In their Week 13 loss to the Chicago Bears, the Philadelphia Eagles barely possessed the ball for one-third of the game, as they played 54 snaps on offense and 87 snaps on defense. Let's just get right to the snap counts, some notes, and some special recognition.
Quarterback
• 54 snaps: Jalen Hurts
Notes: You saw this play highlighted during the telecast, but holy crap.
The Bears are sending seven rushers, and they only have four guys back in coverage. The Eagles have five receivers out on routes, so someone is going to be wide open. As it turned out, both DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert were wide open. Nobody covered Goedert and there wasn't a defender within 10 yards of him.
Smith was no doubt before Goedert in the progression. Facing a heavy blitz, Hurts wanted to get the ball out. Would it be cool if Hurts' peripheral vision brought him to Goedert; or maybe if he quickly recognized the coverage bust, ignored the progression, and just threw to Goedert for an easy TD? Sure! But he didn't. He threw to a not quite as wide open but still also wide open Smith, who would have had a big play, and mayyyybe scored himself if he could have made a defender miss.
But he biffed the throw. There seemed to be some kind of miscommunication on the play, which simply can't happen in Week 13 between two guys who have played together for as long as Hurts and Smith have.
Yes, the scheme stinks, and so does the play calling, and so does the run game, but Hurts has not played well since the bye.
Running back
• 50 snaps: Saquon Barkley
• 4 snaps: Will Shipley
• 1 snap: Tank Bigsby
Notes: Here were Barkley's 13 carries against the Bears:
There were certainly some plays on which offensive linemen got beat, but also… Barkley isn't making guys miss, and when plays are blocked up well, his burst through the line just isn't there. He's not breaking tackles, and he's not making defenders miss.
Meanwhile, any time he has gotten a chance to play this season, Bigsby has looked good, and given the offense a spark. Here are all of his carries on the season:
How in the hell is Barkley getting 50 snaps, and Bigsby getting ONE?
Wide receiver
• 52 snaps: A.J. Brown
• 51 snaps: DeVonta Smith
• 32 snaps: Jahan Dotson
• 13 snaps: Darius Cooper
Notes: Brown had his second consecutive good game, catching 10 passes on 12 targets for 132 yards and 2 TDs, including this outstanding catch for a TD.
Smith had 5 catches on 8 targets for 48 yards. Obviously, he'd have had more if Hurts gave him a good ball on the Bears' busted coverage.
Tight end
• 48 snaps: Dallas Goedert
• 12 snaps: Grant Calcaterra
• 5 snaps: Cameron Latu
• 2 snaps: Kylen Granson
Notes: Calcaterra is a decent enough receiver, but if the ball isn't ever going his way he simply shouldn't be on the field. Jeff McLane of the Inquirer highlighted this non-block of a Bears DE on a run play.
Those are 12 snaps wasted on a guy who can't block. Stop trying to ask him to do things he has proven beyond all doubt that he can't do.
Offensive line
• 54 snaps each: Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Tyler Steen, Fred Johnson
Notes: One rare personnel decision that made sense in this game was that the Eagles took their six-OL sets out of the gameplan, since that would have meant putting Matt Pryor on the field.
Edge defenders
• 67 snaps: Jaelan Phillips
• 61 snaps: Jalyx Hunt
• 34 snaps: Nolan Smith
• 6 snaps: Brandon Graham
Notes: Hunt made the defensive play of the day, when he picked off Caleb Williams.
But, as usual, the offense proceeded to take a big stop by the defense and turn it into nothing.
I'm told Phillips is in the concussion protocol. He'll have 10 days to be ready for the Eagles' next game against the Chargers Week 14.
Smith had a sack. He has been on a pitch count, but he saw his snap count increase a bit, although that may just have been because the Bears ran so many plays on offense.
Interior defensive line
• 62 snaps: Moro Ojomo
• 61 snaps: Jalen Carter
• 59 snaps: Jordan Davis
• 38 snaps: Byron Young
Notes: The interior D-line got torn apart by the Bears' offensive line in the run game. Carter in particular is developing a bad habit of punching at the football as RBs run by him instead of wrapping up.
Linebacker
• 87 snaps: Zack Baun
• 82 snaps: Nakobe Dean
Notes: It looked for a while early in the season that Jihaad Campbell could be in the running for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. On Friday against the Bears, Campbell played zero snaps in the regular defense and zero snaps on special teams.
Dean looked like Pro Bowl-caliber player in his return to the field, until this game. He had a rough evening, both against the run and in coverage. Baun has not been the same player he was a year ago, too, by the way.
Cornerback and safety
• 87 snaps each: Cooper DeJean, Quinyon Mitchell, Reed Blankenship
• 85 snaps: Sydney Brown
• 53 snaps: Adoree' Jackson
• 1 snap: Michael Carter
Notes: Marcus Epps is eligible to return from IR this week. If he is good to go, my guess is that he will start over Brown Week 14 in L.A.
Three stars 🤩
⭐⭐⭐: A.J. Brown: Brown has 18 catches for 242 yards and 3 TDs over the last two games.
🌟🌟: Jalyx Hunt: If the offense could convert turnovers into points, Hunt would've been the star of this game.
✨: Quinyon Mitchell: Mitchell allowed 2 catches on 6 targets for 8 yards.
Game ball 🏈
- Week 1, vs. Cowboys: Jalen Hurts
- Week 2, at Chiefs: Andrew Mukuba
- Week 3, vs. Rams: Jordan Davis
- Week 4, at Buccaneers: Quinyon Mitchell
- Week 5, vs. Broncos: DeVonta Smith
- Week 6, at Giants: Dallas Goedert
- Week 7, at Vikings: Jalen Hurts
- Week 8, vs. Giants: Saquon Barkley
- Week 10, at Packers: Jaelan Phillips
- Week 11, vs. Lions: Vic Fangio
- Week 12, at Cowboys: A.J. Brown
- Week 13, vs. Bears: A.J. Brown
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