Birds go retro in stampeding Bills
The Eagles will say they were fueled by critics who wrote them off after they embarrassed themselves in consecutive weeks.
OK, they probably won’t use the same terminology.
They’ll say nobody gave them a chance to win Sunday, conveniently overlooking the diehard fans who flooded New Era Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., home of the Buffalo Bills.
The truth is the Eagles defeated the Bills, 31-13, using the Vince Lombardi formula. They ran the football, played defense and won the turnover battle. They didn’t use the kicker as a quarterback, gamble nefariously on fourth down or get away from what worked.
And because the Eagles played soundly and passionately, they may have saved their season. They deserve credit for getting it done in bitter Bills weather, although not nearly as treacherous as the lake effect blizzards and life-threatening conditions for which the region can be notorious.
That said, the wind was blowing so hard at New Era Field Sunday that Doug Pederson almost lost his laminated play chart. Kickoffs had to be held by non-kickers. Point-after kicks were no sure thing. Officials had to hold on to their hats. The Philly game plan was adjusted accordingly.
The weather ugly and the season nearing the donot-resuscitate point, the Eagles ditched the analytics to play throwback football.
Rookie Miles Sanders, kick returner Boston Scott and veteran Jordan Howard rushed for touchdowns as the Eagles amassed 220 yards on the ground, their most since they got 256 yards in a rout of the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving of 2014.
Incredibly, that was
83 games and three head coaches ago.
Sanders, who rushed for
74 yards, broke the game open with a 65-yard scoring run on the second play of the second half. Howard’s block sprung him.
Howard made it an
18-point lead with 6:12 remaining, his three-yard run capping a 14-play,
83-yard drive featuring
10 runs for 58 yards, including two jaunts for 24 yards by Carson Wentz.
Wentz threw for 172 yards and a touchdown, connecting with Dallas Goedert in the first half. More importantly, after four turnovers over the past two games, Wentz had zero giveaways.
The only major thing the Eagles didn’t do correctly Sunday was reward Howard for his hard work. He finished four yards short of being the first Eagles player to rush for 100 yards in 40 games. The Eagles gave the ball to Scott – who scored on a dazzling four-yard run up the middle – on their last two series. Howard finished with 23 rushes for
96 yards.
The offensive line had one of its best games of the season against a stellar Bills front seven. Though Wentz was sacked three times, the hits weren’t damaging.
The defensive line set the tone for the Eagles with four sacks and for the most part, a solid job of keeping Josh Allen in the pocket.
Brandon Graham led the way with a team-high six tackles, including a sack and a forced fumble he recovered on a jarring hit of Allen. Fletcher Cox, fresh off a “home burglary” that was more about his personal life and added to the endless dramas chasing this team, had 1.5 sacks.
Malcolm Jenkins, called out by former teammate Orlando Scandrick this week for not playing well, added six tackles.
The Eagles trailed, 7-3, in a game that looked like it would fall below the
39-point under when Graham went to work. He set up the Eagles’ only touchdown of the first half with a hit that popped the ball loose from Allen.
Five plays after Graham recovered the ball at the 24-yard line of the Bills, Wentz connected with Goedert for a five-yard score, and Sanders ran for the two-point conversion to construct an 11-7 lead before the intermission.
Graham was instrumental in limiting the scrambling of Allen, who led the Bills with eight rushes for 45 yards. He’d had seven rushing scores in his previous eight home games, leading all quarterbacks, including Lamar Jackson, with 11 rushing TDs dating to his 2018 rookie season.
Make no mistake, the Eagles and Wentz needed a victory over a winning team. The only winner they’d beaten was the Green Bay Packers. Entering the game, the Birds were 14-12 since winning Super Bowl LII.
Wentz has won nine of his 19 starts since the Super Bowl season.
Now, with a 4-4 record, the Eagles are back in the NFC East pennant conversation. The division-leading Cowboys (4-3) had a bye.
••• Wentz has a touchdown pass in 11 straight starts, tied with Russell Wilson for the longest active streak in the league. They are the only players with TDs in every game this season.
Wentz has 14 touchdown passes, Wilson 17.
••• After a 1-2 road trip, the Eagles have a three-game homestand. They open the slate against the Chicago Bears (3-4), who have lost three straight games.
The Eagles then oppose the undefeated New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks (6-2), the latter of which celebrated a 27-20 road win over the Atlanta Falcons.
The Seahawks and Patriots oppose the Eagles after bye weeks. The Eagles have their bye before taking on the Patriots.
•••
With the Oct. 29th trade deadline looming, the ESPN insider nerds speculated that the Eagles had to defeat the Bills to make it worth their while adding help at wide receiver, defensive line or the secondary.
Among the tradeable names are Robby Anderson (Temple), the deep threat with the New York Jets, defensive tackle Leonard Williams (6-5,
302), also with the Jets, Denver Broncos cornerback Chris Harris and Derek Wolfe (6-5, 295), a
3-4 defensive end who can play inside.
All trades must be done by 4 p.m. Tuesday.
•••
NOTES >> Miles Sanders had no touchdowns in 65 carries until the 65-yard run. He’d rushed for 10 or more yards just three of his 65 carries before busting it, one of the worst ratios among qualified backs. … The Eagles are 23-3 (.885) scoring 22 or more points since the start of the 201718 championship season. … The Eagles are 16-1 (.941) rushing for 120 or more yards since the start of the
2017 season.