Game ball, three stars, and snap count analysis: Week 9, Eagles vs. Jaguars

In their Week 9 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Philadelphia Eagles played 79 snaps on offense and 54 on defense. Let's just get right to the snap counts, and some additional recognition.

Quarterback

• 79 snaps: Jalen Hurts

Notes: Hurts' last four games:

He has also rushed for 159 yards and 6 TDs.

Running back

• 57 snaps: Saquon Barkley

• 22 snaps: Kenny Gainwell

• 3 snaps: Reed Blankenship

• 2 snaps: Ben VanSumeren

• 1 snap: Will Shipley

Notes: Before the start of the season, I laid out 10 Eagles predictions. One of them involved Saquon Barkley:

The Eagles' signing of Barkley has drawn some comparisons to the 49ers' trade for McCaffrey during the 2022 season.

McCaffrey previously played for the Carolina Panthers, where he was a rare star player on an otherwise terrible team. Opposing defenses keyed on him, and if they could slow McCaffrey down, it was pretty easy to stop those Panthers' offenses. When he joined an already potent 49ers offense, opposing defenses could no longer key on him the way they did in Carolina, and he was the NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2023.

Similarly, Barkley has been stuck in an atrocious Giants offense for the entirety of his career, and in Philly he'll join an already potent offense with a pair of star receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. He'll also be running behind the best offensive line he has ever played with, by far.

The parallels to McCaffrey do make some sense, but they're also unrealistic. McCaffrey ran for 1459 yards on 5.4 yards per carry last season. He also caught 67 passes for 564 yards. He amassed 2023 total yards from scrimmage, and 21 total TDs. If anyone is expecting anything close to that kind of production out of Barkley, they're highly likely to be disappointed. I mean, come on.

What Barkley will be is an upgrade over guys like DeAndre Swift and Miles Sanders, who both had Pro Bowl seasons in Philly, but can't do everything that Barkley can do. If Barkley touches the ball, I dunno, 275-300 times this season (a big "if"), he will be well worth the money the Eagles shelled out at a position they haven't often prioritized with premium resources.

Oops. Barkley is on pace for 1966 rushing yards, 2276 yards from scrimmage, and 17 TDs.

VanSumeren left with a concussion.

And, of course, whenever you see Blankenship's name here, you know that the Eagles got into "victory formation."

Wide receiver

• 76 snaps: DeVonta Smith

• 42 snaps: Jahan Dotson

• 37 snaps: A.J. Brown

• 35 snaps: Johnny Wilson

• 5 snaps: Ainias Smith

Notes: Brown came out to the sidelines before the start of the second half, but went back inside before the teams re-took the field. He did not return. The Eagles will surely hide the severity of Brown's injury as long as they can. Interestingly, the trade deadline will occur before the Eagles' next practice. If Brown's injury is serious, that may guide their actions in the trade market.

With Brown out, DeVonta Smith stepped up, making a 46-yard catch to get the Eagles into scoring position, and then on the same drive making a breathtaking one-handed catch in the back of the end zone.

Dotson made an unbelievable catch as well, reaching behind a defender, tipping the ball over his head, and making the grab. Dotson's best trait coming out of college was his hands, and he showed them off on that play.

Wilson thought he had his first career touchdown reception, but he was flagged on the play for offensive pass interference.

The Eagles ran a bubble screen to Ainias Smith at a key moment in the fourth quarter for some insane reason.

Tight end

• 73 snaps: Grant Calcaterra

• 31 snaps: Jack Stoll

• 11 snaps: E.J. Jenkins

Notes: Calcaterra has been pretty good in relief of Dallas Goedert. He had 5 catches on 5 targets for 30 yards. He's scheduled to become a free agent this upcoming offseason, though.

It is worth noting here that the Eagles opted not to place Goedert on injured reserve after he suffered his hamstring injury, indicating that they thought there was at a chance he wouldn't have to miss four or more games. He has missed three so far, so maybe he'll return Week 10 against the Cowboys?

Offensive line

• 79 snaps: Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Mekhi Becton, Lane Johnson

• 78 snaps: Fred Johnson

• 1 snap: Jack Driscoll

Notes: Hurts took 3 sacks, 2 of which were by Josh Hines-Allen. Fred Johnson has been up and down in relief of Jordan Mailata, who is eligible to come off of injured reserve after the Eagles' Week 10 game in Dallas.

Edge defenders

• 42 snaps: Josh Sweat

• 37 snaps: Brandon Graham

• 22 snaps: Nolan Smith

• 6 snaps: Bryce Huff

Notes: Sweat had 2 sacks, and he now has at least 1 sack in each of the last 4 games.

There was never any indication from the team that Huff was injured, and he only played 6 snaps. That is obviously an alarmingly low number.

Interior defensive line

• 52 snaps: Jalen Carter

• 22 snaps: Milton Williams

• 21 snaps: Jordan Davis

• 16 snaps: Moro Ojomo

• 1 snap: Thomas Booker

Notes: Tank Bigsby wasn't a factor for the Jags. He had 8 carries for 22 yards.

Carter played Fletcher Cox-like snaps in this game.

Linebacker

• 53 snaps: Nakobe Dean and Zack Baun

Notes: Baun was around the football all day, and Dean made the game-clinching play. Both linebackers picked off Trevor Lawrence. Great day for them as a tandem.

Cornerback and safety

• 54 snaps: Quinyon Mitchell, Isaiah Rodgers, Reed Blankenship, and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson

• 52 snaps: Cooper DeJean

• 1 snap: Avonte Maddox

Notes: Rodgers held up well in relief of Darius Slay.

DeJean has been a massive upgrade over Maddox.

Three stars 🤩

I've always liked the hockey tradition of awarding "stars" to each of the three best players in a game, so let's apply that to Eagles games.⭐⭐⭐: RB Saquon Barkley🌟🌟: LB Zack Baun✨: WR DeVonta Smith

Eagles game ball 🏈

🏈: LB Nakobe Dean: All throughout training camp, Dean got better and better, until he had pretty clearly put together a body of work that was superior to assumed starter Devin White. Dean won the starting job, struggled initially, but is beginning to play like the player the Eagles thought they had stolen in the third round of the 2022 draft. His biggest flaw since he entered the pros was in coverage, which is where he made the game-ending play on Sunday.

Season game balls

1. Week 1, vs. Packers: Saquon Barkley
2. Week 2, at Falcons: Nobody
3. Week 3, at Saints: Vic Fangio
4. Week 4, at Buccaneers: Saquon Barkley
5. Week 5: BYE
6. Week 6, vs. Browns: Brandon Graham
7. Week 7, at Giants: Saquon Barkley
8. Week 8, at Bengals: Fred Johnson
9. Week 9, vs. Jaguars: Nakobe Dean

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