Eagles Look to be First Team to Reach 10 Wins as Bills Visit Philadelphia

In the second of two “Kelly Green” games for the Philadelphia Eagles, they will square off against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field at 4:25 PM.

The Bills are coming off one of their best wins last week as they utterly dominated the New York Jets 32-6 at home behind stellar performances by Josh Allen and the Bills defense to keep afloat in the AFC playoff picture. The Eagles continue to roll in close games as they took down the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead 21-17 on Monday night to move to an NFL-best 9-1 through the first ten games of the season. A short week for this Eagles team will surely have Coach Nick Sirianni on his heels as he prepares for yet another high-powered offense to enter the Linc. ESPN FPI gives the Bills a 54% chance to win this game, however, Vegas has the line slated as Eagles -3 and they are -160 on the Money-line. Here are my keys for this afternoon’s game.

D’Andre Swift

Many knew last weekend that the game plan would heavily involve RB D’Andre Swift with a Chiefs defense that has stymied WRs all season. I believe the game plan should look pretty similar against Buffalo today as they have struggled against the run all season and the backend has been decimated by injuries. This will allow Swift to excel not only in the running game but also in the passing game. A popular play last week was a tunnel screen that saw Swift out in space with blockers in front and I believe that should be a staple of the game plan today. The Eagles need to draw the defenders in early with the run to open up play-action throws to A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and newly returned Quez Watkins. Expect to see Swift early and often against a Bills defense that has allowed 4.5 yards per carry to opposing RBs. If Swift is able to create chunk plays early, this offense could excel quickly and put up a lot of points on the board.

Josh Allen

Mr. Inconsistent of 2023 has had a roller-coaster ride filled with costly mistakes as well as MVP-caliber moments that does a very good job of summing up Josh Allen‘s resume this year. On Monday Night Football a few weeks ago against Denver, the Broncos were throwing multiple coverages at Josh Allen and making receivers uncomfortable as they got Allen off his game quickly which resulted in multiple turnovers. The Jets last week was a different story. Allen was able to pick apart the New York defense by spreading out the field and taking downfield shots against an aggressive Jets secondary. It is crucial for the Eagles’ defense today to not allow extended plays with Allen escaping the pocket and finding open receivers downfield. James Bradberry arguably had his best game of the season last week in terms of coverage and he along with Darius Slay must stop the obvious threats of Stefon Diggs and Dalton Kincaid if the Eagles want to contain Josh Allen for the majority of this game. Another quip is Allen’s legs. Mahomes and Pacheco last Monday were able to scamper all over the Eagles’ run defense, something we haven’t seen much of this year. Allen likes to run (designed or not), so if he escapes the pocket and is taking off be sure to put a hit on him, make him remember what happens if wants to run against this defense.

Consistency

As I mentioned, Josh Allen has been Mr. Inconsistent all year, the Eagles have been the exact opposite. Each week the Eagles find themselves in a nail-biter game but do not stray away from their identity and are almost always able to put the pieces together and produce a victory. This Sunday will be no different. The Bills are a desperate team needing a win to remain heavily in the hunt for the AFC playoff picture. They will be coming into a hostile environment and look to come out firing early to quiet down the Philly faithful. That could be the case and I could see the Eagles going down early, maybe even trailing at half. But no matter, Jalen Hurts is 7-0 in his last 7 games when trailing by 10 or more points. Hurts truly turns it on when the lights are the brightest and the stakes are the highest. It will definitely be another team effort that gets a victory today and all facets of the ball must have the same mentality when playing an explosive team such as the Bills. Limit their big plays, play your game, and the Eagles should be the first team in the NFL to reach 10 wins this season.

Prediction

Eagles: 31
Bills: 26

The Eagles play the Bills at Lincoln Financial Field on 11/26 at 4:25 PM.