PHILADELPHIA — First halves don’t matter in Philadelphia. Neither do third quarters. And on a rain-soaked Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field, where Jake Elliott drilled a 59-yard field goal into a 6 mph gust to force an eventual 37-34 overtime victory over the Buffalo Bills, neither did the fourth quarter.
Seriously. The only reason anyone in the Eagles fan base should pay attention to the first few hours of their football team’s games is because they could not otherwise comprehend just how utterly astounding it is that this team keeps coming back. This is the Eagles’ fifth comeback win after trailing at halftime this season — their fourth in four straight games. Sunday was their most ridiculous rally, after falling behind 24-14, and their largest deficit entering the fourth quarter yet.
Even coin tosses don’t matter. Ask Brandon Graham. Ask the Eagles defensive end how he stood at the 50 in a steady downpour, watched Bills wideout Gabe Davis joyously gesture to the referee Buffalo’s decision to receive, stepped forward with a shake of his head and said, “It don’t matter.”
“They were so quick to say, ‘Receive! Receive!'” Graham told The Athletic. “I said, ‘It don’t matter.’ Because, you know, if we got it first or not, we were going to go down and score. That’s just our mindset.”
How can someone so confidently expect to prevail over what ought to be insurmountable? Where does that belief come from when it’s so often that team’s self-inflicted mistakes that help dig the hole that for many teams would become their grave? Maybe that’s why Jalen Hurts appeared to be so conflicted while speaking with reporters moments after supplying the walk-off, 12-yard touchdown run that may become the Eagles quarterback’s MVP moment.
RUN @jalenhurts RUN pic.twitter.com/8CwALpmZKd
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 27, 2023
Hurts played dreadful in the first half. Beyond scoring on another Brotherly Shove sneak, he was 4-of-11 passing for 33 yards. He threw a second-quarter pass that was batted at the line, intercepted at the Eagles’ 31 and quickly led to a Bills touchdown that, in an alternate universe — one in which distressfully long field goals and desperate third-and-long heaves fall short — would have been Buffalo’s game-changing score.
Hurts instead completed 14-of-20 second-half passes for 167 yards and three touchdowns within a modified game plan by offensive coordinator Brian Johnson that seized success by fielding more four-wide receiver and two-back offensive packages. Hurts, a third-year full-time starter whose five-year, $255 million contract extension made him the fourth-highest paid quarterback in the NFL, still insisted that he felt “weird,” that he hasn’t yet met his “standard,” that he spent a few moments in reflection before sitting down at the podium because, well, “What am I supposed to say?”
“I shake my head and I don’t really know how to feel sometimes,” Hurts said.
No, Philadelphia’s first-half gaffes cannot be ignored. They very well could become the tendencies that eventually damn a playoff-bound franchise that’s frequently testing the limitations of Hurts’ heroism. Beyond three first-half drives that produced three punts while totaling just 19 yards, Hurts and running back Kenneth Gainwell botched a handoff with 64 seconds left before halftime that Buffalo recovered at Philly’s 36. Five plays later, Bills quarterback Josh Allen hummed a 13-yard touchdown pass between a barrier of defenders to Stefon Diggs that gave the Bills a 17-7 lead.
GO DEEPER
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“It couldn’t have been much worse of a first half,” said Nick Sirianni, who, at 33-12, now holds the highest regular-season win percentage by an Eagles head coach.
The first drive of the second half wasn’t much better. Said starting left tackle Jordan Mailata: “We went out there and s— the bed.” Three plays: A sack. An incompletion. A screen that gained nothing but more boos from a sodden crowd. But the Eagles regrouped behind their revamped run game. They began their next drive with a blocking scheme that bullied the Bills — center Jason Kelce pulled left and plowed Bills linebacker Tyrel Dodson, right guard Cam Jurgens surged into the second level and shoved middle linebacker Terrel Bernard aside — and a hole emerged in which D’Andre Swift aptly dashed for a 36-yard run to the Buffalo 26.
“That guy is fast as s—,” Mailata said.
.@DAndreSwift GETS LOOSE pic.twitter.com/YyF6WKBLJj
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 26, 2023
Swift, who finished with 80 yards on 14 carries, attracted enough defensive attention later in the red zone for Hurts to hold on to a zone-read handoff and strike A.J. Brown with a 3-yard touchdown pass that pulled the Eagles within 17-14 with 7:13 left in the third quarter. During the drive, Johnson also turned to the two-back, 21-personnel package that delivered Swift’s 35-yard jet sweep against the Kansas City Chiefs. On third-and-2 at the Buffalo 18, Hurts tossed a 14-yard pass to tight end Jack Stoll on another run-pass option, which demonstrated the package’s proficiency once the Eagles manage to establish the run.
It was Stoll’s fourth catch of the season, yet another reminder of the positional void that was created when Dallas Goedert, the team’s third-leading receiver, injured his forearm against the Dallas Cowboys. Johnson, who made up for the tight end group’s lack of pass catchers by fielding a four-wideout package for the first time against the Chiefs, deployed the platoon frequently to solve Philly’s third-down issues during the second half. It spread the defense out wide enough on the following drive for Hurts to scramble for a 12-yard run on a third-and-4 situation, leading to a 15-yard touchdown strike to DeVonta Smith that brought the Eagles within 24-21 with 13:37 left in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, Allen was confounding an Eagles defense that was struggling to stifle Diggs. Buffalo converted 13-of-22 third-down attempts on Sunday, and interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady often exploited the perimeter of Philly’s defense when it decided to have cornerback Darius Slay shadow Diggs in man coverage — and he targeted Diggs when Slay didn’t.
But in the fourth quarter, the Eagles baited Allen. Diggs lined up in the slot against an apparent zone coverage that set Slay on the opposite side of the field. Cornerback James Bradberry said the Eagles noticed Diggs had run an option route in which he broke to the sideline when given a similar look earlier in the game. Diggs ran the route again. Bradberry pounced, picked the pass off and fell at the Bills’ 24.
Intercepted by James Bradberry!
📺: #BUFvsPHI on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/1dOevJjoZZ pic.twitter.com/phaOXyB009— NFL (@NFL) November 27, 2023
Even then, after two plays that lost yardage, a Philadelphia comeback seemed unlikely. Even then, after Hurts broke leftward on a third-and-15 play, it seemed the Eagles wouldn’t seize the lead. But Hurts heaved a hopeful pass to the left side of the end zone, where Olamide Zaccheaus leaped over Bills safety Micah Hyde and hauled in the 29-yard pass that gave Philly the lead.
“I always say that the play doesn’t care who makes it,” said Zaccheaus, who entered the weekend with only six receptions for 87 yards. “It was me. And I had to step up in that particular instance.”
But after another Bills back and forth, after Elliott drilled what he called “the toughest” kick in his seven-year career (given the weather conditions), and after the Eagles held the Bills to a field goal on their initial drive in overtime, the most pivotal play came down to Hurts.
Mailata shook his head at his locker reciting the memory. On first-and-10 at the Buffalo 12, the Eagles turned to a staple in their playbook: a designed quarterback run in which Swift motions out of the backfield toward the sideline. Hyde, the only safety on the left side of the field, followed Swift. Mailata and left guard Landon Dickerson caved their defensive linemen downward. Kelce cleared the backside. Hurts completed the comeback with his 12-yard run, a play nickel corner Bradley Roby said was “definitely an MVP moment.”
“Jesus,” Mailata said. “I can’t believe that happened.”
(Photo: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
Jalen Hurts has MVP moment in Eagles’ improbable comeback win over Bills - The Athletic
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