Week 12 Eagles grades by position after crazy OT win over Bills

The Eagles did it again.

After trailing by 10 points at halftime again, the Eagles staged a second half comeback and were able to beat the Bills 37-34 in overtime on Sunday afternoon at the Linc.

This is just the third time in franchise history the Eagles have won back-to-back games after trailing by 10+ points at halftime. It made for quite a finish.

Let’s get to the grades:

Quarterback

Jalen Hurts: 18/31, 200 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT, 96.2 rating; 14 carries, 65 yards, 2 TDs

Hurts had an awful first half and the Eagles’ entire offense was stuck in the mud. But by the end of the game, you look up and Hurts led the Eagles to a crazy comeback and had five total touchdowns in the game. He was spectacular in the second half and led the Eagles on that comeback and capped off the win with a 12-yard touchdown run in overtime to walk off with the win. There are plenty of things to clean up but there’s no denying that Hurts possesses the clutch gene. When there’s a chance for the Eagles to win a football game, it’s hard to not have faith that he’s going to get it done.

Grade: A-

Running back

D’Andre Swift: 14 carries, 80 yards; 1 catch, 4 yards

Swift didn’t put up monster numbers in this game but did some damage on the ground and his 16-yard run on the penultimate play of the game when he reversed field and found room was an absolute beauty before Hurts punched in the game-winner. After a 76-yard performance last week, Swift had another nice game against the Bills. Kenny Gainwell also added 2 carries for 26 yards and Boston Scott had 2 for 14 in the Eagles’ 185-yard rushing performance.

Grade: B+

Receiver

DeVonta Smith: 7 catches on 8 targets, 106 yards, 1 TD

After Smith finished with 99 yards in two of the three previous games, he finally eclipsed the 100-yard mark in this game and was also pretty clutch. He had a couple huge receptions on the game-winning drive and made a great 15-yard touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter to pull the Eagles within three. Olamide Zaccheaus also had a brilliant 29-yard touchdown catch in the back of the end zone on a scramble play. A.J. Brown had 5 catches on 9 targets for 37 yards but also caught a touchdown pass on a nicely designed play in the third quarter.

Grade: B+

Tight end 

Jack Stoll: 1 catch on 2 targets, 14 yards

The Eagles were without Dallas Goedert and Grant Calcaterra in this game so they were down to Stoll, Albert Okwuegbunam and Noah Togiai. So we’re grading a bit on a curve. The tight ends weren’t asked to be huge participants in the passing game but Stoll’s one catch was a beauty and he finished it strong in the third quarter to pick up a first down and set up the touchdown pass to Brown.

Grade: B

Offensive line

The Eagles were without Lane Johnson in this game after Johnson woke up on Sunday morning with soreness in his groin. Jack Driscoll didn’t get the call from Jeff Stoutland until about 11:30 on Sunday and he had to make a spot start. Obviously, the Eagles missed Johnson but Driscoll performed much better in this game than he did against the Jets a few weeks ago. Overall, this was a pretty solid performance from the Eagles’ OL.

Grade: B+

Defensive line

Brandon Graham: 1 sack, 2 tackles

The Eagles finished with just one sack in this game, but Haason Reddick was robbed again by an intentional grounding. That sack from BG came at a huge moment in the fourth quarter in a game where he set the franchise mark for games played. There were some stretches of this game, though, where the Eagles weren’t getting consistent pressure. They found themselves shorthanded at defensive tackle after the injury to Fletcher Cox. Give Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis credit for playing as much and as well as they did.

Grade: B

Linebacker

Nicholas Morrow: 12 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 PD

Zach Cunningham left this game with a hamstring injury and wasn’t able to return so he was replaced by Christian Elliss. The only other off-ball linebacker in this game was practice squad elevation Ben VanSumeren. Just a reminder of how light the Eagles are depth-wise at linebacker. Morrow did some good things but had a costly roughing the passer penalty.

Grade: C

Secondary

James Bradberry: 3 tackles, 1 INT, 5 PD

The interception from Bradberry was huge and set up an Eagles touchdown. But Josh Allen still threw for 339 yards and a couple touchdowns. And everyone deserves some blame for his rushing performance. Allen had 81 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground in this game.

Grade: C+

Special teams

Jake Elliott: 1/1 on FGs (make of 59), 4/4 on PATs

Michael Clay’s unit was superb in this game. Elliott made that insane 59-yarder to send the game to overtime. Carter blocked a field goal. Braden Mann had five punts and averaged 53.8. Britain Covey had an 18-yard punt return. And the Bills averaged 7.4 yards per punt return. Just an all-around good day for special teams in wet conditions.

Grade: A+

Coaching

Record: 10-1

On one hand, the first half was awful. And fans have every right to question Brian Johnson and Nick Sirianni for that first-half game plan. But if you do that, you also have to give them credit for getting to plays that helped the Eagles score 30 points after halftime. On defense, it wasn’t good that the Bills kept converting third downs and Sean Desai didn’t seem to have a great answer for Allen’s legs. But this team is resilient and tough and coaching deserves some of that credit. They just don’t lose.

Grade: B

Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts: 
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube