December 26, 2025
David Butler/Imagn Images
QB Josh Allen and RB James Cook lead a potent Bills rushing attack.
The 10-5 Philadelphia Eagles have clinched the NFC East. With a win over the 11-4 Buffalo Bills, they can clinch at least the 3 seed, and they are still alive for the 2 seed. And so, the Birds will play their starters and try to win this game.
Here are our five things to watch.
Heading into Week 17, the Bills have the No. 1 rushing attack in the NFL.
| Bills rushing offense | Stat | NFL rank |
| Rushing yards per game | 158.9 | 1 |
| Rushing first downs per game | 8.4 | 2 |
| Rushing TDs | 27 | 1 |
| Rush yards per attempt | 5.1 | 2 |
| Run:pass ratio | 50.3% run | 1 |
| % of runs resulting in 1st down | 38.9% | 5 |
| Runs of 20+ yards | 15 | 2 |
| Runs of 40+ yards | 6 | 2 |
James Cook leads the NFL with 1532 rushing yards. He is a smaller back, at 5'11, 190. His greatest trait is the ability to sort of slalom through defenders while not decelerating. He's not a pile mover, and yet, he's an effective inside runner because he hits the hole hard, and he has a knack for squirming for extra yards after he is already wrapped up.
The one downside to his game is that he also leads all NFL running backs this season with 6 fumbles.
Meanwhile, Josh Allen leads all NFL quarterbacks with 552 rushing yards. He is a 6'5, 237-pound beast who dishes out more punishment than he absorbs. Both runners have a knack for finding the end zone, with 12 TDs apiece. Like Cook, Allen has had his share of fumbles as well, with 5 on the season.
The Bills' rushing leaders:
| Bills rushing | Rush | Yards | YPC | TD |
| James Cook | 287 | 1532 | 5.3 | 12 |
| Josh Allen | 105 | 552 | 5.3 | 12 |
| Ty Johnson | 32 | 149 | 4.7 | 2 |
| Ray Davis | 36 | 120 | 3.3 | 0 |
The Bills can pop big runs, and they're also excellent in short-yardage situations. If you'll recall, these weasels voted to ban the Tush Push because of "safety" reasons, and yet they continue to run their versions of it quite a bit.
The Eagles' ability to stop the Bills' rushing attack is the biggest key to the game.
The Bills' passing offense is productive, but really only because Josh Allen is so good. They don't have anything close to a star receiver. Here are their receiving leaders this season:
| Bills receiving | Rec | Yards | YPC | TD |
| Khalil Shakir | 66 | 684 | 10.4 | 4 |
| Dalton Kincaid | 36 | 523 | 14.5 | 5 |
| Dawson Knox | 29 | 363 | 12.5 | 3 |
| Keon Coleman | 36 | 355 | 9.9 | 4 |
| Josh Palmer | 20 | 290 | 14.5 | 0 |
| James Cook | 32 | 288 | 9.0 | 2 |
Though there are no stars, Shakir's superpower is yards after the catch. He finished second in the NFL among wide receivers with 597 yards after the catch last season, behind only Ja'Marr Chase. In 2025, Shakir has 515 yards after the catch, third in the NFL among wide receivers, behind Chase and Puka Nacua.
If you notice above, Shakir only has 684 receiving yards on the season, meaning that over 75 percent of his receiving yards come after the catch. He's really just an extension of the Bills' elite run game, as the vast majority of his catches are near the line of scrimmage.
The Eagles will have to do a great job of tackling not just on run defense, but also on short throws to Shakir and the Bills' two tight ends.
The Bills' offensive line looks like this:
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| Dion Dawkins | David Edwards | Connor McGovern | O'Cyrus Torrance | Spencer Brown |
The Bills don't have any superstar players along their offensive line. The closest they have to one is Dion Dawkins, who has made five straight Pro Bowls, but isn't in the same elite category as guys like Lane Johnson, Penei Sewell, Tristan Wirfs, Trent Williams, etc.
The rest of the line is filled with good, solid starters, with no obvious weaknesses. They're also healthy, as the above five guys form the intended starting offensive line. None of them are even on the injury report, much less injured reserve.
The Bills have allowed 35 sacks this season, which is a middle of the road number. It's only that high because Josh Allen is a monster quarterback who is willing to hold onto the football longer than usual because he has the ability to shrug off pass rushers and make plays down the field while on the run. On average, his snap to throw time is 2.93 seconds. (That's high.)
The Eagles' pass rush has taken off the last three weeks, but they have also had the benefit of facing shaky Chargers, Raiders, and Commanders offensive lines.
They should have their full pass rushing arsenal available this week with Jalen Carter's return to the lineup, but this is also the best line they have played against in a while.
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Usually, when a team runs the ball well offensively, they're usually pretty good against the run on the other side of the ball. It's often an organizational philosophy/priority to win in the run game. Not Buffalo. They can't stop the run.
| Bills rushing defense | Stat | NFL rank |
| Rushing yards per game | 144.3 | 30 |
| Rushing first downs per game | 8.2 | 30 |
| Rushing TDs | 24 | 32 |
| Rush yards per attempt | 5.4 | 31 |
| Run:pass ratio | 47.2 | 27 |
| % of runs resulting in 1st down | 30.7% | 31 |
| Runs of 20+ yards | 13 | 27 |
| Runs of 40+ yards | 7 | 32 |
After a sluggish first three months of the season, the Eagles have averaged 174.7 rushing yards per game in three games in December. This matchup will be an opportunity to keep that momentum going.
Both of these teams have kicker issues.
Elliott missed three field goals against the Commanders Week 16, from distances of 43, 57, and 52 yards. The 57-yard miss won't count against his stats because the Commanders were offsides. He has six misses (including the one that didn't count) in the last five games. The Eagles opted not to work out any kickers this week, despite Elliott's continued struggles. We'll see if that decision burns them.
The Bills' kicker since 2020 has been Tyler Bass, who has been over 80% every year of his career. He had surgery to correct a hip injury that persisted throughout training camp, and he never kicked for Buffalo this season. The Bills turned to Matt Prater, who is 18 of 20 on field goals this season, and 43 of 46 on PATs.
Prater suffered a quad injury on his right (kicking) leg, and the Bills then tried Michael Badgley, who missed a PAT in his first game with the Bills Week 16 against the Browns. He also had a kickoff land short of the landing zone in that game. The Bills worked out three kickers this week — Younghoe Koo, Gavin Stewart, and Maddux Trujillo.
These are two evenly matched teams. The difference could be whichever team is able to make its kicks.
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