The Eagles Survive the Bills in Buffalo
The playoffs are coming, Philly's defensive dominance, and Tom Brady being weird
In 1974, after years of arduous planning, French high-wire artist Philippe Petit strung a steel cable between the Twin Towers 1,300 feet above Manhattan. Petit strutted onto a 1-inch thick cable and balanced on the high wire for 45 minutes. A death-defying act of immense risk where the smallest possible variable could be the difference between standing and falling. As Petit was later quoted as saying, “Life should be lived on the edge.” If that’s the case, then Petit would love the 2025 Philadelphia Eagles.
The Eagles are in a dance with destiny. It’s imprecise yet balanced. Frustrating yet tantalizing. Every time they lose their footing, they learn how to dance again. Every time the record stops, the music finds a way to play again. The Birds escaped Orchard Park by narrowly beating the Buffalo Williams 13-12 in a game that showcased their high-wire act. A dominant Philly defense overwhelmed the Bills as a sputtering Philly offense failed to create any room for error. They beat Josh Allen (league MVP, large person, and man with two first names), who was previously 15-1 in December dating back to 2022, according to The Philly Special Show’s Anthony DiBona. This was the first time Allen had lost in December in 4 years. The Bills have now lost four straight matchups to the Eagles dating back to 2015.
In Philly’s dance with destiny, the defense dictates the tempo. Vic Fangio’s unit suffocated a Bills offense that features at least two superhumans in Josh Allen and the league’s most potent running back, James Cook (who we should start calling The Chef, I’m sending a letter to Roger Goodell stat). This defense was their kryptonite. The Eagles held the Williams to their lowest point total of the season. Since the Jaelen Phillips trade in early November, this Eagles defense has been truly elite and the best in the league (if the Texans didn’t exist). Playing against Vic Fangio’s defense is like fighting your own shadow. Just when you think you’ve left it behind, it’s right on top of you.
They did their damage by answering every jab with a haymaker. They specialize in halting momentum. Freezing time. A 50-yard catch by Brandin Cooks in the first quarter was met with a Zack Baun forced fumble on the next play. A miraculous 32-yard catch by Tyrell Shavers over Quinyon Mitchell is followed by a goal-line stand. Buffalo’s first touchdown (which came with a little over 5 minutes remaining in the game) was met with a blocked extra point by Jalen Carter, a moment so important that it directly led to Buffalo’s failed two-point conversion at the end of the game. This defense met every challenge to keep this team alive. They are inevitable, like another medical drama airing on Fox or Tom Brady failing to look like a real human person on air and not a sentient wax figure. This Eagles defense is a sledgehammer that breaks you down, hit by hit, brick by brick.
Yet this team remains a paradox. The most talented offense in the league that struggles to score points, and the youngest defense in the league that plays like veterans. There is a lot to be frustrated about after this game, but sometimes escaping with a win is enough. Beating a championship-caliber team like the Buffalo Williams in their house is as affirming as it gets. There is a reason that winning is unfixed from perfection. Perfection is a standard, not an expectation. It’s a white whale to be hunted maniacally. Perfection is infused in this team’s process, but it doesn’t define them. Winning does because winning is all that matters. And this team understands what it takes to win, especially when the cards aren’t in your favor. That’s championship DNA.
The two-step with destiny continues. The Eagles are currently the 3-seed in the NFC bracket. If they beat Washington next week at home and the Bears lose to the Detroit Lions, the Eagles will lock up the 2-seed and have a home matchup with the Green Bay Packers in the wild card round. With this win, Nick Sirianni surpassed Paul Brown as second on the list of head coaches with the most wins in their first 5 seasons. The Birds have never missed the playoffs in his tenure. We are in a special era of Philly football.
We’ll see where the Eagles’ high-wire act lands as they continue to straddle the fine line between winning and losing. We can only hope that the cable gets a little thicker. But until then, this team is more than prepared to find balance when their life is on the line.
GAME RECAP
Rain poured down on Orchard Park throughout this game, as the Eagles and Bills fought it out in rough 37-degree conditions. After the Birds went 3-and-out to start the game, Josh Allen and the Bills’ offense moved the ball down the field. On 3rd and 7 from their own 41-yard line, Allen was sacked by Zack Baun, but a holding call on Eagles safety Marcus Epps gave Buffalo a fresh set of downs. A Jalyx Hunt sack on an ensuing 3rd and 7 forced Buffalo to punt.
