This Buffalo Bills team came into a test game against the Philadelphia Eagles and they didn’t just fail, but showed that there was no studying beforehand. With their second loss of the season, the Bills now find themselves at 5-2, still in great position for a playoff run, but have to make adjustments going into November. The Eagles gave a beatdown to the Bills 31-13.
After being down 11-7 going into halftime, the Bills saw themselves down in a hole looking up to the Eagles. Miles Sanders ripped off a 65 yard touchdown run to start the second half to send the Eagles up 17-7. The Bills offense responded with a touchdown pass from Josh Allen to Devin Singletary to cut the lead by only four. After that drive, the Bills offense went nowhere and the Eagles offense made the Bills’ defense look lost.
A big strength for the Bills is their run defense and the Eagles run game exposed them. Three different Eagles backs saw themselves in the endzone and the Bills defense had no answers. Jordan Howard, Miles Sanders, Carson Wentz, Nelson Agholor and Boston Scott racked up a total of 220 yards on the ground.
Allen and the offense heavily struggled in the second half. Unable to move the chains in the third and fourth quarter along with penalties killed the drives for Buffalo. Allen would finish 16/34 with 169 yards and two touchdowns. What hurt the Bills was holding onto the ball and not capitalizing on third down.
When you look at all three levels of the game, the Eagles were the better team. The Bills offense was inconsistent, the defense gave up huge yardage and special teams could not get the Bills offense into good field position.
The Offense
After the Singletary touchdown, the Bills offense looked awful from there on out. Not being able to move the chains, suffering from costly penalties, and the offensive line not being able to handle the pressure by the Eagles were factors in this defeat.
Allen fumbled three times, one that ended up in a turnover and six points for the Eagles. Brandon Graham had a field day against both Cody Ford and Ty Nsehke. The interior offensive line had a tough time against Fletcher Cox.
The offense could not get going in the second half and Brian Daboll has to figure out a gameplay heading into not just next week, but later on in the season.
The Defense
The Bills defense hung around the Eagles offense the first half and for a few minutes in the second half. A defense the only allows just over 200 yards in a game, gave up over 200 yards on the ground alone. The pressure kicked in at times, with the Bills having three sacks, but it was not enough to stop Philly.
This defense was simply weak today and it showed. Leslie Frazier will have to answer questions on these struggles. Not being able to pressure Wentz later in the game and the secondary gave up big passes, this Bills defense took a step back from their previous weeks.
Special Teams
Andre Roberts was brought to Buffalo to take pressure off the offense by setting Allen at good field position. Roberts has not made an impact for the team on special teams which hurts Allen and the offense.
The Bills also missed a field goal in the beginning of the game which could have been a difference maker. The Eagles special teams blocked a PAT and were getting tons of pressure against the punt team.
Recap
The Bills are now 5-2 on the season. Still standing in second place in the AFC East and still in good position for a playoff spot, but are they ready to take it to the next level? Defeat another team with valuable playmakers? This game showed that the Bills still have a lot of figure out even after solidifying themselves in the beginning of the season.
