PHILADELPHIA -- Donovan McNabb knows the tough Philadelphia fans. Before the Eagles drafted him, fans marched around Veterans Stadium protesting his potential selection because they wanted halfback Ricky Williams.

	Donovan McNabb threw for 186 yards and ran for 43 more in the Eagles' 17-14 loss.

Make a mistake in the City of Brotherly Love and you better admit it. McNabb did. He threw a critical interception with 23 seconds remaining that cost the Eagles a 17-14 loss to the Redskins in a game that should have gone to overtime.

"As a quarterback, you want nothing but positive things for your team," McNabb said. "When things are going well, the quarterback is doing his job. When things are going bad, the quarterback gets all the criticism. I am pretty sure that all you guys are going to write something negative so I'm giving you something negative from me. I have to be the one to learn from it, and when we get rolling again, everyone will be smiling in the locker room."

McNabb could look negatively at his last three plays.

With 2:54 left, McNabb had Brian Mitchell wide open at midfield on a third-and-2 from the Eagles' 41-yard line. The play required no more than a soft 10-yard lob. McNabb fired a 13-yard bullet that missed the mark and killed what could have been a drive for a game-winning field goal.

Still, the Eagles survived. The defense prevented the Redskins from moving into field-goal range, so McNabb had the ball at his 24-yard line with 40 seconds left. On first down, he was sacked by Dan "Big Daddy" Wilkinson. On second down, he was pressured and scrambled to his right.

Out of the pocket, he could have dumped the ball in the short zone. Instead, he threw it 30 yards down field into the hands of cornerback Darrell Green, who returned it 33 yards to set up Michael Husted's game-winning, 24-yard field goal with two seconds left.

"I felt the pressure from the backside and saw that they were playing deep," McNabb said. "I tried to get the ball out of bounds and got hit while I was throwing. I guess I needed to get it more to the right. It was a critical play and something that I will be thinking about especially when I watch the films.

"As a quarterback, you just can't have that. It was a crucial play in the game and it probably cost us the game. You never want to be in that position."

No one was more surprised to see that ball than Green, whom McNabb beat for two touchdown passes.

"Any time the ball comes and I catch it, I'm surprised," Green said. "He's definitely going to be a great one. He's learning quickly. He's got a great arm and has nothing to be ashamed of. I'll be watching him when I'm a grandpa."

Eagles coach Andy Reid defended his quarterback because he likes the mentality. First of all, he explained that 23 seconds remained, and the Redskins could stop the clock with timeouts. He wanted a safe throw, calling a sideline pass to receiver Na Brown.

"We moved him out of the pocket and took a shot at it," Reid said. "If it wasn't there, throw it out of bounds and we would continue on. We wanted to press it down the field."

What Reid has to worry about is whether McNabb takes this defeat too much to heart. With Duce Staley expected to get a final stress test to determine if he's out for the season with a foot injury, the Eagles' offense falls completely on McNabb.

	“	As a quarterback, you just can't have (an interception). It was a crucial play in the game and it probably cost us the game. You never want to be in that position. ”
		— Donovan McNabb, Eagles quarterback

On Sunday, McNabb accounted for all but 57 of the Eagles' 207 yards. He rushed five times for 43 yards and completed 17 of 34 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns. Four running backs gained only 36 yards on 13 carries.

"A couple of the runs by Donovan were called, and some others he took off and ran," Reid said. "He's going to do that. I would like our running backs to have a majority of the carries and yardage."

Which is why the Eagles will trade for Steelers halfback Amos Zereoue, J.J. Johnson of the Dolphins or somebody by the 4 p.m. ET trading deadline Tuesday.

"This team is very young," Mitchell said. "Look at our roster. We have a lot of guys born in 1974, '75 and '76. We just have to keep playing and limit those mistakes. I think the way they are handling things is way beyond their years."

The 40-year-old Green feels that way about McNabb, who was born in 1976.

"When he beat me on the first touchdown (a 30-yard pass to Charles Johnson), he made an incredible throw," Green said. "On the other one (an 8-yarder to Brown), I let the guy get behind, but he (McNabb) got rid of the ball so fast it was hard to pick up."

But Philadelphia fans are tough, and repeats of these kind of games could intensify the heat on McNabb. Redskins cornerback Deion Sanders is still amazed by Eagles fans.

"I don't hate anyone, but I dislike their mannerisms and the way they conduct themselves," Sanders said. "They got little kids up there saying ignorant things. I would like to see them the next 20 years and check out their occupations."

Deion, it would be the same as now -- professional critics.

John Clayton is the senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.