PHILADELPHIA – Of all the amazing things that happened at rain-soaked Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday night – both positive and negative for the Buffalo Bills in their crushing 37-34 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Eagles – there was one play that stood out towered over others.
And since this is the Bills, the franchise that has built a library and filled it with demoralizing defeats so iconic they warrant nicknames, of course it was a negative game, one that just begs belief resisted, and one that brings their 2023 season closer to the end.
The Buffalo defense, gasping for air at the end, felt it had done just enough to secure the Bills’ best win of the season. It rose and stopped the Eagles’ final drive of regulation at the Buffalo 41-yard line when Jordan Poyer intercepted a pass from Jalen Hurts intended for AJ Brown.
Facing fourth-and-17, the Eagles had no choice but to attempt a 59-yard field goal with 25 seconds left in the game. And given the rain and the sodden field, it seemed like it would take a miracle for Jake Elliott to drive the ball through the uprights that looked like they were in Scranton.
But no. Of course the ball went through, one of the greatest kicks in NFL history and that’s no exaggeration. It was the fourth-longest field goal ever made against the Bills, and it was the longest field goal in the NFL to force overtime since Jay Feely hit a 61-yarder for Arizona in 2012, of course against the Bills. And in this weather? Incredible.
“It was kind of heartbreaking to see that go through,” special teamer Siran Neal said. “It’s a great kick for them and we can see that it was definitely devastating to go through.”
It didn’t even seem possible that a ball from that distance could be knocked off the wet ground by all that falling water. And yet here we are. Earlier in the day, Texas kicker Matt Ammendola attempted a 58-yarder in the final seconds to send Houston’s game against the Jaguars into overtime. Ammendola was in the hall, but he fell narrowly and hit the crossbar. Inside. In perfect condition.
We’re talking about the bills again. Of course, Elliott found a way to shoot the ball to the promised land.
“That was crazy. That was crazy,” safety Micah Hyde said. “Of course it’s the NFL. You understand that you don’t think you’ve won the game until there’s time left on the clock, but that was a great kick.”
It stole a win from Buffalo as it tied the game 31-31, and after Tyler Bass gave the Bills the lead in overtime, the defense couldn’t repeat its performance on the previous drive, allowing the Eagles to rush Hurts 75 yards drive’ game-winning 12-yard touchdown run.
At 6-6, the Bills aren’t dead in the playoffs, but they’re clearly in big, big trouble.
This is how I evaluated the bills:
Pass offense: A-
Josh Allen played a heroic game as he passed for 339 yards and two touchdowns, including a go-ahead touchdown to Gabe Davis, with 1:52 left in the fourth quarter. He also ran for 81 yards and two touchdowns, giving him a 420-yard total offense day.
However, he threw a terrible interception deep in his own territory that set up an Eagles touchdown, and on Buffalo’s final offensive play in overtime, he had Davis open in the end zone, but the QB and WR miscommunicated as Davis headed in one direction went and the other had the ball. As a result, Buffalo settled for a field goal, which ended up being usurped by the Eagles’ OT TD.
Davis had his best game of the year with six catches for 105 yards, while Stefon Diggs was inconsistent, catching just six of 11 targets for 74 yards with a TD. Dalton Kincaid had a very quiet five catches for 38 yards and Khalil Shakir had three for 47 yards.
As for James Cook: Yes, he made a good catch-and-run for 29 yards, but he also dropped a surefire TD pass in the first quarter.
RUN OFFENSE: A-
Against the NFL’s No. 1 rushing defense, the Bills tried to establish the ground game on the sloppy field all night and finished with 173 yards, the most the Eagles have allowed this season. The Bills ran it 40 times for an average of 4.3 yards, with Allen leading the way with 81 yards, which he gained on a mix of targeted runs and scrambles.
Cook struggled, rushing for just 43 yards on 16 carries, while Latavius Murray and Ty Johnson combined for 49 yards. The offensive line, going up against a studded Eagles front, created some nice holes, particularly on the fourth quarter drive that ended with Davis’ touchdown catch that gave the Bills a 31-28 lead.
