PHILADELPHIA — Coach Nick Sirianni said something revealing after the Eagles knocked off the Buffalo Bills Sunday, a game in which his team held the league’s fourth-ranked scoring offense to just 12 points but whose own offense didn’t score or even complete a pass after halftime.
“I have to help,” Sirianni said. “I put it on myself. I have to help with some things there, with some things that I know we want to get called. (Offensive coordinator) Kevin (Patullo) did a good job in that first half. But I’ve got to help in that second half a little bit, getting some things that we want to get called there.”
It was Sirianni’s most direct admission all year that Patullo wasn’t getting the job done. The Birds produced 174 yards of offense in the first half but just 16 the rest of the way, when quarterback Jalen Hurts was 0-for-7. They finished 3-of-13 overall on third down.
“I think we kind of went back to the consistent theme of playing really well one half and not well the other half, not putting a full game together,” said running back Saquon Barkley, who had 68 yards on 19 carries. “Obviously, we know we gotta get better. It’s a lot easier to get better from a win.
“But I feel like when there was like 6 minutes left, you want to end the game with the ball in your hands and we didn’t do that, I didn’t do that. I’ll take responsibility for that.”
The Eagles possessed the ball for just 8 minutes, 45 seconds in the final two quarters, generating only one first down and four three-and-outs. Sirianni insisted on Monday that the offense didn’t take its foot of the gas.
“Being up 13-0 at half is not — I mean, you’d rather be up 13-0 than be down 13-0, obviously — but by no means are we ever saying, ‘Hey, that’s good. Take your foot off the pedal.’ We’re trying to press still and go and continue. You don’t start thinking about that until well into the fourth quarter of when you start to get into type of football.
“I have to do a better job in that second half to allow us to be in those positions. I think that we weren’t efficient on first and second down, and then we obviously had a hard time there on third down. When you get into those where you’re having some three-and-outs, when drives don’t extend, obviously your yards are coming way down, your efficiency’s coming way down, all those things are happening.
“It wasn’t just the passing game. We just weren’t efficient enough on offense and we all share that — execution, coaching, everything.”
The Eagles’ most complete games this season were against the Vikings, the second meeting with the Giants, the Raiders and Washington. They moved the ball against the Chargers, but Hurts turned it over five times. Otherwise, the offense has failed to play produce for 60 minutes.
Except for the Rams game in Week 3, when the offense came to life in the second half by feeding A.J. Brown, the Birds’ attack has either struggled throughout or has sputtered after halftime — straying from what’s working or failing to adjust to opponents’ adjustments.
Often the overworked defense has bailed them out, but not always. Perhaps the most egregious example was the Week 5 loss to Denver, when the Eagles blew a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter — aiding the Broncos with a series of puzzling play calls and short-circuited drives.
The Eagles’ defense is clearly playing at a championship level, and pulling out a win in Buffalo is big, no matter how it looks, but the Week 17 offense looked a lot like the Week 5 offense.
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The Birds face a big decision in the coming days: whether to rest their starters after locking up the NFC’s No. 3 seed, or gear up to play Washington in Sunday’s regular-season finale at 4:25 p.m. in pursuit of the No. 2 seed, which would guarantee two home games (instead of one) if they advance.
“We’ve done it both ways,” Sirianni said. “We’ve had opportunities to rest. We’ve had opportunities to continue to get a better seed and played. You go through your process, you go through all those different things, but every season’s a little bit different. Every team’s a little bit different. We will end up doing what we think is the best for the team as we go through our process, and we’re still thinking through that. That’s not a decision I have to make today or even tomorrow. It’s just something that you have to go through the process of making.”
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NOTES: The Eagles waived veteran long snapper Charley Hughlett. Kicker Jake Elliott has had a turbulent year, but he was 2-for-2 on field goals and made his only PAT in Buffalo. Hughlett played the last two games after a stint on injured reserve. … Punter Braden Mann continued his outstanding 2025 campaign against the Bills, averaging 55.4 yards on seven punts.
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Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc.