Bills report card: Defense shines, Josh Allen fails with game on line

ORCHARD PARK - We are apparently living in an alternate Buffalo Bills universe because right now, if you had to choose between which unit you have more concern about with the NFL postseason about to begin, the honest answer is the offense, not the defense.

Sunday afternoon at cold, rainy Highmark Stadium, the Bills’ offense looked helpless for 3 ½ quarters against a world-class Philadelphia Eagles defense, and the only reason the Bills were even in the game was because their own much-maligned defense matched Philadelphia series for series.

Josh Allen did eventually come to life on the final two possessions and produced a pair of touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough and the Bills dropped an ugly 13-12 decision which ended their hopes of stealing the AFC East away from the New England Patriots.

The Bills did not score their first points until just 5:11 remained in the fourth quarter, and before that drive they had managed just 12 first downs on their first nine possessions.

“We talked about that after the game,” coach Sean McDermott said. “We’ve got to learn some things from this game. I know we all want to win, right? You work hard during the week, we’re a very competitive group. We want to win, and I want to win, right? So you learn things from this game that we’ve got to get shored up if we want to advance in the playoffs, and that’s what I’m mostly focused on right now.”

The Bills are going nowhere in the playoffs, though, if they keep playing offense the way they have this season when they’ve gone against the best defenses.

They have delivered clunkers in their losses to the Eagles and Texans, arguably the two best defenses in the league, they were not good when they lost to the Patriots in Week 5, and they were fortunate to survive last week in Cleveland against another very strong defense.

In the postseason, their first-round opponent could be the Texans again and we know how that went the first time; they could play the Patriots who have a strong defense; or they could face the Broncos who may be as good as Houston or Philadelphia.

Another performance like the ones they’ve had in any of those games is most likely going to mean a short, painful January exit.

Here’s how I graded the Bills:

PASS OFFENSE: C

I don’t say this very often, but Allen was not good. His fumble in the first quarter gave the Eagles a drive start at the Bills 45 and they capitalized with their only touchdown. In the third quarter, Allen delivered a pass to Khalil Shakir on second-and-goal from the 7 that was behind him, and if it had been out front, Shakir would have scored. The Bills ultimately went for it on fourth-and-goal and Allen scrambled and was stopped a yard short of the end zone.

And then, after he made a few big throws on the final two TD possessions, he misfired on the two-point pass that would have won the game.

The Bills’ offensive line is usually a strength of the team, but it had a tough night against this ferocious Eagles’ defense. Allen was under pressure constantly and when you have no receivers who struggle to get open, that’s a recipe for disaster. On one sack, Dion Dawkins misplayed a stunt and Jalyx Hunt had a free run to Allen, and on another, Jalen Carter blew up O’Cyrus Torrence and Allen had no chance. Allen also took a terrible 19-yard circus sack like the one he had last week in Cleveland.

As for the pass catchers, hey, there was progress from the boundary WRs. Brandin Cooks made four catches for 101 yards including a 50-yarder on a deep post, and a beautiful 36-yarder in the fourth quarter. Tyrell Shavers had a 32-yard reception. On the downside, Gabe Davis and Joshua Palmer combined for one catch for 12 yards.

RUN OFFENSE: C

Against a stout Philadelphia front, James Cook found a way to rush for 74 yards on 20 tough carries, but while the Bills finished with 120 yards, it was their fifth-lowest total of the season and they averaged just 3.6 yards per attempt.

Allen had seven runs for 27 yards and scored two close-range TDs, while Ty Johnson chipped in 15 yards and Ray Davis just four. The line was tasked with dealing with Philadelphia’s massive DT tandem of Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis so it was tough sledding inside.

PASS DEFENSE: A

Overall, the Bills did a great job silencing the Eagles’ aerial attack as Jalen Hurts finished just 13 of 27 for 110 yards. Incredibly, he did not complete any of his seven attempts in the second half as the Buffalo defense allowed just one first down and 16 total yards.

AJ Brown made a big 27-yard catch in the first quarter that set up the Eagles’ lone TD which came when TE Dallas Goedert caught a one-yard pass as he got wide open when Cam Lewis and Christian Benford were confused on the coverage. Otherwise, the Bills locked it down as Brown, Goedert and DeVonta Smith combined for just 10 catches for 101 yards.

One issue the Bills had in the first half which helped the Eagles score 13 points is they failed to contain Hurts on several third-down plays where he could have been sacked, but instead got away and delivered three third-down completions for first downs.

RUN DEFENSE: A-

Saquon Barkley never really got going as he finished with just 68 yards and a 3.6 average per attempt with only 17 of those yards coming after halftime. His 10-yard run on the Eagles’ second offensive play of the third quarter produced their only first down in the second half.

The Bills accomplished this despite having to play rookies Deone Walker and TJ Sanders, plus unimpressive Larry Ogunjobi and practice squad level Phidarian Mathis as their DTs. Shaq Thompson, who took over for injured Terrel Bernard, once again settled things down against the run while Matt Milano continued his strong second-half surge with a team-high seven tackles.

SPECIAL TEAMS: D

The two-game Michael Badgley era can’t end fast enough. The Bills finally scored with 5:11 left, but Badgley’s extra point was blocked by Jalen Carter, his second miss in two games. Of course, the breakdown up front that allowed the block to happen wasn’t Badgley’s fault, but the kick was low. That miss set the stage for the decision to go for two points at the end which ultimately cost the Bills the victory. Had Badgley made his first kick, he might have made the game-winner at the end, too.

Sam Franklin got nailed for a really dumb fair catch interference penalty that allowed the Eagles to start a possession at the 23 rather than the 8. Ray Davis had a strong return to open the second half wiped out by a holding penalty on Joe Andreessen which cost the Bills 20 yards of field position. He later had a 32-yard return and finished with a 28.0 average.

Shakir, who is basically back deep on punts to catch the ball cleanly, finally did something in the fourth quarter as he got free for a 28-yard return to the Bills 46, and that was the possession which they finally capitalized on for their first TD.

COACHING: C

This was a classic case of a young offensive coordinator, Joe Brady, getting overmatched by a veteran defensive coordinator in Vic Fangio. Of course, it helps that Fangio has superstars on his defense, but Brady had very few answers for anything Fangio was calling through 3 ½ quarters of futility.

Brady’s play-calling in this game was often puzzling, but to his credit, he began to dial up a few successful calls at the end, including the two-point play which would have succeeded had Allen not dirted the throw. However, it was too little, too late.

On defense, this was as strong a performance as the Bills have had all year and McDermott and Bobby Babich must be commended for how they have continued to keep the defense moving forward despite all the injuries and challenges. The defensive performance should have been more than good enough to win the game.

McDermott also made a successful challenge on a pass that DeVonta Smith was ruled to have caught, but didn’t, and that led to a Philly three-and-out.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 36 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at [email protected], and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills report card: Defense shines, Josh Allen and offense come up short