Eagles Survive Buffalo With A 23-20 Win
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — They wore black t-shirts during the pre-game warm-ups with the words "53 Angry Men" emblazed in white across the front. Perhaps someone needs to tell the Eagles that they've enraged an entire fanbase this season. It's a team that has tended to pull you in each time they staved off the death knell echoes with the sense that there was larger promise ahead.
On Sunday, they pulled you in a little closer after another maddening outcome—this time a 23-20 victory over the visiting Buffalo Bills and LeSean "Shady" McCoy at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Eagles improved to 6-7, remaining in the playoff picture holding second place behind NFC East-leading Washington, which is also 6-7 and holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Philadelphia.
Sam Bradford was 23 of 38 for 247 yards, a touchdown and an interception (that wasn't his fault). The Eagles used three second-half field goals of 45, 41 and 30 yards by Caleb Sturgis to survive, after losing a 10-point, third-quarter lead. It didn't hurt that Buffalo was flagged 15 times for 101 yards in penalties.
As for the McCoy-Chip Kelly subplot, it had an anti-climactic ring. When the final gun sounded, McCoy ran off the field avoiding everyone. He finished with a game-high 74 yards on 20 carries, but was almost rendered a non-factor.
The Eagles appeared in command, holding a 20-10 lead on Caleb Sturgis' second field goal of the game, a 41-yarder with 9:42 left in the third quarter. Then the Eagles proceeded to stall. They moved the ball just 25 yards the rest of the quarter, with big help from a 14-yard Buffalo pass interference call with :39 remaining in the quarter. It was the first first down the Eagles had in over 10 minutes (since the 10:47 mark of the third).
In the meantime, Buffalo tied the game on consecutive scoring drives. The Bills answered the Sturgis 41-yard field goal with a Dan Carpenter 40-yard field goal, capping an 8-play, 58-yard drive and absorbing 4:28 off the clock. After an Eagles' three-and-out, Buffalo mounted a 6-play, 44-yard drive, which tied the game at 20-20 when Mike Gillislee took off 19 yards with :46 remaining in the third quarter.
The drive was helped by a Riley Cooper personal foul call, which gave the Bills possession at the Eagles' 44. And what turned out to be brutal breakdown, when Tyrod Taylor scrambled 14 yards on a third-and-13 at the Eagles' 33 with 1:07 left in the third quarter. It was a play in which it appeared Vinny Curry was held, freeing up a running lane for Taylor. The following play Gillislee scored.
