September 17, 2024

Game ball, three stars, and snap count analysis: Week 2, Eagles vs. Falcons

Can the Eagles snap counts help explain their brutal loss to the Falcons?

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

Bill Streicher/Imagn Images

Kirk Cousins had clean pockets to throw from all night.

In their devastating Week 2 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, the Philadelphia Eagles played 71 snaps on offense and 61 on defense. Let's just get right to the snap counts, and some notes.

Quarterback

• 71 snaps: Jalen Hurts

Notes: Hurts was 23 of 30 for 183 yards, with 1 TD and 1 INT. His night looks a lot better if Saquon Barkley doesn't drop a pillow that was lobbed his way on the most crucial play of the game. But, the game was extended, and Hurts made a bad decision to air out a low percentage and risky throw down the field that was picked by Jessie Bates to seal the loss. He still had plenty of time on the clock and a timeout in his pocket to get the Eagles into field goal range, and shouldn't have made that throw.

My biggest takeaway from Hurts' night was that he looked fast again as a runner. He galloped for 85 yards on 13 carries (6.5 YPC), and ran with some emotion.

Running back

• 64 snaps: Saquon Barkley

• 7 snaps: Kenny Gainwell

Notes: In the Eagles' Week 1 win over the Packers, Barkley was one of the stars of the game and it looked like that's what he was going to be once again Week 2 against the Falcons. And then...

Costly drop! @saquon Barkley can’t haul in the pass from Jalen Hurts.

The drop stopped the clock and the Eagles are forced to go for the FG.

HUGE MISTAKE BY 26. pic.twitter.com/JshkQPBdGK
— DIE-HARD 🦅 REALTOR® (@Eaglesfans9) September 17, 2024

That is as easy a catch as you're going to see in the NFL. Barkley's drop was the equivalent of, I dunno, Trea Turner sailing a routine Ronald Acuña ground ball over Bryce Harper's head with a one-run lead, two runs come in to score, the Phillies lose, and Topper gets the blame for not walking him.

You need to be able to rely on your best players to execute winning plays, easy and hard, and Barkley couldn't make an extremely easy one Monday night.

Wide receiver

• 71 snaps: DeVonta Smith

• 56 snaps: Jahan Dotson

• 23 snaps: Britain Covey

• 19 snaps: Johnny Wilson

• 15 snaps: Parris Campbell

Notes: Smith had 7 catches for 76 yards and a nice body control TD grab in the back of the endzone.

Covey came into this game with 6 career targets and 4 career catches. In the game he had 6 catches on 6 targets for 23 yards.

Dotson had 1 catch on 1 target for 6 yards. As a reminder, the Eagles traded a third-round pick for Dotson a few weeks ago.

Tight end

• 69 snaps: Dallas Goedert

• 28 snaps: Grant Calcaterra

• 2 snaps: E.J. Jenkins

Notes: Goedert had 3 catches for 38 yards. Calcaterra had 2 catches for 19, and got blown up on a run play by Matthew Judon.

Offensive line

• 71 snaps each: Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Mekhi Becton, Lane Johnson

• 1 snap: Fred Johnson

Notes: The offensive line was a bright spot, as Hurts was sacked just once, and generally had plenty of time to throw. The O-line also opened up big holes in the run game, and the Eagles rushed for 186 yards as a team.

On the downside, Jurgens committed two illegal man downfield penalties. He now has three of those on the season. That has to get cleaned up by the coaching staff and Jurgens himself.

Edge defenders

• 40 snaps: Josh Sweat

• 32 snaps: Bryce Huff

• 28 snaps: Brandon Graham

• 23 snaps: Nolan Smith

Notes: Graham is 36 years old. His role on this team at this stage of his career is to be a role player and culture setter. He shouldn't be the best edge defender on the team.

Huff is a liability against the run and has been a complete non-factor so far as a pass rusher. He has basically been a $17 million per year Genard Avery so far. He has 0 solo tackles through the first two games.

Meanwhile, Smith does not seem poised to take advantage of an elevated role this season, which is disappointing given his status as a 2023 first-round pick.

Interior defensive line

• 46 snaps: Jalen Carter

• 29 snaps: Jordan Davis

• 25 snaps: Milton Williams

• 17 snaps: Moro Ojomo

• 9 snaps: Thomas Booker

Notes: The focus of opposing offenses is to slow down Carter, as he is routinely getting doubled. That's not going to stop until someone else proves they can win some one-on-ones.

The Eagles' run defense stinks so far, and part of that is due to the poor play of the edge defenders, but where is Davis? He needs to set the tone of the run defense, and that simply has not happened.

One bright spot is Booker, who only played 9 snaps but had 3 tackles and was very active.

Linebacker

• 60 snaps each: Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean

Notes: After a stellar debut Week 1, Baun was on the ground a few times, and obviously the linebackers share in some of the blame for the poor play against the run.

Cornerback and safety

• 61 snaps each: Darius Slay, Quinyon Mitchell, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, and Reed Blankenship

• 55 snaps: Avonte Maddox

• 2 snaps: Kelee Ringo

• 1 snap: Cooper DeJean

Notes: What was Slay doing on the game-winning TD?

Drake London had Darius Slay doing the bachata, give that guy a map! pic.twitter.com/b14dJcZ8Qo
— MAKES SENSE (@MAKESS3NS3) September 17, 2024

Mitchell had a nice PBU that he nearly picked, but he also had a bad rookie moment on the final drive of the game when he gave up a deep throw near the sideline and then missed a tackle that would have kept the clock running.

CJGJ also missed a tackle that resulted in a TD, though he did have a monster attitude hit on Bijan Robinson that resulted in a turnover on downs.

Three stars 🤩

I've always liked the hockey tradition of awarding "stars" to each of the three best players in a game, so let's apply that to Eagles games.

⭐⭐⭐: The Falcons' offensive line: One play aside, they didn't let the Eagles' pass rush sniff their quarterback who can barely move.

🌟🌟: S Jessie Bates: 12 tackles and the game-sealing INT.

✨: QB Kirk Cousins: Because he had clean pockets to throw from all night, Cousins completed 20 of 29 passes for 241 yards and 2 TDs, with no INTs, and just one sack taken.