Philadelphia ? Donovan McNabb dropped back to pass, quickly noticed his receivers were covered, took off and ran 38 yards.

It was just the fourth play of the game, but it set the tone for the Philadelphia Eagles.

McNabb ran for 111 yards and one touchdown, Duce Staley had 126 yards on 24 carries and Philadelphia had a remarkable 299 yards rushing as the Eagles beat the New York Giants 17-3 in the final Monday night game at Veterans Stadium.

“Whatever it takes to win,” McNabb said. “You don’t have to pass for 300, 400 yards to get a win. If it takes me running, that’s what I’ll do.”

It was Philadelphia’s third straight victory against the Giants after losing nine in a row to them, and it gave the Eagles (5-2) a two-game lead over New York (3-4) and Washington (3-4) in the NFC East.

McNabb had just 137 yards passing, but the Eagles dominated the Giants on the ground. David Akers kicked three field goals in the first half in which the Eagles had the ball for 20:31.

Philadelphia hadn’t had two 100-yard rushers since Oct. 8, 1995, when Ricky Watters and Charlie Garner did it against Washington. The Eagles had nine runs of 10 yards or more. The Giants had allowed just 11 such runs entering the game.

“The offensive line came out and dominated the line of scrimmage and we got a lot of yards,” said Staley, who ran for 152 yards in a 20-10 victory against Tampa Bay last week.

McNabb put the game away with a 40-yard TD run 4:30 into the fourth quarter that gave the Eagles a 15-3 lead, then he connected with Chad Lewis on a 2-point conversion. McNabb’s run capped a nine-play, 99-yard drive that took 3:33.

On third-and-11, McNabb went back to pass, stepped up in the pocket, avoided a tackle at his feet by Cornelius Griffin, started to scramble, cut to his left, streaked down the sideline, jumped over a blocker at the 5 and went into the end zone.

New york giants running back Ron Dayne (27) is brought down by Philadelphia's Levon Kirkland, left, during Monday's game at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

“He’s a playmaker, he runs the offense like he’s a point guard, he makes things happen,” Giants linebacker Michael Barrow said.

It was McNabb’s second 100-yard performance in three games. He had 100 yards on 12 carries in a 28-25 loss to Jacksonville on Oct. 6.

“We didn’t stay in our lanes. We didn’t do a good job with our run recognition with McNabb,” Giants coach Jim Fassel said.

The Eagles took advantage of the absence of defensive tackle Keith Hamilton, who went down with a season-ending Achilles’ tendon injury two weeks ago, by running at his replacement, Lance Legree, and right defensive end Kenny Holmes. They had 195 yards rushing in the first half, but couldn’t get into the end zone.

Trailing 9-3, the Giants missed an opportunity to take the lead on their first possession of the third quarter when rookie fullback Charles Stackhouse fumbled the ball out of the end zone after getting to Philadelphia’s 1 following a 12-yard catch. Safety Blaine Bishop’s tackle forced the fumble.

Akers, who saw his perfect season end when he missed a 50-yarder on the opening series, hit from 27, 36 and 35 yards in a first half dominated by the Eagles and their offensive line.

The All-Pro kicker put Philadelphia ahead 6-3 with his 36-yard field goal with 5:23 left in the second quarter. It capped a 16-play, 70-yard drive that lasted 7:23 and featured McNabb’s scrambles of 13 and 14 yards and a 24-yard run by Dorsey Levens.

A 29-yard pass from McNabb to Staley set up Akers’ 35-yarder that made it 9-3.