Philadelphia gained a little traction on their second possession thanks to an early Saquon Barkley run, but the drive stalled out after a big drop on 2nd and 8 by Dallas Goedert put this team behind the sticks. On Buffalo’s next possession, Josh Allen hit a newly resurrected Brandin Cooks for a 50-yard catch to give Buffalo the ball on Philly’s 30-yard line. Two plays later, Zack Baun forced Josh Allen to fumble the ball, which was recovered by Eagles rookie linebacker Jihaad Campbell. Eagles ball.
On 2nd and 6, Jalen Hurts hit A.J. Brown for 27 yards off play-action to bring the ball to Buffalo’s 14-yard line. The Eagles capped off the drive with a play-action pass to Dallas Goedert for the first touchdown of the game. 7-0 Eagles.
After forcing Buffalo to punt on their next possession, a Bills player stumbled into the knee of punt returner Britain Covey, resulting in a 15-yard penalty. On 3rd and 4 from Philly’s 29-yard line, Jalen threw a beautiful tight-window throw to DeVonta Smith between two defenders for a first down. Later in the drive, on 3rd and 10 from Philly’s 40-yard line, Hurts narrowly escaped pressure in the pocket and rolled out to his right and threw a dime down the sideline to A.J. Brown for 19 yards.
A few plays later, Hurts tossed a perfect ball to A.J. Brown down the sideline right outside of the endzone, but Brown couldn’t haul it in with one hand after being held by TreDavious White. The Eagles ended up settling for a 47-yard field goal from Jake Elliot to widen their lead to 10-0.
On the Bills’ next possession, Cooper DeJean recovered a James Cook fumble, but upon review, the refs ruled that Cook was down by contact. On the next play, Jalen Carter rushed up the middle to destroy Josh Allen for a 9-yard sack. Reed Blankenship ended the drive with a huge hit on Bills receiver Khalil Shakir on 3rd and 18.
With 2:49 before halftime, the Eagles got the ball back and started working their two-minute offense. Barkley kicked off the drive with chunk runs of 9 and 16 yards. Hurts lobbed an 8-yard pass to A.J. Brown on a comeback route after getting his arm hit on the follow-through. Later, Hurts hit a strike to DeVonta Smith on a comeback route for 14 yards. The Eagles ended up settling for a Jake Elliot 28-yard field goal to bring their lead to 13-0. This is when the offense shut it down for the rest of the day.
After halftime, the Eagles and Bills’ offense traded punts in an uneventful third quarter. With 6:03 left in the third quarter, the Bills’ offense got a jump start with a 26-yard pass interference penalty called on Quinyon Mitchell. Two plays later, Josh Allen found Bills wide receiver Tyrell Shavers for a 32-yard catch against great coverage by Mitchell to give Buffalo the ball right outside of the endzone. Right outside of the goal line, Eagles safety Marcus Epps made big back-to-back plays, stopping a Khalil Shakir reception at the 2-yard line to prevent a touchdown before stopping James Cook behind the line of scrimmage on third down. On fourth down from the 3-yard line, Josh Allen scrambled to his right towards the endzone, but a hit by Zack Baun altered his momentum and stopped him short of the goal line. Turnover on downs.
With 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Buffalo went on an 11-play drive that lasted over 5 minutes. They used a mix of their potent running game and timely third-down conversions to work their way down the field. With a little over 5 minutes remaining, Allen capped off the drive with a QB sneak, giving Buffalo their first score of the game. But Jalen Carter rose to block the extra point to keep the score at 13-6.
After another 3-and-out by the Eagles, the Bills had one more chance to tie the game with 3:21 remaining. After a 6-yard run by James Cook and a first-down conversion to Brandin Cooks, Josh Allen hit Tyrell Shavers for 25 yards. Allen then found Brandin Cooks for a David Tyree-esque catch for 36 yards against Marcus Epps to give Buffalo the ball at Philly’s 10-yard line with a little over 1 minute remaining. After a 2-yard pass to Dawson Knox that was originally ruled a touchdown was overturned, Josh Allen scored on a QB sneak to make it 13-12. The blocked extra point put Buffalo behind, so they decided to go for two to win the game. Josh Allen targeted Khalil Shakir in the endzone but threw the pass short of his intended receiver. The Eagles hold on to win.
TRENDING UP
Jalen Carter: I don’t know what they did to heal that man’s shoulders so quickly, but I would like the same thing done to mine. I’m convinced they gave him the Jax in Mortal Kombat procedure. Carter was a monster in this game. He got relentless pressure on Josh Allen, including a 9-yard sack where he literally turned Allen into dust (not literally, I’m just using dramatic effect). Carter had a big batted pass on the Bills’ last drive to halt momentum, but his biggest play of all was on special teams, blocking the extra point after the Williams’ first field goal. Carter is a maniac, and if he keeps playing this way, this defense is going to be hard to score against.
