December 28, 2025
The Philadelphia Eagles improved to 11-5 after beating a very good Bills team in Buffalo. The defense was awesome. The offense, eh, not so much. As always, win, lose, or tie, we hand out 10 awards.
Heading into Week 17, the Bills had 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 led the NFL with 1,532 rushing yards, and Josh Allen led all quarterbacks with 552 rushing yards. They also used WR Khalil Shakir as an extension of the run game by throwing him quick passes and allowing him to get yards after the catch.
The Eagles held both Cook and Allen to under four yards per carry, and they held the Bills as a team to 1.5 fewer yards per carry than their season average.
| Bills rushing | Rush | Yards | YPC | TD |
| James Cook | 20 | 74 | 3.7 | 0 |
| Josh Allen | 7 | 27 | 3.9 | 2 |
| Ty Johnson | 5 | 15 | 3.0 | 0 |
| Ray Davis | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 33 | 120 | 3.6 | 0 |
Meanwhile, Shakir caught six passes but for only 35 yards.
The Eagles consistently put the Bills into long downs and distances, which brings us to our next award...
Jalyx Hunt had two sacks, while Jaelan Phillips, Moro Ojomo, and Jalen Carter had one each.
The pass rush has been gaining momentum over the last month, but they also had the benefit of playing against some pretty crappy Chargers, Raiders, and Commanders offensive lines. Playing well against a very good Bills offensive line is particularly meaningful heading into the playoffs. And oh hey, it didn't hurt that Jalen Carter is back in the lineup:
But beyond the sacks and the pressure the pass rush supplied, the Eagles also did an outstanding job of rushing with discipline, keeping Allen contained in the pocket, and not allowing him to scramble for positive gains.
One of the key moments of this game was an Eagles goal line stand late in the third quarter. Zack Baun played this absolutely beautifully.
Game of inches.
Carter had a blocked PAT after the Bills' first touchdown, and that would end up being the game-deciding point.
"When we get in our special teams meeting, they tell us everything that they see, who is, they call it... the 'fish,' who we feel like is the weakest guy," Carter said.
"I felt like the fish was on the side that we got the block on today."
The "fish" was probably O'Cyrus Torrence, who Carter pushed back at the snap, giving him enough penetration to get the block. Interestingly, Carter also blocked a kick while working against Torrence in the Eagles-Bills matchup in 2023.
Heading into this matchup it felt like the game could come down to who made their kicks, and who didn't. The Eagles made theirs; the Bills didn't make theirs.
Because Carter blocked a kick after the first Bills TD, the Bills were still behind by one when they scored their second TD.
Rather than kick the PAT and send the game to overtime, McDermott opted to go for two and win it in regulation. And, well, as you saw, they didn't get it.
Going for two was a certifiably insane decision, given that the Eagles' offense was absolutely horrendous throughout the entire second half, while the Bills' offense had woken up and begun having success against what had to be a tired Eagles defense.
In the first half, the Eagles had 174 yards, 64 on the ground, and 110 through the air. The run game was effective, and the receivers were getting open.
They did have a couple of questionable play calls, such as a 3rd and 9 run to Will Shipley, and a conservative quick screen to Dallas Goedert in the red zone that ended drives, but overall they had some rhythm and three drives ended with points.
It was a mildly encouraging half.
And then...
The Eagles' second half offense was an abomination. They gained total 16 yards, and got shut out.
On four of their five drives, their first two plays were runs. And when those runs weren't successful, the Eagles were in long downs and distances, and they could not convert on 3rd down, as Jalen Hurts went 0 for 7 in the second half.
The Eagles blew a 21-0 lead against the Cowboys and a 17-3 fourth quarter lead against the Broncos earlier this season, mainly because the offense went ultra conservative and kept asking the defense to bail them out.
Nick Sirianni and the Eagles' offensive staff apparently learned nothing from those games.
Brown went over 1,000 receiving yards on the season in this game, the sixth time he has done so in his career. Even in a down year, he put up decent numbers.
Goedert caught his 11th TD pass of the season. That's the most TD receptions by a tight end in a single season in Eagles franchise history.
With the Panthers' loss during the early afternoon games, the Eagles clinched at least the 3 seed before their own game even began. They also put pressure on the Bears, whose "magic number" for the 2 seed is one, in that they need one win or one Eagles loss to clinch the 2 seed. As of this writing, the Bears are down 28-21 at halftime against the 49ers.
If the Bears come back and win their Sunday night game against the Niners, the Eagles will be locked into the 3 seed. The Eagles will then make the very obvious decision to rest starters against the Commanders in a meaningless game Week 18.
If the Bears lose, then that becomes a very interesting decision. The 2 seed is meaningful. It's the difference between playing at home or on the road in the Divisional Round if both the 2 seed and the 3 seed advance. That's valuable.
Of course, if the Eagles play their starters and win, they only get the 2 seed if the Bears lose to the Lions. There are no guarantees. And in 2023, A.J. Brown got hurt in a Week 18 game against the Giants and did not play in the Wild Card Round against the Bucs. So there's risk.
The Eagles might think they can beat the trash Commanders with their backups anyway. My guess is that they'd still probably be favored, as the Commanders would likely be starting Josh Johnson.
So, I guess we'll see. Of course, if this is what the offense is going to look like in the playoffs, then they're not going to go very far.
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