PHILADELPHIA - Of all the amazing things that happened Sunday night at rain-drenched Lincoln Financial Field − both positive and negative for the Buffalo Bills in their crushing 37-34 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Eagles − there was one play that stood above all the others.

And because this is the Bills that we’re talking about, the franchise that has built a library and filled it with demoralizing defeats so iconic that they warrant nicknames, of course it was a negative play, one that simply defied belief, and one that puts their 2023 season closer to extinction.

The Buffalo defense, which was gasping for air at the end, thought it did just enough to secure the Bills’ best win of the season. It rose up and stopped the Eagles' final drive in regulation at the Buffalo 41-yard-line as Jordan Poyer broke up a Jalen Hurts pass intended for A.J. Brown.

Staring at fourth-and-17, the Eagles had no choice but to attempt a 59-yard field goal with 25 seconds left to play. And given the rain and the soaked field, it seemed like it would take a miracle for Jake Elliott to drive the ball through the uprights that must have looked like they were in Scranton.

But no. Of course the ball went through, one of the greatest kicks in NFL history and that’s not hyperbole. It was the fourth-longest field goal ever made against the Bills, and it was the longest overtime-forcing field goal in the NFL since Jay Feely made a 61-yarder for Arizona, naturally against the Bills, in 2012. And in this weather? Incredible.

“To see that go through, that was kind of heartbreaking,” said special teamer Siran Neal. “On their end that’s a great kick and for us to see that going through it definitely was devastating.”

It didn’t even seem possible that a ball could be kicked off the wet ground, through all that falling water, at that distance. Yet, here we are. Earlier in the day, Texans kicker Matt Ammendola attempted a 58-yarder in the dying seconds trying to send Houston's game to overtime against the Jaguars. Ammendola was indoors, but he fell just shy, hitting the crossbar. Indoors. In perfect conditions.

Again, we're talking about the Bills. Of course Elliott found a way to kick the ball to the promised land.

“That was nuts. That was nuts,” safety Micah Hyde said. “Obviously this is the NFL, you understand that until there’s zero time left on the clock you don’t assume you won the game but that was a hell of a kick.”

It stole a victory from Buffalo as it tied the game at 31-31, and then after Tyler Bass gave the Bills the lead in overtime, the defense could not replicate its performance on the previous drive and allowed the Eagles to drive 75 yards to Hurts’ game-winning 12-yard touchdown run.

Now 6-6, the Bills aren’t dead in the playoff chase, but they are obviously in big, big trouble.

Here’s how I graded the Bills:

PASS OFFENSE: A-

Josh Allen played a heroic game as he passed for 339 yards and two touchdowns including a go-ahead score to Gabe Davis with 1:52 left in the fourth quarter, and he also ran for 81 yards and two scores, giving him a 420-yard total offense day.

However, he threw a terrible interception deep in his own territory that set up an Eagles touchdown, and on Buffalo’s last offensive play in overtime, he had Davis open in the end zone but the QB and WR miscommunicated as Davis went one way and the ball went the other. That made Buffalo settle for a field goal, and in the end, that was usurped by the Eagles’ OT TD.

Davis had his best game of the year with six catches for 105 yards, while Stefon Diggs was inconsistent as he caught only six of 11 targets for 74 yards with a TD. Dalton Kincaid had a very quiet five catches for 38 yards and Khalil Shakir had three for 47.

As for James Cook, yes, he made a nice catch and run for 29 yards, but he also dropped a sure-fire TD pass in the first quarter.

RUN OFFENSE: A-

Against the NFL’s No. 1 rushing defense, the Bills tried all night to establish the ground game on the sloppy field and they finished with 173 yards, the most the Eagles have allowed this season. The Bills ran it 40 times for an average of 4.3 yards with Allen leading the way as his 81 yards came on a mixture of designed runs and scrambles.

Cook struggled with just 43 yards on 16 carries, while Latavius Murray and Ty Johnson chipped in with 49 combined yards. The offensive line, going against a stud-filled Eagles front, created some nice holes, particularly on the drive in the fourth quarter that ended with Davis’ TD catch that gave the Bills a 31-28 lead.

