September 18, 2018

Eagles snap count analysis: Week 2 vs. Buccaneers

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

Back in May, if you were to look into the future and you found this post, many of you might say, "I don't even know who that is," in regard to some of the guys playing meaningful snaps in the Eagles' offense against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.

Let's look at the snap counts for the Birds against the Bucs, position-by-position:

Quarterback and offensive line

• 79 snaps each: Nick Foles, Stefen Wisniewski, Brandon Brooks, Lane Johnson, Jason Kelce

• 71 snaps: Halapoulivaati Vaitai

• 8 snaps: Jason Peters

• 4 snaps: Isaac Seumalo

Analysis: Jason Peters aggravated a quad injury and did not return.

"I got a quad strain," said Peters. "I hurt it in practice on the last play of practice on Thursday. It's nagging today, and it kept grabbing on me, and I just came out."

When asked if he thought if it could be a long-term injury, Peters responded, "I'll be back for the next game."

Running back

• 33 snaps: Corey Clement

• 24 snaps: Wendell Smallwood

• 22 snaps: Jay Ajayi

Analysis: Ajayi suffered a back injury early in the first half, but returned in the second half. Ajayi aside, Clement still only played 42 percent of the snaps, so it's not as if he could have been gassed. If Clement is good to go, how is Smallwood playing instead of him at times when there isn't a single thing that Smallwood does better than Clement?

Wide receiver

• 72 snaps: Nelson Agholor

• 62 snaps: Kamar Aiken

• 35 snaps: Shelton Gibson

• 19 snaps: DeAndre Carter

• 7 snaps: Mike Wallace

Analysis: Wallace went down early, and he'll be out indefinitely with a broken leg. In his absence, the Eagles were forced to give significant snaps to Aiken, Gibson, Carter, and even TE Josh Perkins at times at receiver.

Even when Alshon Jeffery returns, the Eagles still need help at wide receiver.

Tight end

• 74 snaps: Zach Ertz

• 26 snaps: Josh Perkins

• 17 snaps: Dallas Goedert

Analysis: So Aiken, Gibson, Carter, and Perkins all got more snaps than Goedert. Cool.

Defensive line

• 46 snaps: Fletcher Cox

• 39 snaps: Brandon Graham

• 36 snaps: Haloti Ngata

• 35 snaps: Derek Barnett

• 25 snaps: Chris Long

• 24 snaps: Michael Bennett

• 23 snaps: Destiny Vaeao

• 3 snaps: Bruce Hector

Analysis: Bennett's snaps were down from a week ago, and Ngata's snaps were up. That would make sense in a game in which the Eagles trailed the entire way, thus taking away some pass rush opportunities from Bennett on the interior.

To note, the Buccaneers only ran 58 plays. Cox played 79 percent of the snaps, a high percentage yet again.

Linebackers

• 58 snaps: Jordan Hicks

• 47 snaps: Nigel Bradham

• 22 snaps: Kamu Grugier-Hill

• 4 snaps: Nate Gerry

Analysis: Hicks never came off the field, while it appeared that Bradham was coming off when the Eagles were in dime looks. Grugier-Hill is clearly the WILL at this point.

Cornerback

• 58 snaps: Jalen Mills

• 54 snaps: Ronald Darby

• 31 snaps: Sidney Jones

• 1 snap: Rasul Douglas

Analysis: I wondered if Jim Schwartz might try to be more matchup-based with his corners, and maybe get the 6-foot-2 Douglas involved against 6-foot-5 receiver Mike Evans, but that did not happen.