Philadelphia, Pa. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Bills dropped to 6-6 on the 2023 season after a 37-34 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in the "City of Brotherly Love".
Here are my Arrows Up and Down, which I start with:
ARROW DOWN:
Defense in crunch time... again
Once again, the defense had a chance to close out the game - twice! - and couldn’t do it.
Up 31-28 with 1:52 remaining in regulation, they allowed the Eagles to drive 44 yards in nine plays to kick a 59-yard field goal to tie it.
Then up 34-31 in overtime, the Eagles drove 75 yards in nine plays to score the game-winning touchdown.
Second half defense
The Eagles had just 99 yards of offense in the first half. The Bills defense was dominating them.
In the second half and overtime, Philadelphia had 279 yards and scored 30 points, including three-straight touchdown drives.
Sean McDermott playing passive and conservative when it mattered most
The passive part of this goes right back to the previous two Arrows Down.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott sacrificed yards for not getting beat deep both at the end of regulation and in overtime. And in both instances, the Eagles had far too easy of a time moving the ball, and it cost the Bills.
With 20 seconds left regulation, Josh Allen playing his best game of the season, and with one timeout still left, McDermott elected to sit on the ball instead of giving Allen and the offense a chance to go about 45 yards and try a game-winning field goal.
The reason there was one one timeout remaining was because McDermott elected to use it to ice Eagles kicker Jake Elliott, effectively giving up another stoppage of the clock after getting the ball back.
Then in overtime, on 4th-and-6 from the Eagles’ 22-yard line, he elected to kick the field goal, even though Philadelphia had just scored on its previous four possessions, including three touchdowns, and had 204 yards of offense in the second half.
Allowing a Hail Mary-type touchdown
While it wasn’t specifically a Hail Mary, Jalen Hurts was just trying to give his receiver any chance he could when he launched a pass 29 yards to the back corner of the end zone that was caught by Olamide Zaccheaus over Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde for a go-ahead touchdown with 11:07 to play.
It was Zaccheaus’ only catch, and even only target of the game.
Red zone defense
The Eagles were inside the Bills' 20-yard line four times and scored touchdowns on each one.
Miscommunication on pass in overtime
The Bills had the game won on third down on their overtime possession.
Gabe Davis beat the Eagles' secondary and was open for a touchdown. However, it was an option route - an option to go inside or outside. He chose outside. Josh Allen threw the ball inside, and the pass fell incomplete.
The Bills ended up settling for the field goal.
James Cook’s drop
On the second offensive drive of the game, Cook dropped a perfectly thrown pass that would’ve gone for a touchdown. Instead, the Bills got into penalty trouble and ended up being backed out of field goal range.
Tyler Bass
Bass missed a 48-yard field goal attempt on the Bills’ opening possession of the second half. It would have put them up 20-7.
He also had a 34-yarder blocked late in the first half.
Penalties
The Bills were called for 11 penalties for 80 yards, 10 of which coming in the first half for 75 yards!
Officiating
I’m not one to usually complain about the officiating, but this game was incredibly lopsided one way.
The Eagles were called for just one penalty in the first half, while the Bills had 11 total go against them.
Then there was the intentional grounding call and no horse-collar penalty, as well as a clear pass interference against Stefon Diggs, and several others the Bills have a right to be upset about.
ARROW UP:
Josh Allen
Allen was pretty remarkable most of the game, completing 29-of-51 passes (in the steady rain) for 339 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 81 yards and two touchdowns, combining for 420 yards of offense and four touchdowns.
Joe Brady/The offense
Offensive coordinator Joe Brady called an aggressive, but smart game on Sunday. The Bills ran 92 plays, held the ball for over 40 minutes, gained 505 yards and scored 34 points.
You couldn’t ask for much more from that side of the ball.
Third down offense and defense
The Bills were 13-for-22 on third down (59.1%), and held the Eagles to just 4-for-11 on third down (36.4%).
Red zone offense
The Bills were 4-for-5 converting touchdowns once inside the Eagles' red zone.
Gabe Davis
Davis had his best game of the season, catching six passes for 105 yards and the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
Stefon Diggs
Diggs caught six passes for 74 yards and a touchdown.
Defense on A.J. Brown
Brown did have a touchdown, but the Bills mostly held him in check. He caught five passes for 37 yards.
Leonard Floyd and Greg Rousseau
The Bills' defensive ends dominated the Eagles' offensive line in the first half, and finished the game with a combined five tackles, including three for loss, and a pass breakup.
They were forcing Hurts out of the pocket quite often.