Pass Defense: C-
With 1:50 left in the third quarter, right after the Bills had taken a 24-14 lead, Hurts was 7 of 15 for 50 yards with an interception and even after hitting DeVonta Smith for 34 yards, he still went in fourth quarter quarter with only 84 yards passing.
And then it all fell apart for the Bills in a disastrous fourth quarter and overtime. Within two minutes early in the fourth, Hurts capped an all-too-easy 75-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Smith. And after the Allen interception, Hurts somehow found Olamide Zaccheaus for a 29-yard TD in the back of the end zone after running around to buy time on third-and-15, which was just a brutal failure in lost coverage by Hyde and Poyer.
Before that, the Bills had done really well. Because the Eagles didn’t have star RT Lane Johnson, the pass rush was electric in the first half but not as strong in the second half. Linval Joseph and Tim Settle each had sacks, Greg Rousseau and Leonard Floyd were constant nuisances, and Floyd hit a Hurts pass into the air in the first half that floated into the arms of Terrel Bernard, who intercepted it and scored the first touchdown of the game Bills prepared as they began this drive on the Philly 29.
Smith hurt the Bills with seven catches for 106 yards, but AJ Brown — despite catching a TD pass — only had five receptions for 37 yards. No one else had more than two catches and the Bills limited Hurts to 200 yards on 31 attempts.
RUN DEFENSE: D
The Bills did a good job early in the game, but the biggest problem with their run defense is that they always get an injury on a big play, and that happened early in the third quarter. D’Andre Swift only had seven yards at halftime, but he managed a 36-yard run that set the Eagles on a touchdown drive that cut Buffalo’s lead to 17-14.
Rousseau played a great game. He had three run tackles for loss of yardage and the first of those involved recovering a fumble from Hurts. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much help as the Eagles finished with 185 yards. Swift ultimately gained 80 yards, while Hurts made some damaging runs, including the game-winning 12-yarder in OT where he wasn’t even touched on a draw up the middle. LBs Bernard and Tyrel Dodson were weak against the run on several plays.
SPECIAL TEAMS: D
The weather conditions were obviously poor and Lincoln Financial Field is a grass field, so the shooting conditions were problematic, but that can’t be an excuse for Tyler Bass missing two field goals, and given the result, they were huge mistakes. The first was partially blocked by Jalen Carter from just 34 yards in the second quarter, and it missed right from 48 yards in the third. He made a 48-yarder in the second quarter and a 40-yarder in OT.
The Bills had a miserable night with penalties, 11 for 80 yards, including two on special teams. Neal had a personal foul that gave the Eagles 15 free yards to start their first touchdown drive of the first quarter. And Baylon Spector had a holding penalty that cost the Bills 10 yards of field position and forced a drive start from the 5 in the second quarter.
Sam Martin had three punts inside 20 yards, but his net was only 38.3 yards, eight yards worse than Eagles punter Braden Mann. Andy Isabella had a 25-yard kickoff return while Shakir parried a punt that he was lucky to recover.
COACHING: D
This team’s penalty issues are a problem. The first half was downright comical, and while I can completely understand why Shawn Hochuli’s team looked like they were making a few of those calls, that doesn’t explain all of Buffalo’s infractions. Sean McDermott must be appalled at the lack of discipline shown by his team, which is directly attributable to him. “I’m not going there,” he said when asked about the administration.
I thought Joe Brady called another very good game. I like that he remained patient with the run when he saw it working, especially on a sloppy night where ball handling was compromised in the passing game. Getting Allen back in the game is critical and he killed the Eagles with some big plays. The Bills finished the game with 40 minutes of possession, 505 yards, 29 first downs and an astonishing 13 of 22 on third down.
Defensively, it was the same story that has hurt the Bills all year. The defense played well for long stretches, but faltered in the big moments, as McDermott’s unit allowed 23 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. The Bills simply can’t finish games, and that’s a big reason why they’re a mediocre .500 team.
Sal Maiorana can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana and on threads @salmaiorana1. To subscribe to Sal’s Bills Blast newsletter, published twice a week during the season, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast