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On Sunday, the 10-5 Philadelphia Eagles headed to Orchard Park, New York to take on Josh Allen and the 11-4 Buffalo Bills. It remains unclear how much the game mattered for the Eagles in the NFC playoff picture, but the Bills are one of the Super Bowl favorites in the AFC. This would certainly serve as a late-season litmus test for the Eagles.
Well, the defense certainly passed. They gave up 12 points to an excellent Buffalo offense all game. But the Eagles offense, yet again, forced that group to play perfect football. They closed the game with four straight three-and-outs.
The Eagles defense gave up two long touchdown drives on their final two possessions as a result, perhaps leaking some oil. But the Bills went for two with a few seconds left in an effort to win the game after the second of those scores, and Josh Allen missed on an open pass. The Eagles hung on for a 13-12 win.
With the win, the Eagles are now 11-5 entering a Week 18 game against the Washington Commanders. The question is how many of the Eagles starters will play in that game.
Here are the observations from the PHLY Eagles staff.
EJ Smith
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — If ever a game could represent a season.
The Eagles’ 13-12 win against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday almost perfectly captured the essence of the team this year. A dominant defense capable of outweighing a shaky offense when it matters most.
The Eagles have, as Jeffrey Lurie put it last month, a Super Bowl defense, once again proven Sunday in what could be a Super Bowl preview. Even against one of the NFL’s most efficient rushing teams led by one of the league’s best quarterbacks, the Eagles defense showed that the last few weeks of dominant play weren’t a blip.
Another obvious observation? Plugging Jalen Carter back into a defensive front that had already spent the second half of the season wrecking games with regularity only reinforces the notion that this defense can bully its way to Santa Clara almost regardless of what the offensive output looks like.
That offensive output will leave plenty of concerns, especially if this is a “pencils down” situation in which the Eagles rest the majority of their starters in the regular-season finale. An absolutely stagnant second-half showing with a nonexistent run game isn’t the best place to leave things, but it’s also exactly what this offense has been for most of the year already.
Fran Duffy
Well … that got a little nuts!
The Eagles went out and took care of business on Sunday afternoon against a good Bills team that presented problems on both sides of the ball, especially in those conditions. The offense avoided the big mistake and was able to hit on a few chunk gains to set up scores in the first half. The defense was suffocating and pressured Josh Allen from start to finish. Even the special teams felt good in this game on first blush.
Going back to the tape tomorrow, I’m excited to really lock in on the defensive line and see what this group did to harass Allen, who felt like he was under duress from jump street. The defensive interior, in particular, really seemed to manhandle the guards for the Bills. Offensively, Jalen Hurts was able to connect on a couple of downfield shots, which seemed closer to what we saw (conceptually) a couple of weeks ago. The run game kept them on schedule for certain drives, as the offense was able to avoid going three-and-out until late in the third quarter (which is an eternity for this offense in 2025).
Was it perfect? No. The offense was basically non-existent for most of the second half. But it was enough to go on the road and beat a playoff team and the reigning NFL MVP. If you’re a fan, I think you take that and move on to Week 18 against the Commanders as one final tune-up before the playoffs.
Bo Wulf
Midway through the fourth quarter, the Eagles defense held Josh Allen to the second-worst EPA per dropback of his career and his worst since 2019. Take off the nerd glasses and say the easier truth, which is that the Eagles defense looks like the fiercest in the league. Boy do they beat people up. Were it not for the feckless second-half performance by the Eagles’ offense, this game would have been a whole lot more comfortable for Eagles fans. One first down on five second-half possessions for Jalen Hurts & co. is embarrassing, and no doubt affected the legs on defense down the stretch. But if the Eagles are locked into the No. 3 seed (with a Bears win tonight), they should feel bullish about their playoff chances with the benefit of a rest week.
Jamie Lynch
Man, Jaelan Phillips & Jihaad Campbell with a GREAT early play to recover a fumble after a huge gain by the Bills! Eagles immediately capitalize on the Josh Allen mistake & find Dallas Goedert in the end zone to open up the games scoring! The first quarter flew by.
The defense in the second quarter was incredibly impressive. Not only were they shutting down a Bills offense, but they were hitting with the force of the steel curtain. Just physically dominating the Bills offense. A very encouraging thing to see! Would’ve loved to have had seven points before the half, but not the worst thing to see Jake Elliot go 2-2 in the first half.
I am blown away at the over-turned call on DeVonta’s Smith’s catch. That’s the fourth awful missed call today by the refs. 1- Jalen being hit out of bounds in front of the ref 2- A clear AJ Brown PI missed call by the goal line (also, AJ, sell that better please!) & 3- that over-turned call was just flat out horrendous. If that’s not a catch, I don’t know what is & isn’t anymore. And 4th, a completely soft Quinyon Mitchell PI.
Man, talk about a nerve racking experience down the stretch. Defense had to be absolutely gassed since they were on the field the ENTIRE SECOND HALF!
SCREW YOU JOSH ALLEN! NEVER A DOUBT!
Rich Hofmann
For a game that very well might not matter — Chicago still has the inside track to the No. 2 seed, and even if the Bears lose tonight, I might give Tanner McKee his annual Week 18 start and let the backups try to beat Washington — this performance still felt meaningful for the Eagles defense.
Heading into this game, I still had the Chicago game on Black Friday in the back of my mind. Sure, this Eagles defense had put together a few dominant performances, but the Bears ran for 281 yards against this group. What would this Eagles defense look like against another elite offense that can gash teams on the ground?
The answer: Back to dominant, for the most part. The defensive line was menacing. Jalyx Hunt and Zack Baun were everywhere. And sure, they leaked a little bit of oil on the final two drives. But that is because the offense forces them to play A+ football for 60 minutes.
And the offense? After moving the ball well before the break (and, frankly, they had a four-point penalty call that went against them on what should have been pass interference against A.J. Brown), that second half was terrible football. Four straight three-and-outs. They should, yet again, feel troubled about how much they are putting on the defense’s plate every week.
I have never seen such a talented a team pile up three-and-outs like this. But that is what this offense has done all season. They probably are not going to play another meaningful game before the playoffs.
One last, smaller thing: Who knows how many playoff games that the Eagles end up hosting, but they should probably want to play in the nastiest conditions possible. They have played a bunch of cold, windy, wet games.
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