November 26, 2023
All Jalen Hurts does is win. Hurts and the Eagles mounted yet another wild second half comeback over a contender, circling the wagon around the Buffalo Bills in a 37-34 overtime win. Here are my final observations from the victory that moves the Birds to an NFL-best 10-1...
• If the passing offense is stuck in the mud, run the ball. The Eagles finally did that in the third quarter. Taking advantage of another missed field goal from Buffalo, D'Andre Swift exploded for a 36-yard pickup that put the Eagles into Bills territory. That gave way to a couple of quick passes that had the Birds in the end zone: a clutch third and two pickup courtesy of Jack Stoll and a touchdown grab from A.J. Brown. Jalen Hurts found his rhythm...
• A clutch-as-anything first down run from Hurts with the team down 10 to start the fourth quarter:
3rd & 4: Jalen Hurts uses his legs to move the chains pic.twitter.com/LlXvm2JfNq
— DIE-HARD 🦅 Fans (@Eaglesfans9) November 26, 2023
He's clearly not 100 percent out there. That doesn't mitigate all of his passing issues early in the day, as he's had some elite aerial performances this season even with that knee injury. It prolonged the drive on a third down before he fired a TD strike to DeVonta Smith two plays later:
6 points for Skinny Batman 🦅
— NFL (@NFL) November 27, 2023
📺: #BUFvsPHI on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/1dOevJjoZZ pic.twitter.com/ASU9FTFBoq
Even with the sky falling (and I'm not talking about the downpour...), that pitch and catch had the Eagles trailing by just three points after that. Wild.
The Eagles have routinely done themselves in early in games this season, but the second half fight continues on regardless. That speaks to both the head coach and the quarterback.
• James Bradberry flipped the script on this baby, stepping ahead of Josh Allen throw for a game-changing interception that set the Birds up for a clear shot at the end zone:
Intercepted by James Bradberry!
— NFL (@NFL) November 27, 2023
📺: #BUFvsPHI on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/1dOevJjoZZ pic.twitter.com/phaOXyB009
Poor read by Allen, which was going to happen inevitably, and a great jump from Bradberry.
• Hurts. Magic. Even with how horrific things looked at times, Hurts lofted a miracle pass to the end zone right into the arms of Olamide Zaccheaus, an example of a gamer rising to the moment:
WHAT A THROW BY JALEN HURTS! EAGLES TAKE THE LEAD 🦅 pic.twitter.com/CHjI6MleqJ
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) November 27, 2023
He waited, waited and waited some more. Zaccheaus ran around, made his way to the end zone on a broken play and put himself in ideal positioning. Hurts lofted that improbable ball and it put the Eagles in the lead for the first time since the opening quarter.
• Jake Elliott routinely out-does himself in the biggest moments. A 59-yard field goal to send things into overtime amidst rain and wind? No problem. Elliott booted the Eagles to a 31-31 stalemate and into overtime with under 30 seconds remaining in regulation.
• A little thing... Julio Jones had a great downfield block on a cornerback on a Hurts seven-yard scramble in overtime. Jones is doing a bit of the grunt work that Zach Pascal has done in the past. He seems perfectly content in his limited role as a future Hall of Famer who just wants to win a championship.
• He hasn't been the same as a rusher in 2023. It didn't matter for Hurts in OT. QB1 ran for 27 on the Eagles' game-winning drive alone, finishing with 75 yards and two touchdowns on the ground (4.6 yards per attempt). Hurts found a balance between a day that was ugly for so long, but resulted in a whopping five touchdowns. The second half and overtime showcased Hurts' MVP bonafides.
• It was a pathetic showing to open the third quarter after the Eagles' deflating first half performance. Hurts looked lost on first down, resulting in a four-yard sack. A throw A.J. Brown's way on second down fell incomplete. A third and 14 screen to Julio Jones? Remove that from the playbook immediately. How is that the call? Brian Johnson and the offense ran something similarly last game in Kansas City and this was an even worse decision situationally. A mind-boggling decision all around. They figured it out as this game wore on, as they constantly have this season, but what a chore that was to watch.
• The Eagles couldn't tackle Josh Allen for a large chunk of this game. On Buffalo's third quarter scoring drive, Allen ripped off a seven-yard gain on a third and four. He later did some Houdini work in the pocket to pull off a 29-yard completion to James Cook. Facing a third and 11 with a chance to hold strong and turn this into only a three-point drive, Allen proved too hard to bring down yet again. The QB scrambled around, ran right, pump faked and tucked the ball for a 16-yard TD run.
Allen isn't a quarterback who should be blitzed. A QB spy would work, ultimately challenging him to beat a given defense with his accuracy given his tendency to throw INTs. The dirty work in the ground game from him just ends up being so demoralizing, so physically taxing. He shouldn't be handed that. When the Eagles let Allen try to beat him with his arm, Buffalo cratered.
• The Eagles had utterly bizarre clock management at the end of the fourth quarter. Multiple false starts threw them into chaos in terms of field position after beginning their potential game-winning drive, but odd timeout usage and questionable QB draw calls were puzzling. Perhaps with the weather conditions, the Eagles played for a field goal, but they played their way into a 59-yard field goal, so that logic doesn't hold. So strange. The Eagles were able to force overtime regardless due to the ever-reliable Elliott though.
• In a game where he set the franchise record for most games played with 189, Brandon Graham picked up the 73rd sack of his career. Graham is the only Eagle to be a part of the Eagles' two Kelly green throwback campaigns. The Eagles wore them in Week 1 in 2010, the first game of Graham's career, and twice this season. Graham would've fit right in with that all-time 1991 defensive front that made the Kelly green look so iconic.
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