January 14, 2019

Eagles snap count analysis: Divisional round vs. Saints

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

The Philadelphia Eagles' season is over, after losing in New Orleans to the Saints in the divisional round of the playoffs. All season long, the Eagles lost major contributors to injuries, and that accelerated in the most important game of their season. Here's a look at the Birds' snap counts Sunday night.

Quarterback and offensive line

• 51 snaps each: Nick Foles, Isaac Seumalo, Jason Kelce, and Lane Johnson

• 37 snaps each: Stefen Wisniewski and Jason Peters

• 16 snaps: Halapoulivaati Vaitai

• 14 snaps: Brandon Brooks

Analysis: Brooks was lost with a torn Achilles, and Peters left early, as he has done in many games this season. The Eagles' pass protection held up, but the run game was non-existent.

Running back

• 27 snaps: Darren Sproles

• 23 snaps: Wendell Smallwood

• 2 snaps: Boston Scott

Analysis: As noted above, the Eagles were thoroughly ineffective running the ball, and there were lanes to be had, at least early in the game. The Eagles would be wise to find better backs this offseason.

Wide receiver

• 46 snaps: Nelson Agholor

• 45 snaps: Alshon Jeffery

• 24 snaps: Golden Tate

• 18 snaps: Jordan Matthews

Analysis: So I think we can say firmly now that the Golden Tate trade was not worth it.

Tight end

• 46 snaps: Zach Ertz

• 20 snaps: Dallas Goedert

• 2 snaps: Richard Rodgers

Analysis: After Lattimore, the Saints' corners aren't great, so it made sense for the Eagles to use more 3-WR sets rather than the 2-TE sets they utilized down the stretch. Still, going forward, Goedert is too good to only get 39 percent of the snaps in big games. Personally, I'm a big proponent of making the defense adjust to you, not the other way around.

Defensive line

• 65 snaps: Brandon Graham

• 62 snaps: Michael Bennett

• 42 snaps: Fletcher Cox

• 36 snaps each: Chris Long and Timmy Jernigan

• 35 snaps: Haloti Ngata

• 25 snaps: Treyvon Hester

• 7 snaps: Daeshon Hall

Analysis: Cox missed a chunk of this game with a foot injury, and his absence was obvious when he was out. He's clearly the best player on the Eagles defense, and totally irreplaceable.