That took long enough.
After two straight blowouts, the Philadelphia Eagles won a football game for the first time in what seems like forever, beating the Buffalo Bills 31-13 yesterday. The weather wasn’t pretty, and neither was the offense at times. However, the defense played lights out football for the majority of this game.
The defensive line looked especially dominant. Fletcher Cox looked the healthiest he has all year, and it showed on the stat sheet. He finished the game with 6 tackles and 1.5 sacks, as well as a strip sack. Brandon Graham continued his stellar play, as he had 6 tackles, two of which were for loss. Furthermore, Graham sacked Josh Allen on a pivotal 4th and 10, essentially sealing the game for the Eagles. Graham also forced and recovered a fumble on the same play, which was a lot more impressive than it sounds:
Thought Brandon Graham had a great all-around game & made some big splash plays.
This forced fumble & fumble recovery on Josh Allen kicked off a 28-6 run for the Eagles. pic.twitter.com/jDJHmEEF8g— Michael Kist (@MichaelKistNFL) October 28, 2019
Offensively, it wasn’t as impressive, which is to be somewhat expected on a day of such caliber weather:
Eagles vs. Bills weather forecast: Will wind and pounding rain remain for kickoff? https://t.co/hvQQ8x5l9e pic.twitter.com/tthvOwbEW0— NJ.com Sports (@NJ_Sports) October 27, 2019
Still, the offense put up 31 points, more than their two previous games combined. Carson Wentz played much more of a game-manager type role rather than that of a hero. He was efficient nonetheless, completing 17/24 passes, as well as throwing for 174 yards and a touchdown.
The running game looked better than it did against Green Bay earlier this year, and that’s saying something. The Eagles controlled this game on the ground, putting up 218 yards to go along with 3 touchdowns. Jordan Howard finished as the leading rusher with 96 yards. Miles Sanders scored the first rushing touchdown of his career, taking it 65 yards to the endzone:
65-yard touchdown for #Eagles rookie Miles Sanders against the 5-1 #Bills pic.twitter.com/37Z23Rd8XF— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 27, 2019
This just goes to show that when the Eagles run the ball efficiently, they’re a dangerous team, as we’ve previously seen. The offensive line looked tremendous when running the ball, but really didn’t give Wentz a lot of time in the pocket at some points throughout the game. That should improve if/when Jason Peters returns.
Once again, however, the offense got off to a relatively slow start, putting up just a field goal in the first quarter. The Eagles have made slow starts one of their themes over the past couple seasons. They now rank 19th in the NFL in first quarter scoring this year, after ranking second-to-last in 2018.
The bottom line: this was a badly needed win. Granted, it came against the now 5-2 Bills, who haven’t necessarily beat a quality team to this point. Their wins have come against the Jets, Giants, Bengals, Titans and Dolphins. Those five teams have a combined record of 7-30 this season, so it’s not as though Buffalo is a powerhouse or anything. Regardless, a win is a win is a win, as they say.
The Eagles move to 4-4 and are now just a half game out of first place in the NFC East. After being outscored by 45 points the past couple of weeks, as well as hearing plenty of noise outside of the locker room throughout the week (*cough* *cough* Orlando Scandrick), this game was about as “must win” as a Week 8 matchup gets. Once again, with their backs against the wall, this team found a way to battle back and show some true resilience, just as they have time and time again over the past two years.
This three-game road stretch was very tough, as is to be expected. There’s a reason teams seldom play three straight road games in the NFL. A loss yesterday, and the Eagles’ playoff hopes would have been very slim. They were able to avoid that, and they’ll now head back home for three consecutive games. They’ll start with a matchup against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, a rematch of last season’s playoff game. Hopefully, the Eagles can avoid any drama this week and put up another solid performance.
Daily Sports Blogger 