Eagles vs. Cowboys snap counts: Some defensive players played two games worth of snaps

Here’s a breakdown of the snap counts from the Philadelphia Eagles’ 29-23 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 14 of the 2018 NFL season.

OFFENSE

Jason Kelce had to miss a few snaps while he had his head checked out.

Dallas Goedert saw an increase in playing time. He made the most of out his five targets by logging four receptions for 44 yards and one touchdown. His stats would’ve looked even better if a bad offensive pass interference penalty didn’t wipe out his long touchdown reception.

Stefen Wisniewski had to fill in for both Kelce and Isaac Seumalo at various points. Seumalo suffered a pectoral injury in this game.

After playing just nine offensive snaps against Washington, Darren Sproles was ramped up to 22. He only had four total touches but he made some huge plays, including a crucial fourth down catch and the game-tying touchdown reception.

Josh Adams only had seven total touches in 21 snaps played. Not enough.

Golden Tate played 38% of the Eagles’ snaps in a game with the season on the line. Tate had one reception for seven yards. Great trade by Howie Roseman!

After receiving zero touches in the Eagles’ last two games (both wins), Philadelphia inexplicably gave Wendell Smallwood a carry during a crucial red zone series early in the fourth quarter. Stupid!

Corey Clement only took one carry before suffering a “knee sprain” that didn’t look good. Update on that front:

DEFENSE

Malcolm Jenkins, Corey Graham, Rasul Douglas, and Nigel Bradham all played 99 snaps on Sunday. That’s insane. When you consider that all those guys played just 45 snaps against Washington on Monday night, some Eagles defenders basically played two games worth of snaps in Dallas. More context:

This high snap count total underscores Philadelphia’s third down failures on both sides of the ball. The Eagles’ offense couldn’t stay on the field; they converted just ONE of their nine third down attempts. The Cowboys, meanwhile, converted 10 of their 19 attempts.

I previously wrote that I found it hard to be really mad at the defense in Sunday’s loss. I stand by that take even more after realizing how many snaps they had to play. These guys had to be exhausted, especially with traveling on a short week.

The Eagles won the Super Bowl with a defensive line that was not just talented but deep as well. Philadelphia just doesn’t have the same situation going for them this year. The defensive end rotation only goes three deep (instead of four) and the Eagles have no worthwhile defensive tackles outside of Fletcher Cox. As a result, Philly is counting on these guys to play a lot more snaps.

Hard to win with De’Vante Bausby playing 62% of the snaps. He’s like the 11th corner option on this team.

46% of the snaps is just too much for Haloti Ngata, who turns 35 years old in a month.

Sidney Jones continues to struggle to stay healthy.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Weekly reminder that the Eagles kept Chance Warmack on the roster at a $2.03 million cap hit to do jack shit for this team. More top notch roster management from Roseman.

Keeping Warmack active to play four special teams snaps over Chandon Sullivan didn’t seem like the best call considering how thin Philly was at corner. Sullivan likely would’ve struggled if he played but he’d still have been more useful than Warmack.

DID NOT PLAY

Inactives: Timmy Jernigan, Avonte Maddox, Jordan Hicks, Nate Sudfeld, Matt Pryor, Jordan Mailata, Chandon Sullivan

Active: Nick Foles