The thrill of victory and the exasperation of trying to feel good about it define the 2025 Eagles
Resilience is great. But even better is playing well enough to avoid the situations that test it. That tension of opposites will determine the Eagles’ ultimate fate in the playoffs.
Quinyon Mitchell isn’t one of those cornerbacks who speaks as if he is paid by the word. That’s a good thing. Brevity is often a sign of a man with more important things on his mind. It also suffices, more often than not.
For anybody who walked away from the Eagles’ 13-12 victory over the Bills on Sunday with an even greater sense of trepidation regarding the postseason, it might be helpful to consider the three short declarative sentences that Mitchell offered up as his interpretation of the proceedings.
“We’re battle-tested,” the Eagles’ second-year cornerback said as he stood in the postgame swirl of a cramped visitor’s locker room at Highmark Stadium. “Just look at our schedule. Look at our opponents.”
The sentiment is equal parts encouraging and maddening. Which is fitting, because the Eagles themselves are both of those things. It is their yin and their yang, their two mystical tadpoles, one of them midnight green, the other kelly green, chasing each other in a circle. The thrill of victory and the exasperation of trying to feel good about it.
» READ MORE: The Eagles wouldn’t be foolish to rest their starters in Week 18. But they’d better be right.
On the one hand, the scoreboard is the ultimate judge. On the other hand, why does the scoreboard have to say 13-12? And why does it have to feel so fitting?
To anybody who possesses both a functioning brain and a reasonable amount of prior exposure to playoff football, the Eagles look like a team whose luck is destined to run out well before Super Bowl Sunday. The quarterback has not been good enough. Not even close. The play-calling has not been good enough to make up for the quarterback’s deficiencies. The defense has been good enough to make up for both of those things. But only barely.
On Sunday, the result was the second time this season that the Eagles failed to complete a pass in the second half. Yet it was also the second time this season where they failed to complete a pass in the second half and still won the game.
Yin and yang.
Sunday was also the third time this season when the Eagles won a game in which they scored fewer than 17 points. They are just the fifth team to accomplish that feat over the last 15 seasons. Of the four teams that did it previously, three went on to lose in the wild card round. Yet the one exception was the 2012 Ravens, who went on to win the Super Bowl.
Yin and yang.
“I’ve never really been on a playoff team, but I can tell the difference just in the sense of these crunch time moments, being able to bend but don’t break,” said defensive end Jaelan Phillips, who had one of the Eagles’ five sacks against the Bills. “Obviously they had a little bit of a surge toward the end, but we were able to do what we needed to do offensively, defensively, and special teams wise to come out with the win. Gritty games like that are things you need to have to prepare yourself for the long haul.”
The Eagles may not be the most dynamic team heading into the postseason, but they will be the most prepared.
They have faced 10 of the top 13 quarterbacks in the NFL in terms of passing yards with a 3-1 record against the top three. They are 4-1 against the top seven QBR leaders. They have won games against five of the six quarterbacks who, along with Jalen Hurts, lead the NFL in wins over the last four seasons.
Sunday was the 10th time in 16 games that the Eagles faced a team that ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in either offensive or defensive yards per play (as of Sunday).
» READ MORE: Kevin Patullo on struggles of Eagles offense: ’It never comes down to one thing.’
They have faced four of the NFL’s five highest-scoring offenses. They’ve faced five of the six quarterbacks who entered Sunday with the most passing yards, and three of the four who entered with the highest passer ratings. They have faced five of the seven defenses that entered Sunday with the highest rating, according to Pro Football Reference’s rating system.
These have been the Eagles’ hallmarks throughout Hurts’ tenure at quarterback and Nick Sirianni’s at head coach. Sunday’s win over the Bills only added to a road record that is the best in the NFL since Sirianni’s arrival.
“I think that’s a product of really good players and good coaches, and so it’s everything that goes into that, but good mental toughness,” Sirianni said Monday. “I think that really signifies your mental toughness, too.
“We experienced some highs and some lows [on Sunday], and we were able to continue to be relentless in our approach handling ups and downs. They ended up making a critical mistake in the game and we didn’t, which ended up being the difference in that game. So again, coming down to fundamentals. Just great resilience by the guys in there, and we prepare for that as coaches and players.”
Resilience is great. But even better is playing well enough to avoid the situations that test your resilience. That tension of opposites will determine the Eagles’ ultimate fate in the playoffs.