December 15, 2025

Game ball, three stars, and snap count analysis: Week 15, Eagles at Raiders

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

Eric Hartline/Imagn Images

Based on playing time, Jaelan Phillips has been the Eagles' No. 1 edge defender since they traded for him.

In their Week 15 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, the Philadelphia Eagles played 69 snaps on offense and only 42 snaps on defense. This was a short week game, with the Eagles having played the prior Monday night on the west coast, and it precedes another short week game Saturday in Washington. The Eagles had played the following number of defensive snaps in recent weeks:

• Week 14 at Chargers: 74
• Week 13 vs. Bears: 87
• Week 12 at Cowboys: 74

The defense probably needed a game like this to give their bodies a little bit of a chance to recover.

Here are the snap counts against the Raiders, with some notes, and some special recognition.

Quarterback

• 52 snaps: Jalen Hurts

• 17 snaps: Tanner McKee

Notes: Hurts had a nice bounce-back performance after one of his worst starts as a pro Week 14 in L.A.

He was 12 of 15 for 175 yards (11.7 YPA), 3 TDs, and 0 INTs in windy conditions. The Eagles also called more designed QB runs in this game than they have in any other game this season. I imagine they might ramp that up down the stretch and in the playoffs when the games start meaning more.

McKee entered this game in garbage time, and he looked sharp, as usual. He always looks prepared whenever he has played, whether in regular season games last season, or when he gets his opportunities to play in preseason games. He and Tank Bigsby led a 17-play drive that took up 11:22 of game clock with no stoppages other than the two minute warning. They were denied at the goal line and turned it over on downs, but they ate up almost 80 percent of the fourth quarter on a running clock. Eagles and Raiders beat writers alike appreciated that effort. 👏👏👏

Running back

• 39 snaps: Saquon Barkley

• 27 snaps: Tank Bigsby

• 4 snaps: Will Shipley

Notes: Barkley had 22 carries for 78 yards and a TD running into packed boxes. Bigsby had 17 carries for 57 yards doing the same.

Wide receiver

• 50 snaps: A.J. Brown

• 37 snaps: Jahan Dotson

• 36 snaps: DeVonta Smith

• 21 snaps: Darius Cooper

• 4 snaps: Britain Covey

Notes: Brown had 2 catches for 41 yards and the following TD catch working against Jeremy Chinn through the Raiders' zone coverage.

On a throw over the middle last week in L.A., Brown tried to make a catch and then quickly bring his arms down to protect his ribs. The ball glanced off his hands and was intercepted. I thought the above catch looked a little like that play, in that he quickly brought his arms down to protect himself from an oncoming defender, except this time he made the catch, and the defender (Isaiah Pola-Mao, 20) just didn't bother hitting him. Or maybe he was just tucking the ball away? I dunno. Bottom line is this time he made the play. 🤷‍♂️

Cooper had 2 catches for 29 yards, and he drew a DPI call down the field.

Tight end

• 51 snaps: Dallas Goedert

• 37 snaps: Grant Calcaterra

• 19 snaps: Cameron Latu

• 18 snaps: Kylen Granson

Notes: Goedert had 6 catches on 7 targets for 70 yards and 2 TDs on shovel passes. The one incomplete target to Goedert was a dropped TD.

The Eagles called a lot of run plays with Calcaterra on the field. All that does is invite more defenders into the box to stop the run, while Calcaterra blocks nobody. It's frankly insane that they keep playing him in that role. They did call a pass play designed for Calcaterra in the red zone, presumably set up by his playing time in the run game, and he was blanketed on the play.

Calcaterra has filled in for an injured Goedert in the past, and he has been fine as an emergency TE1 who can run routes down the field and make plays in the passing game. But he is not in any way a complementary run-blocking TE2.

Offensive line

• 69 snaps each: Tyler Steen, Fred Johnson

• 52 snaps each: Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens

• 19 snaps: Matt Pryor

• 17 snaps each: Brett Toth, Drew Kendall

Notes: Lane Johnson should be returning to the lineup Week 16 in Washington. The Eagles went 1-3 without him. Still, Fred Johnson did a nice job filling in for him, and Lane Johnson didn't have rush back onto the field before he was ready.

"I gotta give Lane peace of mind while he's recovering to be the best that he can be," Fred Johnson said. "It's about letting those guys that have earned the right to be the starter be able to have time to recover and do what they have to do without putting their bodies at risk prematurely. I'm glad this team trusts me."

Edge defenders

• 30 snaps: Jaelan Phillips

• 26 snaps: Nolan Smith

• 25 snaps: Jalyx Hunt

Notes: Based solely on snap counts, Phillips is Vic Fangio's No. 1 edge defender, and my sense is that the Eagles are going to look to re-sign him long-term after the season. Phillips hit Kenny Pickett's arm on a throw that I thought could have been ruled a sack-fumble. (See the headline pic above.)

Smith was on a pitch count when he returned to the lineup from IR, but his play percentage is ramping up a bit.

Interior defensive line

• 33 snaps: Moro Ojomo

• 28 snaps: Jordan Davis

• 16 snaps: Byron Young

• 7 snaps: Brandon Graham

• 5 snaps: Ty Robinson

Notes: BG had 2 sacks. I didn't realize he only played 7 snaps, lol. He has become part of the iDL rotation with Jalen Carter out.

Ojomo notched his 5th sack of the season. It was clear in training camp this year that he was going to be a productive player, and he hasn't disappointed.

Linebacker

• 39 snaps: Zack Baun

• 33 snaps: Nakobe Dean

• 6 snaps: Jihaad Campbell

• 3 snaps each: Jeremiah Trotter, Smael Mondon

Notes: Baun has been good all year, but he hasn't made as many big plays as he did in 2024. He had a nice INT of Pickett in this game.

Dean led the team with 8 tackles. He was annoyed postgame that he got stoned on a blitz by Raheem Mostert.

Campbell played a little bit of off-ball linebacker and on the edge, but Dean has obviously taken over the vast majority of his snaps.

Cornerback and safety

• 39 snaps each: Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Reed Blankenship, Marcus Epps

• 37 snaps: Adoree' Jackson

• 3 snaps each: Kelee Ringo, Michael Carter, Sydney Brown, Andre Sam

Notes: DeJean is such a good player. Here's a play highlighted by @TheHonestNFL:

He jams 18, taking him out of the play, and then hustled to the flat to make an open field tackle on the best TE in the league for a gain of 2. That's not a play that'll show up in highlight reels, but he makes those kinds of plays in every game.

The Raiders don't have a whole lot of firepower at receiver, so this was an easier game for the corners, but this is an impressive stat via Fran Duffy about Mitchell nevertheless:

Quinyon Mitchell notched his seventh game allowing 10 or fewer yards in coverage this season, the most of any cornerback per @NextGenStats #Eagles pic.twitter.com/LZwx8eWNyc
— Fran Duffy (@FDuffyNFL) December 14, 2025

Meanwhile, Jackson has really settled in and played well as the team's CB2.

Epps has been a pretty big upgrade on Brown, and I wonder if Fangio will be tempted to leave him in the starting lineup whenever Andrew Mukuba is ready to return from IR.