The official snap counts from the Philadelphia Eagles’ Week 18 shameful loss to the New York Giants are in. Let’s take a look and run through some analysis, I guess.
OFFENSE
Jordan Mailata is the Eagles’ only player who played 100% of the snaps on his side of the ball this season. Ironman. Landon Dickerson took some snaps at center with Jason Kelce getting pulled early and Cam Jurgens suffering an eye injury. Quez Watkins was WR1 with DeVonta Smith out and A.J. Brown banged up. He piled up some stats in garbage time and then celebrated after the game. Marcus Mariota saw his most extensive playing time of the season. 13/20 for 148 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, and a 82.9 passer rating. Six runs for 46 yards. Britain Covey looked like he might warrant some offensive snaps in the future? Three catches for 35. Fred Johnson played his first offensive snaps this year by filling in for Lane Johnson at right tackle. Kenny Gainwell was having success against the Giants early on and finished with seven carries for 62 yards (8.9 average). Weird that the Eagles got away from him. Why can’t this offense get Dallas Goedert going? You know the vibes are off when Boston Scott goes two games without scoring a single TD on the Giants. Rashaad Penny’s six carries went for just 16 yards.
DEFENSE
Why was Nicholas Morrow the top linebacker ahead of Zach Cunningham? This wasn’t just about resting starters; Morrow was ahead of Cunningham on the depth chart early in the game. Nice to see Nolan Smith get a lot of reps. He needs them. He had a QB hit, the third of his career. More playing time for a young player: Moro Ojomo saw more playing time than usual with Fletcher Cox out. He nearly split a sack with Marlon Tuipulotu, who was credit for the full one. Tristin McCollum played his first career defensive snaps. Finished third on the team in total tackles with six, only behind Morrow and Kevin Byard. Jordan Davis doesn’t have a sack or QB hit since Week 7. He doesn’t have a TFL since Week 2. Josh Sweat still doesn’t have a sack since taking down Dak Prescott late in the Eagles’ Week 9 win over the Cowboys. Zero sacks in his final eight regular season games after having 6.5 in his first nine.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Feels like the Eagles should’ve been able to get Ben VanSumeren in the game on defense. Did you need Shaq Leonard playing over him in this blowout?
DID NOT PLAY INACTIVE:
DeVonta Smith, D’Andre Swift, Fletcher Cox, Darius Slay, Tyler Steen, Tanner McKee
ACTIVE:
N/A
DeVonta, Swift, Cox, and Slay could all be back for the Bucs game, if you’re looking for some optimism.
Overall, the Eagles’ performance in Week 18 was a disappointment. While a few players stood out with their performances, the team as a whole failed to deliver. It will be interesting to see if they can bounce back in the following game.