Jalen Carter back to being healthy and disruptive as playoffs near

Jalen Carter looked like himself again in the Eagles' 13-12 win over the Bills in Buffalo.

By Dave Zangaro • Published December 29, 2025

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Jalen Carter is back.

And not just back, like he’s on the field. Back like the dominant defensive tackle we’ve all seen him be before. He showed that on Sunday after returning from missing three games following a procedure on both shoulders.

How did those shoulders feel on Sunday?

"They felt good,” Carter said. "Like, way better than before. I guess that shot really did its thing.” 

Carter, 24, had been battling through injuries to both shoulders throughout the season that sapped his strength and mobility and left him dealing with serious pain. After the loss to the Bears last month, the decision was made to have Carter receive shots in both shoulders and sit for a few games.

He came back with a vengeance on Sunday in Buffalo.

In the Eagles’ 13-12 win, Carter had a sack, several pressures and a clutch PAT block to help the Eagles hold on against the Bills in a hostile environment at Highmark Stadium.

"Huge,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. "He’s a big-time player. Just a big-time player who made big-time plays. You saw it.”

Carter said he could tell how much better his shoulders felt during the week by striking the heavy bags, especially when D-line coach Clint Hurtt was on the back of the bag. But equipment doesn’t charge you like an offensive lineman, so Sunday was still a good test.

And those two shoulders passed with flying colors.

"I didn’t feel like this with the shoulders all season,” Carter said. "Just to be able to strike blocks and not have too much pain when I’m coming off and my arms taking the heat. It felt good, man. I’m going to get it better every week. Work on it to get the strength back and go from there.”

The Eagles are going to need a healthy Carter for their playoff run. He’s one of the biggest play-makers on an elite defense and he made a ton of plays in his return on Sunday.

No play on Sunday was bigger than Carter’s block on an extra-point attempt late in the fourth quarter. That block kept the Bills’ deficit to seven points. Had Carter not blocked that PAT, the Bills could have lined up for a game-winning extra point when they scored with 5 seconds remaining in the game. Instead, the Bills elected to try for a 2-point conversion and failed — thanks in part to even more pressure from Carter.

"You guys see what he does for us,” Jaelan Phillips said. "The blocked extra point is basically what won us the game when you think about it.”

While Carter is a Pro Bowl defensive tackle, he takes his role on special teams seriously — along with Jordan Davis, Byron Young and others. Carter said he and Davis walked a lap around the field before Sunday’s game and noticed a low trajectory kick coming from Bills kicker Michael Badgley, so he knew he had a shot.

During the week of prep, the Eagles’ field goal block team tries to identify the weak link of the line on field goals — the fish. Carter lined up against the fish on his PAT block.

"This is something we go over every day,” Carter said. "We just know we can do it. We’ve done it before. We just go out there every chance we get on field goal block to try to get a block.”

On defense, the Eagles sacked Josh Allen five times on Sunday and all five of those sacks came via a four-man rush, per NextGen Stats. That’s the second-most sacks the Bills have given up all season.

Carter notched his in the second quarter when he roasted guard O’Cyrus Torrence in a 1-on-1.

"I got there pretty fast,” Carter said. "I was kind of shocked but I had to make sure I didn’t miss that tackle. I just stayed up and went to the side just in case he ducked real low and he was able to stay up, so I could go back and get him again. That’s just how it went.”

In his rookie season, Carter had a chance to sack Allen but wasn’t able to wrap him up in the backfield. He made sure to get him to the ground on Sunday.

With just one game remaining in the regular season, this Eagles defense looks incredible. And one of their best players sure looked like himself on Sunday.

"Our biggest goal for him was just to get his body back together,” Jordan Davis said. "Rest, recover, get everything back together. Because we’re always going to be here when he gets back. Whether it was one week or three weeks, it doesn’t matter. When he comes back, we want him to be at his best. He was at his best today.”

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/jalen-carter-bills-shoulders-healthy-nick-sirianni-jordan-davis-jaelan-phillips-georgia/703415/