Zack Baun: The bald and the beautiful. Baun is a gift. I hope you expressed your gratitude for him this holiday season. Zack Baun is the true meaning of Christmas. It seems like he makes a game-defining play every week. He had a few in this game. Baun forced a Josh Allen fumble that led to the Eagles’ first touchdown drive. On 4th and goal, he made a touchdown-saving tackle on Josh Allen just short of the endzone. He had great coverage on a deep shot to James Cook in the fourth quarter that could’ve been a big completion for Buffalo. Our boy was “Baun one” (I’ll show myself out).
Jihaad Campbell: Imagine having your starting linebacker out with an injury, and you have Jihaad Campbell coming off the bench. That’s like missing your company softball game because you stubbed your toe in the office, but Derek Jeter is filling in for you. Jihaad was a menace early in the season, and he seems to have developed his game even more playing behind Nakobe Dean. He was everywhere in this game. Campbell recovered the Zack Baun forced fumble to get the ball back for the Birds. He had incredible coverage against James Cook multiple times throughout this game and was around the ball constantly.
Braden Mann: Here at Burds of a Feather, we pay our respects to the most important position in professional sports: Punters. Braden Mann was cooking in this one. He had, what might be, the best punt I’ve ever seen in my life. A 65-yard beauty that landed right at the 1-yard line. Unfortunately, it didn’t count because Kelee Ringo touched the ball while his foot was in the endzone for no reason whatsoever. Kelee Ringo doesn’t want us to have nice things. Nonetheless, it was sick. Mann had a few great punts throughout the game and evaded pressure from Buffalo’s special teams unit to get some impossible kicks off. It made a difference in a game that was defined by field position. Shout out to our Punt King.
TRENDING DOWN
Second Half Offense: What is there to say about this offense that hasn’t been said already? They had 17 yards in the second half. 17 YARDS! Jalen Hurts didn’t record a single reception after halftime. They possessed the ball for 8:45 in the second half. Buffalo possessed the ball for 21:15 in the second half. The offense played like a NASCAR driver who, after being in first place up until halfway through the race, decided to park his car in the middle of the track. They are the kid in the group project who got an A despite writing their portion of the presentation in Wingdings. They are immensely talented and can put up points when everything is going well. Hurts looked composed and evaded pressure all day. But this team (the players and coaches) struggles to handle defensive adjustments.
STankquon: After a big week against the Commanders, Saquon Barkley and Tank Bigsby were inconsistent in this one. Barkley had some timely chunk plays on scoring drives. There were moments when it seemed like he was gaining yards at will. But in the second half, the faucet turned off. Bigsby’s participation was disjointed, as he saw an equal split with Will Shipley. Speaking of the running game…
Offensive Line: This line had moments where they looked dominant in this game. But they struggled to handle pressure from the Bills’ defense or to make an average Bills rushing defense pay. Hurts was running for his life in the second half with no time to find answers. Running room for STankquon was nonexistent. Fred Johnson, at one point, got knocked over. We need Lane Johnson back like we need air in our lungs.
HOT TAKES
This Team is Built for a Run: Now, I know this is kind of counterintuitive to my last section, but hear me out. The Eagles have a truly elite defense. Second best in the league. They rendered Josh Allen’s superhuman-ass useless for most of this game. The NFC is wide-open. It’s giving real “any given Sunday” vibes. If the Eagles’ defensive effectiveness continues, then an erratic offense could be enough to get it done. Offensively, the Eagles are inconsistent, not terrible. This defense is so dominant that it gives you significant room for error offensively, as we saw today. And despite their struggles, it’s an offense that’s improving. A.J. Brown is top 5 in most wide receiver metrics in the last month. Dallas Goedert has become a potent red-zone weapon. Patullo and Sirianni are implementing more under center play action, shifting the pocket through boots and roll-outs, and utilizing a screen game more regularly. I don’t think they’ll become a high-powered offense, but if they can be at least a little above average, it may be all you need to work through a difficult NFC.
THINGS ONLY I CARE ABOUT
Tom Brady’s Glove: Tom Brady does his best to act like a real human person as a broadcaster and not some sort of robot-vampire hybrid. He failed in this one by having only one glove on when the camera panned to him and Kevin Burkhardt in the booth. Sources say Brady was paying homage to Michael Jackson as he just listened to Thriller for the first time before the game. Brady also at one point called Brandin Cooks “cookie” and referred to Josh Allen as the Bills’ “big booty quarterback.” I wonder if, when he powers down at night in his robot fueling station if he thinks to himself, “man, I really killed it out there today.”
