And, just like that, it’s Week 17 of the National Football League. My God, where did the time go? The Philadelphia Eagles face one final major test of the regular season, and it’s one of the toughest yet.
Their final away game of the campaign will be against one of the best teams in the AFC. If the Eagles can reach the Super Bowl again, they could very well face the same team they face on Sunday. They’ve encountered their share of heavy hitters. Here’s another one, the mighty Buffalo Bills. They’re not a team Philadelphia plays often, but one of the new Birds knows them very well.
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Jaelan Phillips spent his first four seasons in the NFL and much of his fifth playing in the AFC East with the Miami Dolphins, where his former team played Josh Allen and company twice a season. He knows Buffalo very well.
He recently spoke about the upcoming game as the Eagles continue to prepare.
“I know them very well. I’ve played them twice a year for the last five years, so they’re a dynamic team. Obviously Josh Allen is incredible at what he does, maybe the best in the world at it. So that’s always a challenge in itself to stop him.”
For most of his time in South Beach, the Bills usually had the Dolphins’ number. Phillips, however, remembered a win with the Dolphins during his days in South Beach. Perhaps this information will be useful in Philadelphia.
“If you can’t stop [Allen]then you are dealing with James Cook. [You] I have to stop him too, but at this point that’s pretty much all their offense. So if you can stop the leak, control Josh, then that’s a recipe for success against them… Once every five years. You would have thought we had won the Super Bowl with how excited we were about it. Granted, we’d beaten them in about 7 years, so there was some pent-up aggression about it… It’ll be nice to see them again.
Phillips also mentioned that playing in upstate New York will be a challenge and that Buffalo is one of the NFL’s true home-field advantages. Eagles fans travel well. Additionally, they have been migrating to other regions for generations. It’s no stranger to seeing a large sea of green take over opposing stadiums, but that may not be the case against the Bills Mafia in Week 17.
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Philadelphia may have a slight psychological advantage. Josh Allen has beaten 30 NFL teams. The only one he didn’t beat was the Eagles. In total, these proud franchises have crossed paths 15 times. Nine victories, including five of the last six, have gone in favor of Philadelphia.
This article originally appeared on Eagles Wire: Jaelan Phillips May Provide Josh Allen Preview for Eagles Defense
