December 29, 2025
In their Week 17 win over the Buffalo Bills, the Philadelphia Eagles played 54 snaps on offense and 76 snaps on defense. The Eagles only ran 18 (!) plays in the second half, mainly because they'd run the ball twice, throw an incomplete pass on 3rd and long, and then punt. The defense played 48 (!) snaps in the second half, because the offense kept putting them back out on the field.
Let's just get right to the snap counts, some notes, and some special recognition.
• 54 snaps: Jalen Hurts
Notes: Hurts finished 13 of 27 for 110 yards (4.1 YPA), 1 TD, and 0 INTs. He was 0 for 7 in the second half.
He also wasn't a factor in the run game, as he had just 2 carries (kneeldowns not included).
The offensive staff didn't do him any favors by continuing to put him in 3rd and long situations in the second half after running Saquon Barkley into brick walls on first and second downs. But also, you'd hope to see him be able to make a play or two despite being handicapped by Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo, and he didn't.
• 43 snaps: Saquon Barkley
• 5 snaps each: Tank Bigsby and Will Shipley
• 1 snap: Cooper DeJean
Notes: Barkley carried 19 times for 68 yards. The run game was reasonably effective in the first half, but there was nowhere for Barkley to run after halftime, and the Eagles seemingly made no adjustments whatsoever.
Shipley got a give-up run on 3rd and 9 in the first half.
• 48 snaps: A.J. Brown
• 46 snaps: DeVonta Smith
• 26 snaps: Jahan Dotson
• 17 snaps: Darius Cooper
Notes: Brown got open a lot on Sunday, and he had 5 catches for 68 yards. He is playing a lot better than he did at the beginning of the season, when he was getting almost no separation at all. He topped 1,000 yards for the sixth time in his career.
If Brown wants to play for another team in 2026, it would be hard to blame him.
Dotson has 28 receiving yards on 11 targets in the last six games.
• 43 snaps: Dallas Goedert
• 19 snaps: Grant Calcaterra
• 10 snaps: Kylen Granson
• 6 snaps: Cameron Latu
Notes: Goedert caught his 11th TD of the season, breaking the Eagles' single-season record for tight ends. That's great. On the downside, Goedert has not been a very good blocker this season, and that has probably flown under the radar a bit because Calcaterra has been a lot worse.
• 54 snaps each: Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Tyler Steen, Fred Johnson
• 1 snap: Matt Pryor
Notes: There was once a time when opposing defenses knew the Eagles were going to run the ball, and it didn't matter because the offensive line would just overpower them anyway. That is not what this line is this season.
After a few encouraging games running the ball against the Raiders and Commanders, I thought they took a step backwards in the run game against a Bills team that has struggled to stop the run all season.
• 66 snaps: Jaelan Phillips
• 50 snaps: Nolan Smith
• 36 snaps: Jalyx Hunt
• 7 snaps: Brandon Graham
Notes: The Eagles had a bit of a scare when Phillips went down with a non-contact injury. He limped off the field and into the medical tent, but returned to the field shortly thereafter and still led the team's edge defenders with 66 snaps.
Phillips had a sack, and Hunt had 2.
This is a good group of players that plays good team defense. I thought they did a great job rushing with discipline, keeping Josh Allen confined to the pocket and not allowing him to make off-schedule plays with his legs.
• 58 snaps: Jalen Carter
• 47 snaps: Jordan Davis
• 45 snaps: Moro Ojomo
• 17 snaps: Byron Young
Notes: My assumption was that Carter would be on a pitch count upon his return to the field after having a procedure on both of his shoulders a few weeks ago. But, nope. He played 76 percent of the snaps. The fact that he seemingly wasn't limited at all is a good sign that he is close to fully healthy.
But also, Carter had an impactful game, sacking Josh Allen once, and blocking a PAT that would end up being the difference in the game. He was also held all game, as usual.
Ojomo notched his sixth sack of the season. Interior defensive linemen sacks, league-wide:
Davis had 5 tackles. He's second in the NFL among interior defensive linemen tackles, with 70. The Steelers' Cameron Heyward has 71.
• 76 snaps: Zack Baun
• 71 snaps: Jihaad Campbell
Notes: Baun made a fantastic play on the Eagles' 3rd quarter goal line stand. He spied Allen, patiently waiting for Allen to make his move, and when Allen tried to run it in for the score, Baun attacked and made the tackle short of the end zone.
Campbell had a really good game. His highlight was a fumble recovery that he chased down from a long distance. But he also played well against the run and in coverage. The Eagles have three really good linebackers. Remember when they didn't even have one serviceable linebacker?
• 76 snaps each: Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Reed Blankenship, Marcus Epps
• 59 snaps: Adoree' Jackson
Notes: The Eagles only played five DBs in this game.
Mitchell finally gave up a couple of plays. One was a deep ball to Tyrell Shavers that Mitchell broke up, and should have been an incomplete pass, but Sirianni didn't challenge it. The other was, in my opinion, a bogus pass interference call.
Perhaps my favorite play from this game was DeJean shoving Bills RT Spencer Brown to the ground, and then recovering a ball that was jarred free, but not ruled a fumble because the runner was down. (Video via @TrainIsland).
I mean, lol.
Mitchell and DeJean do awesome things every week.
⭐⭐⭐: Jalen Carter: The Eagles' path to a Super Bowl is going to have to come via their defense, and Carter is the most key piece to that puzzle.
🌟🌟: Jalyx Hunt: Last 10 games: 36 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 19 QB hits, 2 INTs (one pick-six).
✨: Jihaad Campbell: Campbell deserves special recognition for the way he has handled losing his snaps to Nakobe Dean. If he hadn't been demoted, he'd have racked up a lot of stats and would be in the conversation for Defensive Rookie of the Year.
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