National Football League

Are the Bills' playoff hopes over after their loss to the Eagles?

Published Nov. 27, 2023 7:53 p.m. ET

The Buffalo Bills are 6-6 following a crushing 37-34 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in a game the Bills led by 10 at multiple different points.

Buffalo, which has won the past three straight AFC East division titles, now sits on the outside looking in when it comes to the AFC playoff picture. While the Bills still have around a 10-20% chance of making the playoffs according to various statistical models, "First Things First" host Nick Wright believes Buffalo's playoff hopes are toast.

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"I'm here to tell you there's a zero percent chance [the Bills make the playoffs]," Wright said. "The reason people are giving them a chance is, ‘Well, if they win five straight — ‘ They're not a good enough team to win five straight. If you win six of 12, you're not, as your schedule all of a sudden turns the hardest, going to all of a sudden turn it on."

While Josh Allen was excellent, going 29-for-51 with 339 pass yards, 81 rush yards and three total touchdowns, the Bills' defense could not prevent Jalen Hurts and the Eagles from repeatedly coming back to tie the game and send it to overtime. Allen is now 0-6 in overtime games in his career, which both Wright and Colin Cowherd see as an indictment of his coaching staff, particularly longtime head coach Sean McDermott.

"The Eagles have an absolute offensive identity, and the Bills have a really talented quarterback — that's not an identity," Cowherd said on "The Herd" Monday. "They asked Josh Allen to save the day. And sometimes he can, he's a remarkable player, and sometimes he can't. In fourth quarters, in crisis, in close games, it's not enough."

"Three times this year, the Bills have faced an elite quarterback — last night, Cincinnati when [Joe] Burrow was healthy and the [Jaguars], and they're 0-3. Because when they face a team that is at least in the stratosphere of Josh Allen's talent — Burrow, Jalen Hurts, Trevor Lawrence — then the details matter."

Bills showed they remain Josh Allen-reliant in 37-34 loss vs. Eagles

The details, according to Cowherd, include Buffalo's lackluster run game for the past several seasons despite a dual-threat talent in Allen and an inability to punish teams in the red zone like the Eagles, Buffalo's opponents Sunday. Wright, meanwhile, ripped McDermott's decision-making near the end of the game, particularly his choice to not attempt a game-winning drive down the field with 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter after the Eagles tied the score.

"Your entire franchise is built around the talent of your quarterback who is having an awesome game," Wright said. "And Sean McDermott said, ‘Don't trust ya.' Sean McDermott said, ‘I cannot confidently say you're not going to cost us the game so I'm not going to give you a chance.' … In that moment, I said to myself, [McDermott] gave up on his team in that spot. He didn't trust their biggest advantage, which is supposed to be Josh Allen."

The issue then becomes what the Bills' long-term future is, less than two years after they appeared to be perennial Super Bowl contenders. The team already saw defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier take a leave of absence before the season and fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey after a last-second Week 10 loss to the Denver Broncos.

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While Wright believes the Bills should dismiss McDermott by the end of the season, Cowherd pointed out the team has a much bigger problem to deal with down the road regardless of who the coach is in Buffalo this year.

"The Super Bowl window for Buffalo for the time being is closed," Cowherd said. "This year, Josh Allen — basically Superman — is an $18 million [salary] cap hit. You wanna know what Josh Allen is next year? A $47 million cap hit. So you've wasted all this time, you have no offensive identity."

The Bills are on a bye next week, but their schedule gets rocky from there, with games against the 8-3 Chiefs and 8-3 Cowboys in the following two weeks. With the Dolphins appearing to have the division title secured, Buffalo likely needs to run the table or at least come close to it in order to make the playoffs and prove Wright wrong.

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