December 26, 2023
In their Week 16 win over the New York Giants, the Philadelphia Eagles played 75 snaps on offense and 63 on defense. Let's just get right to the snap counts, and some notes.
• 75 snaps: Jalen Hurts
Analysis: You can find my initial thoughts of Hurts' performance here. To be determined what it all looked like more clearly when the All-22 is released.
• 43 snaps: D'Andre Swift
• 30 snaps: Kenny Gainwell
• 2 snaps: Boston Scott
Analysis: Swift and Gainwell both ran really well in this game and made plays when the Eagles needed them. They combined for 26 carries for 133 yards and a TD. The Eagles did not commit to the "Boston Scott vs. the Giants" bit. Maybe in Week 18.
• 73 snaps: A.J. Brown
• 70 snaps: DeVonta Smith
• 20 snaps: Julio Jones
• 18 snaps: Olamide Zaccheaus
• 1 snap each: Britain Covey and Quez Watkins
Analysis: Brown was up and down. He made one of the biggest plays of the game when he was on the receiving end of a 3rd and 20 conversion. He also had a couple of drops, which have been uncharacteristic for him this season. And as you saw, Smith had a long catch and run for a TD.
Watkins has been benched after his rough performance against the Seahawks (and other games, I suppose). The Eagles should take all their Julio Jones screen plays out of the playbook and burn them.
• 64 snaps: Dallas Goedert
• 39 snaps: Jack Stoll
• 14 snaps: Grant Calcaterra
Analysis: Goedert caught 7 passes on 9 targets for 71 yards. He was quietly efficient.
We had a Calcaterra sighting. Two, actually! He had 2 catches on 2 targets for 21 yards, and he made a nice play to pick up a first down after the catch on a broken play.
Perfect execution of this trick play to get Grant Calcaterra his first catch of the year. pic.twitter.com/9lEhPfgDEv
— Shane Haff (@ShaneHaffNFL) December 25, 2023
Those were his first catches of the season.
• 75 snaps each: Jordan Mailata, Sua Opeta, Jason Kelce, Cam Jurgens, Lane Johnson
Analysis: Jordan Mailata had two penalties (block in back, false start), Johnson had one (holding), and Kelce had one (false start). Kelce also had a bad snap that Hurts calmly collected and then completed a pass to Calcaterra, as shown above.
Hurts was only sacked once, so this was a typically good performance overall from the offensive line, but there was also some sloppiness.
• 53 snaps: Haason Reddick
• 49 snaps: Josh Sweat
• 29 snaps: Brandon Graham
Analysis: Reddick got a lot of pressure in this game. His speed and motor were impressive, even if it didn't lead to any sacks. Sweat and Graham were mostly invisible. Reddick isn't getting much help from his teammates lately.
• 46 snaps: Fletcher Cox
• 32 snaps: Jordan Davis
• 24 snaps: Milton Williams
• 21 snaps: Jalen Carter
• 5 snaps: Marlon Tuipulotu
• 1 snap: Moro Ojomo
Analysis: The Eagles' interior did a decent enough job bottling up the run, as Saquon Barkley carried 23 times for 80 yards (3.5 YPC). They did not generate much of a pass rush, though, and Carter had two big blunders:
Neither cost the team badly, but Carter is sure to have a rough film session this week. He may have also lost some playing time in this game down the stretch.
• 54 snaps: Shaq Leonard
• 36 snaps: Ben VanSumeren
• 17 snaps: Nolan Smith
Analysis: Back in training camp, the Eagles gave Smith some occasional reps at linebacker, and I wondered if we might see him there in a pitch if they needed him. And sure enough, with their top three linebackers unavailable to play, the Eagles asked Smith to play out of position, and oh hey, he didn't look lost to me. I'll be curious to see how he played on closer inspection, but he's the type of player who can take on multiple roles because he is so athletically gifted.
Smith hasn't played much as a rookie, which to some degree was expected given the Eagles' perceived riches on the edge. In my opinion, he has played well in recent games, albeit in a low number of snaps, and he's probably deserving of more playing time.
• 63 snaps each: James Bradberry, Reed Blankenship, and Kevin Byard
• 51 snaps: Kelee Ringo
• 31 snaps: Bradley Roby
• 29 snaps: Eli Ricks
• 26 snaps: Sydney Brown
Analysis: Kelee Ringo grabbed his first career interception on the final play of the game, and has played well over the last two games in relief of Darius Slay. Ringo got one defensive snap Week 2 against the Vikings, and then didn't see the field again in the regular defense until Week 14 against the Seahawks.
Like Nolan Smith above, Ringo's recent play is perhaps encouraging looking forward on a team that has a whole lot of aging, declining veterans to replace over the next few years.
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