MINNEAPOLIS - Donovan McNabb strolled around the Philadelphia locker room with a thin white sleeve on his right leg.
After a vintage performance Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, that's about the only sign left of a major knee injury that threatened his career nearly 11 months ago.
McNabb threw for 333 yards and a touchdown and showed plenty of the mobility he appeared to have lost after surgery, leading the Eagles to a 23-16 victory.
"I definitely feel like the burst is coming back," said McNabb, who displayed nimble feet and even ran a quarterback draw in the second half. "That gives me the opportunity to do a lot of different things that I'm used to."
The five-time Pro Bowler looked more like the guy who led the Eagles to the Super Bowl three years ago than the tentative veteran who had been hearing calls from those notoriouslyrestless Philly fans to start the Kevin Kolb era.
"His demise, I think, is much over-exaggerated," said Vikings Coach Brad Childress, who spent seven years with McNabb in Philadelphia as a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator under his longtime friend, Andy Reid.
McNabb took advantage of the league's worst pass defense, completing 23 of 36 passes and moving around in the pocket like he never had surgery to get his Eagles (3-4) back on track.
Minnesota rookie running back Adrian Peterson was bottled up for most of the day by Philadelphia's sure-tackling, hard-charging defense, rushing for 70 yards on 20 carries.
Without Peterson breaking long touchdown runs and down to their No. 3 quarterback, the Vikings (2-5) didn't have enough to challenge a rejuvenated McNabb.
Sports, Pages 18 on 10/29/2007