Eagles vs. Cowboys snap counts: T.J. Edwards and Alex Singleton produce with more playing time

Let’s break down the Philadelphia Eagles’ snap counts from their Week 8 “win” over the Dallas Cowboys.

OFFENSE

• The starting offensive line played the entire game. Jason Kelce and Nate Herbig haven’t missed a snap this year.
• Jordan Mailata made his first career start at right tackle.
• Jason Peters was shaken up after an Eagles turnover but didn’t have to miss any snaps.
• Remember when availability was the biggest concern with Carson Wentz? Sadly, those were better times. He hasn’t missed a snap this year but he’s been pretty bad on the whole. Sunday night was his worst game.
• I don’t like talking badly about Greg Ward, who is a nice story and has had some good moments. But he had three receptions for 10 yards and a crucial third down drop in this game. He also tripped short of the marker after aborting a Philly Philly pass attempt to Wentz and trying to run for the first down. Ward is down to 7.6 yards per reception this season and 8.3 on his career. The former number ranks 137th out of 156 qualified players this year. The only wide receiver with a lower 2020 average than Ward is Larry Fitzgerald, who is 37 years old. Point being: the Eagles should look to upgrade on him moving forward.
• Travis Fulgham continues to be the truth. His seven targets produced six receptions, 78 yards, and one touchdown. He’s just legitimately good! The Eagles should be throwing it to him even more often.
• Dallas Goedert only saw one target in his first game back from injury. It went for a 15-yard gain. Again, just one target for the guy who was leading the Eagles in receiving before getting hurt. And who was the No. 1 tight end in this game. Okay ...
• Jalen Reagor had three receptions for 16 yards and one touchdown in addition to a Wentz pass that was deemed a lateral that went for six yards. Reagor could’ve had another score at the end of the game. He didn’t manage to catch the ball cleanly, though, and a Cowboys defender knocked it out of his hands. Surprising that we didn’t see Reagor targeted deep down the field.
• Boston Scott took advantage of the NFL’s worst run defense with 15 carries for 70 yards (4.7 average).
• Corey Clement had his most productive game of the year with five carries for 24 yards (4.8 average).
• No targets for Richard Rodgers after he led the Eagles in receiving last week. The Eagles went with more 11 personnel than 12.
• John Hightower only played 10 snaps but saw multiple deep targets that didn’t pan out for Philly.
• JJ Arcega-Whiteside has eight receiving yards in his last three games. He has 214 receiving yards in his career, which is 77 fewer than New Orleans Saints backup quarterback Taysom Hill’s career total.
• Jalen Hurts completed a nine-yard pass on one of his three snaps. He should’ve played more in this game with Wentz looking terrible.
• Scott and Clement were productive but it’d still be nice to see Jason Huntley get a little more involved.
• Jason Croom did not score a touchdown on his only offensive snap this week. What a waste.

DEFENSE

• Rodney McLeod still hasn’t missed a snap this year. He notched two passes defensed in addition to recovering that fumble for a long touchdown.
• Jalen Mills had to move down to cornerback at one point due to injuries at the position.
• Avonte Maddox played the entire game in his first start back since getting hurt in Week 3.
• Active night for Fletcher Cox with two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, and one sack. Good game.
• Alex Singleton and T.J. Edwards evenly split playing time as the top two linebackers with Nathan Gerry landing on injured reserve. Both players really filled the stat sheet. Singleton had eight total tackles and one quarterback hit. T.J. Edwards had 13 (!) total tackles, two tackles for loss, one quarterback hit, and one sack where he forced the fumble that led to McLeod’s touchdown. No one will mistake them for the most adept guys in coverage but they can do some things well, which is better than nothing! It sure wasn’t like the Eagles missed Gerry out there. Also gotta credit Singleton and Edwards for playing a ton on special teams.
• Duke Riley was just behind the other two linebackers; the Eagles used their base defense more often than usual since the Cowboys were utilizing 12 personnel. Riley had six total tackles.
• Javon Hargrave had his most active game of the season. Still only has one sack on the season but he had one tackle for loss and one pass deflection in this game. Playing a bad Cowboys offensive line helped.
• Brandon Graham took advantage of a mismatch against UDFA right tackle to crush Ben DiNucci and recover his own strip-sack. Huge play that took at least three points off the board for Dallas following Wentz’s first fumble. BLG also had one tackle for loss and one quarterback hit. Easily the Eagles’ best defender this season.
• Quieter game for Derek Barnett. Had just one tackle and one quarterback hit going up against a backup left tackle. Barnett has one sack in his last four games combined. Need to see more.
• Josh Sweat had five solo tackles but he has zero sacks and zero quarterback hits through his last four games. He’s cooled off after a hot start.
• Vinny Curry had one sack, one quarterback hit, and one tackle for loss. Casey Toohill had zero this week. Therefore, the Eagles were right all along!
• Nickell Robey-Coleman saw limited playing time even with the Eagles being so banged up at cornerback. As previously noted, though, this was more of a base defense game than a nickel defense game. NRC did have to play on the outside at times.
• If you found yourself wondering “Who is No. 38?” ... that was undrafted rookie free agent cornerback Michael Jacquet. The practice squad defender was forced into action on the outside with Darius Slay getting hurt.
• There’s been no word on the severity of Slay’s injury. The Eagles can’t afford for it to be serious. Maybe he’ll be able to return after the bye.
• Will Parks saw more playing time at safety when Mills had to move down to play cornerback. Was this Parks’ last game with his hometown team?

• It was a bit of a surprise to see Malik Jackson play this week after being limited in practice leading up to Sunday. It wasn’t shocking, then, when he had to leave early due to the quad issue that previously caused him to miss Week 7.
• Jackson’s injury made Raequan Williams the only defensive tackle behind Cox and Hargrave. The undrafted rookie didn’t manage to show up on the stat sheet.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• No defensive snaps for Shaun Bradley or Davion Taylor despite Gerry going on injured reserve.
• Rudy Ford made a nice tackle on the Eagles’ opening kickoff. Welcome back from IR.
• Jake Elliott was in for four kickoffs and one made extra point attempt. No field goal tries in this one.

DID NOT PLAY

INACTIVE: Lane Johnson, Miles Sanders, Alshon Jeffery, Cre’Von LeBlanc, Jack Driscoll, Craig James, Nate Sudfeld

ACTIVE: Quez Watkins

• The Eagles will hope to get Johnson, Sanders, Strap, Driscoll, and James back after the bye. We’ll see what becomes of Jeffery, whom the Eagles clearly prefer to move prior to Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline.
• I don’t get the point of Sudfeld taking up cap space and a roster spot.
• Watkins logged five snaps in Week 5 and then 15 in Week 6. Hasn’t played since.