December 12, 2023
Tim Heitman/USA TODAY Sports
Eagles rookie CB Kelee Ringo had a rough night in his first extended action in the regular defense.
In their Week 14 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, the Philadelphia Eagles played 55 snaps on offense and 82 on defense.
Note: Since we're a day late publishing our snap count notes, we'll go into a little less depth than usual. If you ever become an NFL beat reporter, I have a few words of advice. Don't ever book a 5:20 a.m. flight the morning after a night game, thinking that going straight from the game to your hotel to the airport with no sleep is somehow a good idea. #TheMoreYouKnow🌈.
• 53 snaps: Jalen Hurts
• 2 snaps: Marcus Mariota
Analysis: Hurts was 18 of 27 for 197 yards (7.3 YPA), 0 TDs, 0 INTs, and one bad fumble on the opening drive that set the tone for what was to come from the offense the rest of the night. I'll punt on deeper analysis until after the rewatch, but it's clear who the best quarterback in the NFC East is right now, and it's not Hurts.
• 28 snaps: D'Andre Swift
• 25 snaps: Kenny Gainwell
• 3 snaps: Boston Scott
Analysis: The backs' numbers:Â
| Eagles RBs | Rush | Yards | YPC | TD |
| D'Andre Swift | 11 | 39 | 3.5 | 0 |
| Kenny Gainwell | 4 | 28 | 7.0 | 0 |
| Boston Scott | 3 | 9 | 3.0 | 0 |
Swift's long run of 7 yards came with 20 seconds left in the first half, when the Eagles did that thing where they try to get a chunk run to start a drive with minimal time left in the half. Gainwell's long run of 11 closed out the half, as the Eagles were content to go into the locker room down 18, and the Cowboys were happy to let them. Take out those two runs and the Eagles' backs combined for 16 carries for 58 yards (3.6 YPC), which I suppose is at least an improvement over last week against the 49ers, when they averaged 2.2 yards per carry.
• 52 snaps: DeVonta Smith
• 51 snaps: A.J. Brown
• 26 snaps: Quez Watkins
• 15 snaps: Olamide Zaccheuas
• 13 snaps: Julio Jones
• 2 snaps: Britain Covey
Analysis: The wide receiver targets:
| PHI vs. DAL | Targets | Catches | Yards | TD |
| A.J. Brown | 13 | 9 | 94 | 0 |
| DeVonta Smith | 10 | 5 | 73 | 0 |
| Dallas Goedert | 4 | 4 | 30 | 0 |
| Olamide Zaccheaus | 1 | 1 | 28 | 0 |
The Zaccheaus target came via Braden Mann on a fake punt. In other words, Hurts did not target anyone other than Brown, Smith, or Goedert. On the one hand, the offense should go through those three guys. On the other hand, I think one could build a case that Hurts has his favorites and he isn't going to stray from them very often. We showed examples of Hurts not pulling the trigger on wide open throws to Jack Stoll and Albert Okwuegbunam last week.
• 46 snaps: Dallas Goedert
• 11 snaps: Jack Stoll
• 3 snaps: Grant Calcaterra
Analysis: Goedert made his return to the lineup and caught all 4 of his targets. He should become more of a factor as his forearm continues to heal.
• 55 snaps: Jordan Mailata and Landon Dickerson
• 53 snaps: Jason Kelce, Cam Jurgens, and Lane Johnson
• 2 snaps each: Jack Driscoll, Tyler Steen, and Fred Johnson
Analysis: In a game in which the Cowboys' very good pass rush was able to pin their ears back and try to get after Hurts, I thought the offensive line did really well to only give up 1 sack. That said, the left side of the line has not been as dominant in the run game as they were a season ago, in my opinion.
• 59 snaps: Haason Reddick
• 53 snaps: Josh Sweat
• 42 snaps: Brandon Graham
• 21 snaps: Nolan Smith
Analysis: Reddick had 2 sacks and now has 11 on the season. Sweat has gone cold. He has gone four games without a sack.
• 48 snaps: Fletcher Cox
• 43 snaps: Jordan Davis
• 40 snaps: Milton Williams
• 35 snaps: Jalen Carter
• 18 snaps: Marlon Tuipulotu
Analysis: In what was obviously a mess of a game, I thought Cox was the one defensive lineman who really showed up. He had a sack-fumble, a batted pass, and he played hard all game.Â
• 64 snaps: Nicholas Morrow
• 61 snaps: Zach Cunningham
• 14 snaps: Shaq Leonard
Analysis: Leonard may be wondering if he chose the wrong team.Â
• 82 snaps: Kevin Byard
• 72 snaps: James Bradberry
• 67 snaps: Darius Slay
• 58 snaps each: Sydney Brown and Bradley Roby
• 27 snaps: Reed Blankenship
• 22 snaps: Kelee Ringo
• 18 snaps: Eli Ricks
Analysis: A pair of rookies — Brown and Ringo — had their highest snap counts of the season. Ringo had previously only played 1 defensive snap on the season. He had some "Welcome to the NFL" moments:
As noted in our postgame "10 awards" column, part of Sean Desai's gameplan was to simplify things, which to me is alarming when four of the five starters are all over 30 years old and shouldn't need simplification.
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