December 29, 2025
The best thing about an Eagles games is how engrossing it is, how it encourages the ebb and flow of emotions while casting aside any real-life issues if you’re having a bad week.
I just had a really bad week, one of the worst in my 74 years. I lost my best friend on Dec. 23 at 11:34 a.m. His name was Bentley, a mixed-breed miracle who brought joy and love into every life he touched.
Even in his final days, hobbling on wobbly legs and no longer able to accommodate his voracious appetite, this amazing dog remained a bright light to all of us, and especially my three youngest grandkids.
I would write more about him, but the pain of his loss is still too fresh. I may never be able to write about him without tears running down my face. There are really no words that sufficiently describe this feeling.
From the moment of his passing, I awaited desperately the arrival of the Eagles-Bills game five days later, knowing it would provide a brief respite from this painful mourning.
Indeed, it did. In fact, when the errant pass by Josh Allen on a game-deciding two-point conversion splattered on the wet turf in Buffalo, I found myself spontaneously erupting in joy, albeit only for a moment or two.
I offer this glimpse into my sad holiday week only to illustrate why I love sports so much, why I chose it over many other career options eons ago. Sports – and especially Eagles games – provide an escape like nothing else in my life.
Thank you, Eagles, for providing hope that even the worst of devastations can eventually lose some of their impact. Time marches on. And time seems to march just a little bit faster when the Birds play – especially when they win.
Of course, even in reflective times like this, I can’t change who I am. That’s why it’s safe to say I’m more appreciative of some people on the Eagles than others after a bizarre game played in a driving, cold rain and on a slip-and-slide playing surface.
So let’s begin our look back at the 11th win of the season – Eagles 13, Bills 12 – with a special appreciation for defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and his extremely talented, exceedingly smart defense.
Normally, it would be enough to point out that Eagles held a Buffalo offense averaging almost 30 points a game to only 12 on Sunday. But the way those swarming defenders did it, shutting down the best run game in the NFL, and the most dangerous running quarterback, for the first 54 minutes was astounding.
The obvious truth is, that defense probably would have kept Buffalo off the scoreboard for the entire game if not for an Eagles offense that floundered through one three-and-out series after another for most of the second half amid poor execution of dreadful play-calls.
How bad was the Eagles offense? Well, it gained a grand total of 16 yards in the last 30 minutes, never even sniffing the possibility of adding points to a 13-0 halftime lead.
As for Jalen Hurts, the quarterback who operated efficiently in the first two quarters both with his arm and his feet, he managed to complete zero passes after the break. His 0 for 7 was every bit as ugly as it looks, but it underscored how reliant the Birds have become on their remarkable defense.
Here’s a stat to remember: It has been 35 years since any NFL team had zero points and zero completions in a game. Thirty-five years. And still the Eagles won.
In other words, Fangio is the main reason the Birds have any hope to repeat as champs this season. He and his players may be the onlyreason.
For example, there’s Jalen Carter, back from surgeries on both shoulders, making big play after big play, and then, in effect, winning the game by swatting aside the extra point that led to the drama in the final seconds.
The rest of the defensive line neutralized Josh Allen’s throwing and running all day with a relentless rush that included five sacks and twice as many pressures.
Unheralded LB Jaylx Hunt had two big sacks, for a loss of 29 total yards. His partner at LB, Zack Baun, was everywhere, all day. Cooper DeJean may be the best defensive back the Eagles have had in a decade, if not a generation.
And Fangio kept dialing up the right defenses until fatigue became his unit’s biggest enemy in the final minutes. That defense was on the field for an ungodly 21:15 of the final 30 minutes.
No win under Nick Sirianni comes without a dollop or two of luck, and this time the head coach has the guy on the other sideline to thank for a laughably ridiculous decision to go for two at the end.
Did I mention the Eagles had 16 yards of offense in the second half? Did I mention that the defense was gassed after that marathon final 30 minutes?
I have never considered Sean McDermott much of a thinker, but his decision to decide the entire game – a game he needed for playoff seeding – on one play was logical only in an illogical mind. The Bills had all the momentum, the crowd, everything.
Hey, let’s go for two.
Thank you, dummy.
The big debate in Philadelphia today is whether the Eagles can win another Lombardi Trophy with only one side of the ball playing at a championship level. I can answer that. No, they can’t.
And they won’t if Kevin Patullo keeps calling plays so ineptly in the second half of games, when adjustments are essential. Patullo has proven so far that the only thing he can successfully adjust is his underpants.
Has it occurred to anyone else how improbable it is that an offense with Hurts, Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert could score zero points and gain 16 yards in five series against one of the worst run defenses in the NFL?
It did to me. But Patullo keeps calling the plays, a mistake that promises more grief in the playoffs.
Nevertheless, there’s a difference between grief following a football team and grief losing a close family member. I learned that this week, or at least had confirmation of what I already strongly suspected.
So today I hail the Eagles, for a thrilling win and for offering a temporary escape from the pain of losing my best friend.
And I hail Bentley Cataldi, for 12 years that made so many lives better, starting with my own.
If there’s a heaven for dogs, he’s in it.
Other things to consider . . . .
- Now begins one of the worst moments of every winning season under Nick Sirianni. Should he play the starters in the final game of the regular season on Sunday, having a very real chance of getting the No. 2 seed with a win over Washington and a loss by the Bears? Of course, he should. Will he? I’m betting he won’t. Nick must have a chart somewhere telling him not to risk any injuries before the playoffs. Ugh.
- Netflix paid $150 million a year for two NFL games on Christmas Day. For that extraordinary amount, you’d like to believe the No.1 streamer in America would know how to present six hours of TV sports programming. It does not. Between the confusion over how to find the games, the muddled sound and the off-putting interviews with ex-players spouting mindless platitudes, Netflix fumbled repeatedly during two dreadful games.
- As part of its billion-dollar deal, Amazon Prime got the third Christmas game this year, a dud between the Chiefs and Broncos. The only real drama was over whether it was the last game in KC for Travis Kelce, but when the Amazon cameras attempted to follow the legendary tight end around the field after the 20-13 loss, Chiefs security blocked them. Why? Good question. If I were running Amazon, I would demand an answer. The Chiefs should be embarrassed. So should the NFL. But they are not. I guarantee it.
- The biggest Eagles cheerleader in Philadelphia media, Reuben Frank of NBC Sports Philadelphia, headed a column over the weekend lamenting the fact that Nick Sirianni has never gotten close to winning a Coach of the Year Award. Frank rolled out his usual arsenal of stats to prove how wonderful the Eagles head coach is. Frank left out the stat that mattered most: Howie Roseman is one of only four GMs in NFL history to win more than one Executive of the Year award. In other words, the voters know the GM is the main reason for the success, not the coach. Which – if Frank pulled his head out of a stat book for just one second – he would already realize.
- If I had a vote this year for Coach of the Year, I would happily put down the name Mike Vrabel, who has done one of the greatest jobs of leading a team in my lifetime as a football fan. Vrabel – who went nuts when his previous team, the Tennessee Titans, traded A.J. Brown to the Eagles three years ago, — took a 4-13 New England team and, in his first season, has already flipped the record to 13-3 with one game left. Mike Vrabel is the new gold standard for head-coaching in the NFL.