*The Bills' wild-card hopes were virtually decimated Sunday in a 23-20 loss to Philadelphia . But the Eagles are very much alive in the NFC East. Here's what we learned: *
- This was a fitting way for Rex Ryan's season to essentially end. They out-gained the Eagles by 64 yards, but couldn't overcome self-inflicted wounds. The Bills incurred 15 penalties, with nearly half of them before the snap. They constantly put themselves in more difficult situations than necessary, right down to the last drive.
- The Bills, now 6-7 and two games back in the wild-card race, forced a fast three-and-out to set up a potential game-tying field goal drive with just under two minutes left. With a third-and-3 on their own 38-yard line, they were called for their fourth false start. That forced Tyrod Taylor to go down the field the next play, and Taylor overshot his receiver badly for a game-ending interception.
Taylor played well for most of the day, but he was way off target on two huge third-and-long plays in the last three minutes. The Bills might have won with better accuracy.
"This one's tough," Ryan said. "We got ourselves to blame. You can't have that many penalties. It's a no-brainer when you jump offsides a million times.
"We're going to be sick, I tell you that. This is going to cost us (a playoff berth), which I think it will."
- Fletcher Cox had another monster day on the way to a Pro Bowl outing. The Eagles' defensive line was too strong for the Bills most of the day, and Cox was a terror with eight tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, and a QB hit.
- The 6-7 Eagles deserve credit for managing a tricky matchup. Sam Bradford played well overall and took a lot of vertical shots throughout the game. He only hit a few, but his fourth-quarter interception was not his fault. (Leodis McKelvin made an incredible play to take a pass from Brent Celek.)
- Chip Kelly split his running back touches evenly between Darren Sproles, DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews. It didn't help much. Philadelphia stayed committed to the running game but it only totaled 116 yards on 34 carries.
- LeSean McCoy was the best running back in the game with 109 yards from scrimmage. But he didn't author the signature big play he wanted in Philadelphia, and refused to talk to the media afterwards. Score one for Chip.
