ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) 鈥� As Jalen Carter and his Philadelphia teammates celebrated in the end zone after making one last crucial stop, Buffalo鈥檚 Josh Allen removed his helmet and yelled out in frustration.
In a game decided by a 2-point conversion attempt, Allen came up short 鈥� a foot wide, actually 鈥� when he in the back of the end zone with 5 seconds remaining. That was the difference as the Eagles beat the Bills 13-12 on Sunday in a late-season matchup of Super Bowl contenders.
鈥淲inning鈥檚 hard in this league, and I鈥檓 always going to enjoy a win,鈥� Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said after his team nearly squandered a 13-0 fourth-quarter lead.
鈥淚f you come out of this and you鈥檙e just thinking about all the negative things that happened, then it鈥檚 just a miserable existence,鈥� Sirianni added.
The NFC East champion Eagles (11-5) are assured of at least the conference鈥檚 No. 3 seed in the playoffs. They improved to 7-3 in one-score games and became the NFL’s first team since the Patriots in 1987 to win multiple games in which they failed to complete a pass in the second half.
Buffalo (11-5), which clinched a playoff berth last week, dropped to the No. 7 seed in the AFC. New England with the Bills鈥� loss.
Allen had a far different take on the outcome than Sirianni.
鈥淵eah, it means a lot. We can learn a lot from this experience,鈥� Allen said, looking ahead to the playoffs in two weeks. 鈥淚鈥檇 rather have won and learn from that too, but again, I got to make a play.鈥�
After being shut out for nearly 55 minutes, Allen rallied the Bills by rushing for two touchdowns in the final 5:11. His second TD came on a 1-yard tush push on fourth-and-goal 鈥� one play after a replay review determined that tight end Dawson Knox鈥檚 elbow came down just short of the goal line.
Rather than playing for overtime, coach Sean McDermott opted to go for 2. Allen dropped back and was being pressured by linebacker Jalyx Hunt when he let loose a pass that sailed wide of Shakir. The Bills then tried an onside kick that Goedert recovered.
鈥淵eah I just missed. Rolling left, got to get him a better ball,鈥� Allen said.
and Jake Elliott accounted for the rest of Philadelphia’s offense by hitting field goals of 28 and 47 yards.
Hunt had two of Philadelphia鈥檚 four sacks and a team-leading three quarterback hits.
And Carter made a major contribution in his return after missing three games with injuries to both shoulders. Carter got his hand up to block Michael Badgley鈥檚 extra-point attempt after Allen鈥檚 2-yard touchdown run with 5:11 left.
鈥淛ust a big-time player who makes big plays,鈥� Sirianni said of Carter, . 鈥淩elentless in everything that he does. Relentless effort.鈥�
The Eagles needed their defense to preserve the win after their offense evaporated in the second half. Not including its game-closing kneel-down, Philadelphia combined for one first down and 17 yards of offense on five second-half possessions 鈥� all ending with punts.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a big-time win,鈥� Hurts said. 鈥淗ell of a performance by the defense and how they played and how they were able to find a way to gut that out and make plays when we needed it the most.鈥�
Hurts went 0 for 7 in the second half and finished 13 of 27 for 110 yards with a touchdown. Goedert鈥檚 TD was his team-leading 11th of the season and set the single-season team record for tight ends 鈥� one more than Pete Retzlaff had in 1965.
Allen went 16 of 25 for 172 yards in the second half and finished 23 of 35 for 262 yards. With his two rushing scores, the 29-year-old Allen increased his career total to 301 (passing, rushing, receiving) and became the first player to reach 300 before turning 30.
Allen, who was limited in practice this week with a sore right foot, got X-rays after the game. McDermott said the tests were negative, and Allen said he felt good and the foot injury had zero impact on his performance.
What hurt was coming one completion short.
鈥淚t just comes down to us executing, making one more play than they did. And obviously we saw that we didn鈥檛 make that last play,鈥� Allen said, before correcting himself. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 make that last play.鈥�
Injuries
Eagles: LB Nakobe Dean (hamstring) did not play.
Bills: LB Terrel Bernard did not return after hurting his calf in the first half. … Defensive tackles DaQuan Jones (calf) and Jordan Phillips (ankle) and safety Jordan Poyer (hamstring) did not play. TE Dalton Kincaid missed his fourth of seven games with a nagging knee injury.
Up next
Eagles: Host Washington next weekend.
Bills: Host the New York Jets next weekend.
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