FINAL SCORE: Eagles bully the Bills in Buffalo, 31 to 13

The Philadelphia Eagles are 4-4 after defeating the Buffalo Bills! Final score: 31 to 13. This was a much-needed win after the Birds got outscored 75 to 30 in their last two losses. Great job of bouncing back thanks to some ol’ fashioned bully ball.

Read on for a recap!

FIRST QUARTER

Coin toss: The Bills win the toss and elect to receive. Eagles defense up first. It’s super windy at New Era Field.

Bills 1st drive: Bruce Hector getting the start next to Fletcher Cox at defensive tackle. Jalen Mills and Ronald Darby are the outside corners with Sidney Jones in the nickel. T.J. Edwards tackles former Eagles legend Frank Gore in the backfield on the first play. Gore gets four to bring up 3rd-and-6. On third down, Fletcher Cox strip sacks Josh Allen and the Bills are fortunate to recover. Cox’s second strip sack in the last two games. Good to see the defense playing with urgency early on.

Eagles 1st drive: Eagles run twice with Jordan Howard to bring up 3rd-and-2. They go up tempo and Carson Wentz throws to Nelson Agholor for a first down. Eagles continue to go no huddle and get into 3rd-and-4. Wentz’s pass for Alshon Jeffery is broken up. Wentz stared him down and it didn’t really look like Jeffery gave the best effort on his end. Would’ve been short of the sticks even if caught. Eagles punt.

Bills 2nd drive: Defense forces another three-and-out with Cox stuffing Gore on third down. We in for a defensive struggle today?

Eagles 2nd drive: Wentz is sacked on first down to bring up 2nd-and-15, Andre Dillard beat on the play. Howard runs and trips to bring up 3rd-and-10. Too bad he couldn’t stay up because there were more yards to be had. Wentz targets Zach Ertz on third down and Ertz is tackled by Tre’Davious White before the ball gets there, pass interference is rightfully called. Agholor takes a jet sweep for 16 yards. Nice call by Doug Pederson. Pederson makes another nice call by dialing up a screen where Miles Sanders gets space to run through the defense to get to the Bills’ 24-yard line. Wentz gives Jeffery a chance at a 50-50 ball and he can’t get it. Wentz runs to bring up 3rd-and-5. Wentz’s third down throw into double coverage for Ertz is incomplete. Eagles attempt a 37-yard field goal in the wind and Jake Elliott stays perfect on the year. Could be worse. First lead since Week 5! EAGLES 3, BILLS 0.

Bills 3rd drive: The Bills pick up their first first down with an Allen completion to John Brown. Bills get to 3rd-and-8 and Jim Schwartz brings a blitz ... to no avail. Allen completes a pass to Brown for another first and Brandon Graham gets hit for a 15-yard penalty on top of it. Allen runs for another first down and Malcolm Jenkins is penalized for hitting Allen while he was sliding. Just dumb. And just like that, the Bills have 1st-and-goal. Jenkins makes a nice tackle for loss to bring up 2nd-and-goal as the first quarter expires.

SECOND QUARTER

Bills 3rd drive (continued): The wind is at the Bills’ back now. The Bills get called for a false start to knock them back to the 14-yard line. Allen’s third down throw on the run is complete to a wide open Cole Beasley for a touchdown. Nathan Gerry stuck choosing between stopping Allen and leaving his man open. Classic Eagles sequence where the offense finally has a scoring drive and the defense immediately leaks points. Not to suggest the offense has been great, obviously, but the defense just never seems to capitalize in those situations.

Eagles 3rd drive: Wentz completes a pass to Agholor for -1 yard, Jeffery managed to block no one on the play. The Eagles get set back to 2nd-and-16 with an illegal formation penalty. A screen to Dallas Goedert brings up 3rd-and-6 into the wind. Wentz swings the ball to Sanders, who picks up another chunk gain on a catch and run. Maybe just throw to him on literally every play? Jeffery makes a tough catch along the sideline — it’s about time — for another first down. Wentz completes an RPO slant to Agholor to bring up 3rd-and-4. On third down, the Eagles try some trickeration with another handoff to Agholor but it’s stopped for a loss. Love to give Wentz a $128 million contract extension and then not trust his arm on third down! Great stuff! Eagles punt. God, this team makes offense look so much harder than it has to be.

Bills 4th drive: Derek Barnett has a clear lane to Josh Allen on 3rd-and-5 but the quarterback escapes forward for a first down. Allen throws behind Beasley on third down and the Bills have to punt.

Eagles 4th drive: Howard is tackled for a loss to bring up 3rd-and-9. Wentz’s third down throw is complete to Jeffery for a first down. Nice ball. Wentz keeps a play alive and Ertz almost makes a crazy back-shoulder, one-handed catch but it’s incomplete. A screen to Sanders brings up 3rd-and-6. Pressure forces Wentz into a checkdown to Ertz short of the sticks and the Eagles are punting again.

Bills 5th drive: Allen goes deep for Robert Foster, who has a step on Roanld Darby, but the ball is underthrown and incomplete. Fortunate. The Bills goes with a designed Allen on 3rd-and-2 and Graham punches it out! And recovers it! Huge play by BLG.

Eagles 5th drive: Eagles take over with great field position at the Bills’ 24-yard line. Sanders runs for six and then three to bring up 3rd-and-1. Wentz picks up the first on a quarterback sneak. Wentz gains seven on a run and has to call a timeout after failing to get out of bounds. Then Wentz hits Goedert over the middle in the end zone for a TOUCHDOWN. Boom. Eagles take their final timeout prior to the extra point and decide to go for two instead of kicking the extra point into the wind. Then the Bills take their first timeout. Wentz tosses to Sanders and the rookie takes it into the end zone for the score. Great job by the offense to capitalize on the turnover. EAGLES 11, BILLS 7.

