Now 12 weeks in, the NFL regular season is officially two thirds complete. In these past 12 weeks, we have seen teams go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows and vice versa. But one team has managed to stay ahead of the competition this entire time, and in doing so look poised to win this year’s Super Bowl: the Philadelphia Eagles. They further illuminated their desire to win it all in this past Sunday’s matchup against the Buffalo Bills, in which the Eagles faced arguably their biggest test of the season yet still came away victorious. Let’s take a look at how this week’s Eagles versus Bills matchup played out and just how exactly Philadelphia was able to further establish themselves as the best team in the NFL.
Photo Courtesy of Bleeding Green Nation
The first half of this week’s matchup went in favor of the Bills, who outscored the Eagles 17-7 before halftime. Jalen Hurts did manage to score the first touchdown of the game courtesy of the Brotherly Shove, allowing Hurts to reach the endzone from the 1 yard line and score. But after that, Buffalo turned things up a notch: they first scored on a 48 yard field goal kicked by Tyler Bass, then Josh Allen ran for a 9 yard rushing touchdown and, just before the half ended, connected with Stefon Diggs for a 13 yard touchdown reception. During the third quarter is when Hurts and Allen began to duel: Hurts connected with A.J. Brown to cut Buffalo’s lead to 3, followed by Allen managing to scramble for 16 yards and record his second rushing touchdown of the day. Down 10 points still, the Eagles came out ready to fight in the fourth quarter and Hurts kicked off the scoring with 2 passing touchdowns to DeVonta Smith and Olamide Zaccheaus to give the Eagles their first lead of the game. The Bills did manage to respond though, with Allen connecting with Gabe Davis for a 7 yard touchdown that allowed Buffalo to reclaim the lead by 3 points with just under 2 minutes left to play.
Photo Courtesy of Bleeding Green Nation
Those 2 minutes were all the Eagles needed though, managing to march down the field as the final seconds of the game ticked off the clock and set up Jake Elliott to kick a 59 yard field goal that tied the game and took it to overtime. Buffalo got the ball first during overtime and almost managed to make it to the endzone, but ultimately had to settle for another field goal courtesy of Tyler Bass to retake the lead. But the Eagles responded swiftly and marched their way down the field to Buffalo’s endzone, with Hurts picking up his second rushing touchdown of the day on a 12 yard rush that sealed the game for the Eagles with a final score of 37-34.
Photo Courtesy of Sports Illustrated
Philadelphia, both as a city and a football team, are as resilient as they come, and this win just emphasizes that sentiment. Some probably thought that the Eagles were about to take their second loss of the season going into halftime, but instead they outscored Buffalo 30-17 for the remainder of the game and improve their record to 10-1. Now the Philadelphia Eagles sit firmly atop of the league with every other team having a minimum of 3 losses, further highlighting just how good this team has been all season. With just 6 regular season games left to play, it will be interesting to se who, if anybody, can get in the Eagles’ way of the Lombardi trophy this season, and it will be interesting to see just how far this team can go in their pursuit of being this year’s Super Bowl.
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