretty special."

At least that's the opinion of Eagles wide receiver James Thrash, who torched the youthful New York Giants secondary for seven catches and 143 yards in a critical victory, and who became the inarguable "go to" guy for McNabb as Philadelphia gained its first NFC East title since 1988.

"As an offense, we all grew up a little bit today, but no one more so than Donovan," allowed the speedy Thrash, who burned Giants rookie cornerback Will Allen for a 57-yard touchdown catch and tortured the first-round pick with a collection of double-move routes. "These are the games that kind of frame your career when you're a quarterback, and he really stepped up for us, made the plays when we had to have them."

There will almost certainly be, as there were again on Sunday afternoon, stretches of wretched inconsistency and scatter-armed inaccuracy for McNabb, the second player selected overall in the '99 draft. Yet uncomfortable as a pocket passer and still not conscious of the fact it's his overall athleticism that got him on so many magazine covers this summer, McNabb remains very much a work in progress.

But the progress he made in rallying the Eagles from a 21-14 deficit with less than three minutes remaining might qualify as a quantum leap.

Facing a Giants defense that is still top-shelf, and which had kept Philadelphia out of the end zone since its opening possession, McNabb hustled the Eagles to a six-play, 67-yard scoring drive that culminated in his second touchdown pass of the afternoon to tight end Chad Lewis.

Then after the New York offense went three-and-out, bleeding just 51 seconds from the clock, McNabb engineered a seven-play series of 54 yards, the drive ending in David Akers' game-winning field goal of 35 yards with only seven seconds left. That the Giants made things interesting with a trick play that nearly undid the Philadelphia comeback somewhat diminished the aura around McNabb's clutch play, but did nothing to reduce his status in a locker room where Eagles players puffed big victory cigars.

For the afternoon, McNabb finished with 21 completions in 39 attempts for 270 yards, with three touchdown passes, one interception and a passer efficiency rating of 90.8. Unlike earlier in the season, when he seemed transfixed with staying way too long in the pocket -- perhaps unwittingly trying to prove to his detractors that he was more than just a running quarterback -- McNabb got outside the New York containment six times for 48 yards.

In all, he accounted for 81.7 percent of the Eagles' total output of 354 net yards.

Characteristically, the well-spoken McNabb downplayed the significance of his role in the win, but he acknowledged that being able to add a division title to his burgeoning resume will mean much to him once he has time to appreciate the victory over an archrival. He was hackneyed at times, in somewhat surprising fashion, in discussing the big-picture consequences of the win. But when he was pressed a bit, McNabb allowed that he will permit himself, for one night at least, to savor his initial division title.

	“	It feels a lot better for the team than for me individually but, sure, it's nice to know that I played a role in this. I'm happier for the guys than for me. But it feels good to know we bounced back and made big plays when we had to make them. ”
		— Donovan McNabb, Eagles quarterback

"It feels a lot better for the team than for me individually but, sure, it's nice to know that I played a role in this," McNabb said. "I'm happier for the guys than for me. But it feels good to know we bounced back and made big plays when we had to make them."

The former Syracuse star came out blazing, hitting six of seven attempts on the Eagles' opening possession. He almost made it look too facile as he drove Philadelphia 72 yards and ended the nine-snap series with a five-yard bullet to tight end Chad Lewis for the score. But then, as he has in the past, McNabb went fallow and the Philadelphia offense went into hibernation.

Stung by a 16-yard scoring run by Giants tailback Ron Dayne, which lifted New York into their 21-14 lead with just 2:43 remaining, McNabb and his receivers shook off their lethargy. Over the final two drives, McNabb completed five of nine passes for 87 yards. That percentage might not be overly impressive, but the hot streak included hookups of 25 and 32 yards to Thrash. The latter came on a double-move, with McNabb delivering the ball just as he was crushed by the New York rush to hit Thrash in stride down the right side.

Recalling that specific play, tailback Brian Mitchell, who watched the pass from the sideline, said it was a "big-time throw by a big-time player" who is "getting better all the time." Added tackle Jon Runyan: "You could hear the air go out of him when he got hit, but the ball still got there, and on time to still make a big play."

As is typically the case when these two teams meet, McNabb was tormented by Giants defensive left end Michael Strahan, who notched 3½ sacks and moved to within one-half quarterback kill of Mark Gastineau's single-season record. But even the prideful Strahan was forced to concede that, especially in the second half, McNabb was "pretty special."

It was a sentiment with which Eagles owner Jeff Lurie readily agreed. Staring at the quarterback's empty locker stall, Lurie pointed in that direction and noted that Sunday's game marked a notable step in the development of his club's signature offensive performer.

"What it meant to (McNabb), and to our future, you can't put into words," Lurie said. "You need a guy like that if you're going to win a Super Bowl. We think we've got one, and this game went a long way toward reinforcing that. It was huge for us and for him."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.