PHILADELPHIA — It was the greatest game of the Eagles’ 2023 season and one of their best wins ever. It was also the last great moment for the Eagles during a season best known for the seven inexplicable games that followed.
It is still fondly remembered by Nick Sirianni because the Eagles coach had never experienced anything quite like it.
“Yeah, walk-off touchdown,” Sirianni said Friday when asked for his memory of the Eagles’ last meeting with the Buffalo Bills two seasons ago. “First time I had ever been a part of a game where you win on the very last play in the NFL.”
He had the same sort of answer the following day.
“Shoot, that was awesome,” Sirianni said. “I mean, I got to feel like what Bryce Harper feels like when he gets a walk-off homerun, or Mike Trout was in the stands yesterday, what he gets to feel. That was really, really cool, really, really special. A memory that I feel like will be with me for a very long time to be able to celebrate with our guys off of a walk-off.”
Most games aren’t worth looking back at, but that late November afternoon matchup with the Bills is. The Eagles and Bills are set to play again Sunday afternoon in Orchard Park, N.Y. with playoff seeding on the line, but it will be almost impossible for them to duplicate the wildly entertaining game the teams played in 2023.
Let’s start near the end with the Bills lining up for a 40-yard field goal with 5:56 left in overtime. Undaunted by the situation, Brandon Graham was doing what Brandon Graham loves to do — talking trash.
“We’re about to win this …,” Graham told Bills players as they lined up for their overtime field goal by Tyler Bass. “You must not know Jalen Hurts like I know Jalen …”
Graham had to pause for a moment to rush the kick, but he wasted no time completing his thought after the kick went through to give Buffalo a 37-34 lead.
“You must not know Jalen Hurts like I know him,” Graham told the Bills players as they left the field. “Ha, ha, ha.”
The talk continued on his own sideline.
“They don’t know Jalen Hurts like we know Jalen Hurts,” Graham told whoever was within earshot. “They don’t know him.”
Sure enough, Hurts orchestrated a nine-play, 75-yard drive that ended with him running 12 yards into the end zone for the game-tying score.
“I just know what Jalen can do,” Graham said Friday when asked about his clairvoyant act.
Hurts’ game-winning touchdown was his fifth of the day. He ran for two scores and 65 yards and also passed for three scores and 200 yards to out duel Josh Allen on a day when the Bills’ superstar quarterback accounted for four touchdowns (two rushing and two passing) while also putting up 420 yards of offense.
That the Eagles even got to the first overtime was the initial miracle. Buffalo led by 10 points at halftime and by 10 points after three quarters. They scored with 1:52 in regulation to take a three-point lead and the Eagles’ drive that ensued was not particularly impressive.
After getting to the Buffalo 34, Jason Kelce was flagged twice for false-start penalties, forcing Jake Elliott to try a 59-yard field goal for the tie. The kick had just enough distance and went just inside the right upright to force the overtime.
“Nobody I’d rather have in the NFL more than Jake Elliott,” Sirianni said that day. “Shoot, to me he’s the best kicker in the NFL. He’s so clutch.”
Those words are interesting right now because Elliott is in a bit of a slump as the 10-5 Eagles get set to play the 11-4 Bills. Kicking conditions are expected to be tricky with rain and strong winds in the Sunday evening forecast for Orchard Park, N.Y.
Sirianni and the Eagles have maintained confidence in Elliott as he attempts to come out of a slump similar to the one he was in a year ago late in the season before an impressive postseason run.
How the rest of this season plays out for Elliott and the Eagles remains to be seen. It can’t get any worse than it did for the 2023 Eagles after that miraculous win against the Bills.
They were 10-1 at that point and Hurts was the betting favorite to win the MVP award after finishing second to Patrick Mahomes the year before. Sirianni praised the defense for keeping the game close against the Bills and he talked glowingly about the calming influence of offensive coordinator Brian Johnson.
Two weeks later, defensive coordinator Sean Desai was stripped of his play-calling duties after the Eagles surrendered 75 points in consecutive lopsided losses to San Francisco and Dallas. Johnson didn’t survive either after the Eagles lost six of their final seven games and made a first-round playoff exit.
Sirianni, however, did keep his job and he has credited that epic collapse as being a valuable learning experience that helped lead to the Eagles’ Super Bowl title last season.