PASS DEFENSE: C-

With 1:50 left in the third quarter, right after the Bills had opened a 24-14 lead, Hurts was 7 of 15 for 50 yards with an interception and even after he hit DeVonta Smith for 34 yards, he still went into the fourth quarter with just 84 yards passing.

And then it all came crumbling down for the Bills during a disastrous fourth quarter and overtime. In a two-minute stretch early in the fourth, Hurts capped a way-too-easy 75-yard drive with a 15-yard TD pass to Smith. And after the Allen interception, Hurts somehow found Olamide Zaccheaus for a 29-yard TD in the back of the end zone after scrambling around to buy time on third-and-15, just a brutal failure in lost coverage by both Hyde and Poyer.

Before all that, the Bills really had it going. Taking advantage of the Eagles not having star RT Lane Johnson, the pass rush was electric in the first half, though not so much in the second half. Linval Joseph and Tim Settle each had sacks, Greg Rousseau and Leonard Floyd were constant nuisances, and Floyd batted a Hurts pass into the air in the first half that floated into the arms of Terrel Bernard for an interception which set up the Bills’ first touchdown as they started that drive at the Philly 29.

Smith hurt the Bills with seven catches for 106 yards, but A.J. Brown − though he caught a TD pass − had only five receptions for 37 yards. No one else had more than two catches and the Bills limited Hurts to 200 yards on 31 attempts.

RUN DEFENSE: D

The Bills did some good work early in the game, but the biggest problem with their run defense is they invariably get gashed for a huge play and that happened early in the third quarter. D’Andre Swift had only seven yards at the half, but he ripped off a 36-yard run that got the Eagles started on a touchdown drive that cut Buffalo’s lead to 17-14.

Rousseau played a tremendous game. He had three run tackles for lost yardage and on the first one he recovered a fumble by Hurts. Unfortunately, he didn’t have too much help as the Eagles finished with 185 yards. Swift eventually gained 80 yards while Hurts ripped off some damaging runs including the game-winning 12-yarder in OT where he wasn’t even touched on a draw up the middle. LBs Bernard and Tyrel Dodson were weak against the run on several plays.

SPECIAL TEAMS: D

The weather conditions were obviously poor, and Lincoln Financial Field is a grass surface so the kicking conditions were problematic, but that can't be an excuse for Tyler Bass missing two field goals, and given the outcome, they were huge misses. The first was partially blocked by Jalen Carter in the second quarter from just 34 yards out, and then in the third he was wide right from 48 yards. He did make a 48-yarder in the second quarter and a 40-yarder in OT.

The Bills had a miserable night with penalties, 11 for 80 yards including two on special teams. Neal had a personal foul that gave the Eagles 15 free yards to start their first touchdown drive in the first quarter. And Baylon Spector had a holding penalty that cost the Bills 10 yards of field position and forced a drive start from the 5 in the second quarter.

Sam Martin had three punts downed inside the 20, but his net was only 38.3 yards, eight yards worse than Eagles’ punter Braden Mann. Andy Isabella had a 25-yard kickoff return, while Shakir muffed a punt that he was fortunate to get back.

COACHING: D

This team’s penalty issues are a problem. The first half was downright comical, and though I fully understand Shawn Hochuli’s crew seemed like they were making a few of those calls up, that doesn’t explain all of Buffalo’s breaking of the rules. Sean McDermott has to be appalled with the lack of discipline his team showed, which falls directly on him. “I’m not going there,” he said when asked about the officiating.

I thought Joe Brady called another very good game. I like that he stayed patient with the run when he saw that it was working, especially on a sloppy night when ballhandling in the passing game was compromised. Getting Allen back into the running game is critical and he killed the Eagles with some big plays. The Bills finished with 40 minutes of possession time, 505 yards, 29 first downs and an amazing 13 of 22 on third down.

Defensively, it was the same story that has hurt the Bills all year. The defense played well for stretches, but in the big moments it wilted as McDermott’s unit allowed 23 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. The Bills just can’t close out games, and that’s a huge reason why they’re a middling .500 team.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana and on Threads @salmaiorana1. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out twice a week during the season, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills report card: Buffalo wilts in crushing overtime loss to Eagles