Leave it to Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo to somehow take a road victory against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills and somehow manage to suck some of the positivity out of it. The combination of his play-calling and quarterback Jalen Hurts' misfiring was alarming.
Even though Philly pulled off a 13-12 win, that triumph came despite Hurts and the offense, not because of them. Hurts completed just 13 of his 27 passes for 110 yards, 68 of which went to A.J. Brown. Brown and DeVonta Smith were the only Eagles who topped eight yards receiving.
Hurts didn't complete a single one of his seven pass attempts in the second half. That's scary enough by itself, but the more concerning addendum to this stat is the fact that this is the second time this season Hurts has gone the entire second half without completing a pass. He went 0-8 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4.
If Hurts is playing anywhere close to this in the postseason, asking the ground game and Vic Fangio to bail this team out may not be a formula for consistent success against the best of the best in the NFC.
Jalen Hurts fails to complete second-half pass in win vs. Bills
Assigning blame for halves like this is a chicken-or-the-egg-type scenario. Is this the result of Hurts being so way off in the second half that Patullo didn't trust him to make plays, or were Patullo's conservative play calls when led to Buffalo defending Philly perfectly?
While Hurts hasn't been terrible this season, as he set a new personal best mark for passing touchdowns in a season, he and the offense have left tons of meat on the bone and played their worst against other playoff teams. 10 of Hurts' 24 touchdown passes came in three games against the Giants, Vikings, and Raiders.
The Eagles aren't the same juggernaut that can steamroll teams like they did last year. They will need more from Hurts as a pure passer this season, and halves like this justifiably create some doubt in the minds of those who are wondering how far Nick Sirianni can take this team.
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Fangio is great, and Saquon Barkley seems to have woken up, but one more ill-timed repeat of the Bills' second half could be enough to bring an end to the 2025-26 season for Philly.