Eagles-Cowboys snap count analysis: Sidney Jones and Nate Sudfeld make NFL debuts

Here’s a breakdown of the snap counts from the Philadelphia Eagles' 6-0 meaningless loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 17.

OFFENSE

As you can see, the Eagles’ starters only played about 19 snaps. Doug Pederson planned to play them for a quarter before pulling them.

Halapoulivaati Vaitai was the only offensive player to play all the snaps.

Stefen Wisniewski played a good amount of the game despite missing the past two weeks with an ankle injury.

Mack Hollins played the most snaps of any skill player. He had three receptions for 25 yards on five targets. He also dropped a pass.

Nate Sudfeld looked decent in his NFL debut. Not great, but decent. Competent. He went 19/23 for 134 yards (5.8 average), 0 TD, 0 INT, and a 90.9 passer rating. Playing with backups against the Cowboys’ starters, Sudfeld sure looked a lot more capable than Nick Foles did. And Foles was playing with a starting supporting cast.

Isaac Seumalo got his first extensive game action playing at center in the NFL. He was up and down.

Will Beatty got a lot of playing time and did not look great.

LeGarrette Blount needed 21 yards to get his $300,000 bonus. He picked up 37 on nine carries.

Shelton Gibson made his first two NFL catches on Sunday. He gained a mere 11 yards.

DEFENSE

The big story on defense is that 2017 second-round pick Sidney Jones made his NFL debut. He ended up playing 29 defensive snaps and seven special teams snaps. Jones finished the game with two tackles. He didn’t seem to be a liability in coverage but he did get beat on a double move. Fortunately for the Eagles, Dak Prescott overthrew the open wide receiver. Jones had to leave the game at one point due to cramps. He’s fine, though.

Rookie corner Rasul Douglas and Corey Graham played all the defensive snaps. Douglas had a few nice moments but he struggled on the whole.

Najee Goode finished with two tackles for loss on Ezekiel Elliott. Credit to Najee, but that’s not a Goode look for Zeke.

Vinny Curry and Chris Long took the bulk of defensive end snaps with Brandon Graham and Derek Barnett inactive. Steven Means also got some work in. Means logged three total tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss, and two quarterback hits. Beast!

Rookies Elijah Qualls and Nate Gerry saw a decent amount of playing time. Gerry had a chance to pick Dak Prescott but he couldn’t hold on. It wasn’t a routine play but it would’ve been a nice one to have.

Cool to see Bryan Braman getting some defensive playing time.

Good to see guys like Fletcher Cox and Malcolm Jenkins getting some rest.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Donnie Jones - 7 (35%)

Rick Lovato - 7 (35%)

Jake Elliott - 1 (5%)

Jones had a busy day with seven punts for 299 yards. Three of them were downed inside the 20 (one at the 1-yard line) and none of them went for touchbacks. Great work by Jones.

Elliott only played one snap since the Eagles couldn’t do anything on offense. His sole snap was when Philly kicked off to Dallas to start the second half.

DID NOT PLAY

The following players were ruled inactive prior to the game: Nigel Bradham, Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett, Jalen Mills, Jay Ajayi, Tim Jernigan, Rodney McLeod.

The following player(s) were active but did not play: N/A.