But the Redskins' defense rose to the occasion against the Eagles.

Philadelphia had averaged 30 points and 395 yards during a three-game winning streak before facing Washington. The Redskins held the Eagles to a field goal and 275 yards at FedEx Field. Ninety of those yards came on the final drive.

"That was some dominating defense," said middle linebacker London Fletcher. "That was a top-five defense right there. We showed up for 60 minutes and played the way we're supposed to play. We had a lot of guys step up and make plays that won't necessarily show up on the stat page. (Coordinator Greg) Blache and his staff called a great game plan based on taking (Eagles star running back Brian) Westbrook out of it."

Westbrook somehow was singled up on defensive tackle Lorenzo Alexander on what wound up to be a 47-yard screen pass to set up Philadelphia's only points, but otherwise Washington held him to a pedestrian 69 yards on 17 touches.

But when Westbrook squirmed for five yards on a short pass from Donovan McNabb on fourth-and-4 at the Washington 23 in the final minute and McNabb spiked the ball, the Eagles had at least one shot to force overtime with 12 seconds left.

Cornerback Fred Smoot and safety LaRon Landry stopped Eagles receiver Reggie Brown inches shy of the end zone as time expired.

"It wouldn't be the Redskins if we didn't make it interesting at the end," Fletcher said laughing.

"I knew it was close so I tried to carry (Brown) away from the goal line," said Smoot, who was beaten on the play. "I knew he wasn't in."

So did Landry, who assured coach Jim Zorn of that as referee Jerome Boger checked the replays before confirming the original call and assuring the Redskins will finish at least .500 for a second straight season for the first time since 2000-01.

"It gives a real lift to everybody," Zorn said. "My spirits were lifted because our players didn't give up on the season. It's still not satisfying from the standpoint of ... having that spell in there where we lost so many."

Although defensive tackle Kedric Golston was out with bone spurs in his right ankle, he and Anthony Montgomery have been virtually interchangeable for three years. The rest of the defense was healthy for the first time since Week 3 with strong-side linebacker Marcus Washington back after four weeks on the sidelines with a high ankle sprain and left tackle Cornelius Griffin and strong safety Chris Horton having returned after sitting out the stunning loss the previous Sunday at Cincinnati.

"It was good to have everybody back," said right end Andre Carter, who along with Fletcher, Landry, Smoot, end Demetric Evans, weak-side linebacker Rocky McIntosh and cornerback Carlos Rogers has played in every game for a defense that has allowed the fourth-least yards and points.

Griffin, Golston, Montgomery, Horton, left end Jason Taylor, Washington, cornerback Shawn Springs and former starting safety Reed Doughty have all missed games with injuries,