Bills 6th drive: Bills take over at their own 39-yard line after Ertz gets called for a BS penalty after the successful two-point try and the Eagles have to attempt a longer kickoff. Not great. The Bills move to the Eagles’ 49-yard line with 11 seconds left. Allen takes off after being pressured and Buffalo is in position to attempt a 53-yard field goal thanks to that BS penalty. Fortunately for the Eagles, the Bills miss the long kick. Ball don’t lie!

THIRD QUARTER

Eagles 6th drive: Big opportunity here to go up two scores. Eagles start at their own 33-yard line after a short Bills kickoff. Howard takes a carry for two yards. Then it’s Sanders bursting through the hole for a 65-yard touchdown run! And that’s why the Eagles drafted him in the second round. Big deal to have some home run ability. Great lead block by Howard (fullback!) on that run, too. Jake Elliott misses his first kick of the season so the Eagles only come away with six. EAGLES 17, BILLS 7.

Bills 7th drive: Devin Singletary breaks off a big run that’s called back due to holding. Gerry tackles Singletary as he’s trying to catch the ball to bring up 2nd-and-20. On 3rd-and-14, Allen hits Brown along the sideline for a first down. Sigh. The Bills get to 3rd-and-8 and Sidney Jones is toasted by Beasley for another Bills first down. On 3rd-and-13, Schwartz dials up a blitz and Allen hits a wide open Singletary for a catch-and-run touchdown. Whiffs from Rasul Douglas and Rodney McLeod there. Repeating what I said earlier: “Classic Eagles sequence where the offense finally has a scoring drive and the defense immediately leaks points.” At least Barnett blocks the extra point to keep it a four-point game. Douglas missed an opportunity to scoop and score to give the Eagles two points on the return. EAGLES 17, BILLS 13.

Eagles 7th drive: Wentz takes a shot to Jeffery down the field for a 38-yard gain. Great ball and Jeffery’s longest play of the season. Then Wentz takes a sack. A screen to Howard gets the Eagles to 3rd-and-2. Wentz completes to Jeffery for the first down. Offside penalty on the Bills gives the Eagles 1st-and-5 from the 14-yard line. Eagles offensive line gives Howard a hole to give the team 1st-and-goal from the 4-yard line. Then it’s ... Boston Scott (!) with the touchdown run to cap off the drive! Wow! Elliott makes the extra point this time. Great response by the offense. The bad news: Scott was in because Sanders and Howard are getting evaluated for injury. Oh no. EAGLES 24, BILLS 13.

Bills 8th drive: Three-and-out for Buffalo’s offense. Bills punt. And then Boston Scott fumbles on the ill-advised punt return and the Bills recover. Ugh. On 3rd-and-8, Graham sacks Allen to bring up 4th-and-10. Bill going for it instead of kicking. Ronald Darby comes up with a big pass breakup on Allen’s throw over the middle and it’s a turnover on downs! And there’s no flag on the play! Is that allowed?! Great stop.

Eagles 8th drive: Eagles take over at their own 29-yard line. The first down play is another Agholor run that goes for a nine-yard loss. Maybe stop going back to that. Eagles run Howard to bring up 3rd-and-10. On third down, Wentz is strip-sacked on a corner blitz. Eagles very fortunate he fell on the ball there as the quarter expires.

FOURTH QUARTER

Bills 9th drive: Three-and-out for the Bills offense. Mack Hollins is called for running into the kicker but it’s declined since it’s only a five-yard penalty as opposed to the 10-yard penalty for roughing the kicker. Still, more sloppiness from the Eagles’ special teams unit.

Eagles 9th drive: Howard runs twice as the Eagles get to 3rd-and-5. Wentz takes off running for a 13-yard gain and a demonstrative first down signal to boot. Wentz’s screen throw meant for Howard is almost picked off by a diving Micah Hyde, yikes. On 3rd-and-10, Wentz fakes a screen throw and takes the ball himself for another first. Love the play design there to give Wentz blockers, almost like a quarterback screen. Wentz throws to Goedert for another first. Howard pounds the rock up the middle and runs through contact for another chunk gain. Eagles offensive line really having their way today. Eagles get to 3rd-and-7 from the Bills’ 21-yard line. Wentz finds Ertz down the field to bring up 1st-and-goal from the 4-yard line. Howard is stopped for no gain as the clock continues to tick. Howard goes up the middle and punches it in for another TOUCHDOWN. Awesome drive. Killed 8 minutes and 17 seconds and took a three-possession lead. This is when the Eagles being methodical is a good thing!

Bills 10th drive: Barnett strip-sacks Allen from behind but the Bills recover and it’s 3rd-and-23. Gerry makes the tackle for no gain and the Bills punt.

Eagles 10th drive: Eagles take over with 4:36 left in the game. Howard runs for five yards and the Bills take their first timeout. Howard springs loose for 16 yards. The Eagles are just dominating the Bills in the trenches. The Eagles are at 3rd-and-11 with the Bills taking their final timeout. Bills called for offside. Scott takes a carry to bring up 4th-and-2 and the Eagles go for it instead of kicking into the wind. Scott is tackled for a loss for a turnover on downs.

Bills 11th drive: The Bills get to 4th-and-4 and Allen throws the ball away. Turnover on downs.

Eagles 11th drive: Eagles take over with 2:04 remaining. Lot of loud cheers from Eagles fans who made the trip up to Buffalo. Always a nice sight to see. Scott’s tackled for a loss to take the game to the two-minute warning. Eagles kneel to take the clock down to 0:33 as they intentionally turn the ball over on downs.

Bills 12th drive: Singletary takes a garbage time run up the middle and the game is over.

FINAL SCORE: 31 to 13, Eagles win.

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