January 01, 2024
Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
Eagles WR DeVonta Smith walking back to the team's locker room late against the Cardinals on Sunday with an injury.
In their embarrassing Week 17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, the Philadelphia Eagles played 49 snaps on offense and 76 on defense. Let's just get right to the snap counts, and some notes.
• 49 snaps: Jalen Hurts
Analysis: Hurts was really sharp as a passer in this game. Take out the INT on his Hail Mary on the final play of the game and he was 18 of 22 for 167 yards and 3 TDs for a passer rating of 137.9.
If you take out the Hail Mary drive, the Eagles' offense really only had 6 drives on the day because the defense couldn't get off the field. They scored three touchdowns, one field goal, and punted twice. That's 4 points per drive.
• 26 snaps: Kenny Gainwell
• 23 snaps: D'Andre Swift
Analysis: When the inactives came out an hour and a half before kickoff, there were some curious choices in there. Neither CB Bradley Roby nor DT Marlon Tuipulotu dressed, and RB4 Rashaad Penny did.
After returning from injury (I'm guessing too soon), slot corner Avonte Maddox got cooked all day, and the Eagles could have used Roby to fill in for him. They could have also used Tuipulotu after Jordan Davis injured his ankle.
Meanwhile, not only did Penny spend the entire day on the sideline, so did RB3 Boston Scott, aside from going out for some touchbacks on the kick return team. What was the purpose of Penny being active? Did the Eagles think they would blow out the Cardinals and they wanted to get Penny some carries in the second half?
Anyway, the run game wasn't clicking against maybe the worst run defense in the NFL. As a team, the Eagles carried 23 times for 91 yards, for under 4 yards per carry.
• 46 snaps: A.J. Brown
• 43 snaps: DeVonta Smith
• 20 snaps: Julio Jones
• 6 snaps: Olamide Zaccheaus
Analysis: Brown was visibly upset after the last offensive series of the game when on 1st and 20 the coaching staff called two quarterback runs and a screen to Gainwell. After the game, Brown declined to speak to the media, as he has done for over a week now.
AJ Brown declines to talk. “There’s nothing to say.” pic.twitter.com/1TZOB7fhxO
— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) December 31, 2023
During the week, it appeared that fans on Twitter thought that there was some animosity between Brown and the media. As far as I know, that does not exist, at least with the local beat reporters, and Brown was sure to clear that up in the video above.
My take? I believe that he is choosing not to speak his mind about whatever it is that he thinks is causing this team to fail because doing so would just be pouring more gasoline on the flames.
The passing game against the Cardinals was quite effective, but the receivers' numbers were down because, again, the defense couldn't get off the field and the offense only ran 49 plays.
| Player | Rec | Yards | TD |
| A.J. Brown | 4 | 53 | 0 |
| Dallas Goedert | 5 | 47 | 1 |
| Julio Jones | 2 | 34 | 2 |
| DeVonta Smith | 3 | 30 | 0 |
| Kenny Gainwell | 4 | 15 | 0 |
| D'Andre Swift | 1 | 5 | 0 |
On the aforementioned Gainwell screen call, Smith's leg got rolled up on, and he left the game. He was on crutches and wearing a walking boot in the locker room after the game.
Jones' two-TD performance would've been celebrated if the Eagles had won, but it will instead be a mere footnote in what was one of the worst Eagles losses in recent memory.
• 46 snaps: Dallas Goedert
• 30 snaps: Jack Stoll
• 5 snaps: Grant Calcaterra
Analysis: Goedert had a good game as a receiver, as noted above. He made a great sideline catch on his touchdown. There's not much to say about the tight ends otherwise.
• 49 snaps each: Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Jason Kelce, Cam Jurgens, Lane Johnson
Analysis: The offensive line once again kept Hurts clean. No sacks allowed. Mailata did have a holding call on the final drive that put the Eagles in 1st and 20, which led to the coaching staff's turtle job. (They probably could've also flagged Dickerson for a hold on that play as well.)
• 59 snaps: Haason Reddick
• 45 snaps: Josh Sweat
• 36 snaps: Brandon Graham
• 17 snaps: Nolan Smith
Analysis: I don't know if the edge rushers' inflated snap counts in the middle part of the season has contributed to their declining play over the past month or so, but this group was invisible against the Cardinals, and aside from Reddick has been for some time.
• 48 snaps: Milton Williams
• 45 snaps: Fletcher Cox
• 40 snaps: Jordan Davis
• 36 snaps: Jalen Carter
• 13 snaps: Moro Ojomo
Analysis: The Cardinals were the more physical team in the trenches, and James Conner found a way to consistently fall forward for a few extra yards on almost every one of his carries.
• 75 snaps: Nicholas Morrow
• 39 snaps: Shaq Leonard
• 14 snaps: Ben VanSumeren
• 1 snap: Patrick Johnson
Analysis: It's time the front office increases the priority on linebackers, because opposing offenses are consistently cooking them in the middle of the field in the passing game.
It's also crazy how much the Eagles' run defense misses Zach Cunningham, who the team didn't add until mid-way through training camp. How can the dropoff from Cunningham to the rest of these guys be so drastic?
• 76 snaps: James Bradberry and Kevin Byard
• 73 snaps: Reed Blankenship
• 53 snaps: Kelee Ringo
• 33 snaps: Eli Ricks
• 29 snaps: Avonte Maddox
• 28 snaps Sydney Brown
Analysis: I wondered before this game if the Eagles were better off just letting Darius Slay rest up for the playoffs, since the the three-game Giants-Cardinals-Giants stretch wasn't exactly a murderers' row of passing offense greatness. Well, it turns out that they could have used him.
The Eagles' secondary right now is a mix of young players with very little experience and older guys in decline. Nobody in their prime.
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