For McNabb, a perfect end to a perfect day

That was no inscrutable smile on Donovan McNabb's face, no need to wonder - What could he be thinking? McNabb's arms stayed folded in front of his chest as the play clock ticked down on the Eagles in the final minute of the first half. But as soon as it hit zero, pure joy shot through McNabb. He threw his arms in the air and got a quick case of happy feet.

During pregame introductions, the Linc crowd threw a standing ovation at him. Right then, McNabb pounded his heart and waved, his helmet off, his smile wide.

"That was more than I was expecting," he said later.

It wasn't McNabb's best game, just a perfect day. It certainly didn't bother McNabb that the Linc crowd wanted to show its real allegiance his first time on the field. The place got loud with boos, trying to interfere with his play signals. But by the end of the series, the Eagles defense was getting booed.

"I think all the quarterbacks got booed today," McNabb quipped after Washington had survived, 17-12.

At the end, McNabb had trouble keeping his feet still on the sidelines, watching that last Eagles drive. He threw his head down into his hands when Redskins cornerback Carlos Rogers dropped an interception that would have clinched it. Raw emotions stayed out there with him, replaced by pure relief. He put an arm up and walked to midfield, hugging his former coach as cameras surrounded McNabb and Andy Reid. He did four TV interviews - Fox, NFL Network, ESPN and NBC - and hugged Rasheed Wallace, a Philadelphia native, but an old friend who was wearing a Redskins No. 5 jersey on this day.

As Joyce Baldwin of West Philadelphia walked down 17th Street Sunday just before noon on her way to turn in a coupon for pancakes at McDonald's, she saw all the security, plainclothes and Philadelphia Police Department, around the Sofitel Hotel. What was up?

"Donovan," she was told.

The pancakes could wait. Baldwin lingered for an hour. Two buses left the hotel, and she wondered if that guy with the tan jacket, was that McNabb? A cop told her McNabb was on that bus. Baldwin wasn't sure. Nobody was sure. The guy hadn't given anybody a second look.

"Stone-faced," Baldwin said. "Couldn't smile."

That bothered Baldwin. A couple of years ago, she had run into Vice President Biden at the market at 23d Street and given him a hug and had a little conversation. Here, she was behind a police barricade, next to a big trash bin.

But just before 1 p.m., when the last of the four Redskins buses was about to pull out with a police escort, there was no mistaking the last player to the bus, wearing a dark pin-striped suit. About a dozen onlookers whooped and hollered. McNabb looked over past the barricade and gave a big wave. He passed Baldwin's Biden test.

"That's right," she yelled, not minding that she'd waited an hour to see McNabb for less than 10 seconds or that it cost her a few coins.

"Now, I've got to go pay big bucks for the pancakes," Baldwin said.

An hour later, McNabb trotted onto the field in maroon shorts and a white shirt, a yellow streak now on his Nike shoes. The crowd wouldn't be let in for another 20 minutes. Eagles punter Sav Rocca was the only ex-teammate out there. Rocca got over to McNabb right away to share a laugh. Out there for 22 minutes, McNabb never stopped smiling. A couple of Eagles staffers yelled over to him, trading inside jokes.

The next round of pregame warm-ups, 45 minutes later, was the first time the crowd saw him, and it was probably about 95 percent cheers, lasting for maybe 10 seconds. That warm-up was like a receiving line for McNabb. DeSean Jackson got to him first to slap hands. Jeremy Maclin was next, then David Akers. Michael Vick found McNabb just before the game, surprising him as McNabb threw warm-up tosses with his back to the Eagles as they were introduced. Their embrace was in the middle of a scrum of six television cameras and seven still cameras.

In the stands, a guy wearing a McNabb Eagles jersey kept yelling at him from the front row, "All right, big boy . . . All right, 5!"

The pregame was festive, for the most part. One fan hadn't crossed out McNabb on his old Eagles jersey. He just wrote Vick over it, then taped up a bright green 7 over the 5. "Duct tape and a Sharpee - all you need," Jon Junger said.

The Redskins had a plane to catch, so there was no formal McNabb news conference, just a scrum in the corner of Washington's locker room.

"Fire away," a Redskins PR guy said to the media.

"Fire away?" McNabb said with a laugh, realizing most of the scrum couldn't hear him.

"Donovan, yell," somebody said.

"It felt great!"

"Coming over, it felt like I had just crossed the Walt Whitman and parked in the players' parking lot," McNabb said, not offering up his true emotions. "I've been doing this for 11 years - although Mike has taken my parking spot out there. It still was the same feeling. Coming out of the tunnel, although obviously it was a different tunnel, it felt like playing back here in Lincoln Financial again."

Then, the Redskins' bus driver gave three long honks. The same guy was last on the bus again. He was still smiling.