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Eagles-Cowboys snap counts: Dallas Goedert underutilized

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By: Brandon Lee Gowton

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Playing time breakdown.

The official snap counts from the Philadelphia Eagles’ Week 16 loss to the Dallas Cowboys are in. Let’s take a look and run through some analysis.

OFFENSE


  • How do you play Dallas Goedert for 67 snaps and only get him three targets? Quez Watkins (5) and Kenneth Gainwell (4) combined for THREE times as many. I know it’s not always as simple as it looks … but, c’mon. No one can say Goedert was not underutilized. He caught all three of his looks for 67 yards.
  • DeVonta Smith was awesome. He went over 1,000 yards for the first time in his career with eight grabs for 113 yards and two touchdowns. He made some very challenging grabs along the way. There was the toe-tapping catch along the right sideline. And the leaping grab in the middle of the field. He’s great, man.
  • A.J. Brown has some of the most ho-hum 100+ yard games you’ll ever see. That is a compliment, to be clear.
  • Lane Johnson obviously had to leave the game early due to his abdomen injury. Get well soon for the playoffs, Lane.
  • Too. much. Quez. Watkins. This was his second-highest snap count of the season! And he tied his second-highest mark for targets in a game this season! One week after he was very ineffective when the ball went to him in Chicago! And Goedert was back in this game, which dropped him back outside of the top three pass-catch options! What is going on with this usage?
  • Sanders saw his third-highest amount of carries despite playing his fifth-lowest snap count this year. He fumbled for the second week in a row after previously not fumbling since Week 11 of the 2021 season.
  • Kenneth Gainwell played his highest snap count percentage. He logged his second-most touches this year with four carries for 17 yards (4.3 yards) and 4 catches for 41 yards. Gainwell looked like a nice option as a checkdown guy. Gardner Minshew might be more willing to target him in this regard as opposed to Jalen Hurts. That’s not meant to be a criticism of Hurts as much as a stylistic difference. Hurts might instead take off running when he could otherwise dump off to Gainwell.
  • Jack Stoll played his second-lowest snap count percentage of the season with the Eagles using a lot more 11 personnel than 12 personnel.
  • With Watkins struggling, it might be time for Zach Pascal to eat into his playing time. Not that Pascal has been incredible or anything but he has a track record of contributing as a role player in the past. And it’s just very hard to trust Watkins right now. Pascal isn’t the vertical threat that Watkins is but he can be more useful in some of those short-yardage, contested catches situations that Watkins clearly aren’t working out well for Watkins.
  • The only time Boston Scott touched the ball from scrimmage was the botched handoff exchange between him and Minshew.

DEFENSE


  • Aside from getting some rest at the end of the Tennessee Titans game, Marcus Epps has not missed a snap this year.
  • Reed Blankenship was not limited in terms of playing time during his first game back from a knee injury.
  • Haason Reddick is justifying his status as the leader when it comes to Eagles pass rusher playing time. Reddick is up to 8.5 sacks in his last seven games. He has 14 sacks — a new career high — and five forced fumbles on the season. He is one forced fumble away from tying a career high in that category.
  • Fletcher Cox appears to have gone cold with zero sacks, zero TFLs, and zero QB hits in his last two games.
  • Josiah Scott was forced into playing time with Avonte Maddox getting hurt. Scott is clearly overmatched out there.
  • Linval Joseph played his third-highest snap count percentage since joining the team. He contributed nicely to keeping the Cowboys’ running game in check.
  • Brandon Graham is now just one sack away from his long-stated goal of hitting double digits after getting half a sack in this game.
  • Ndamukong Suh is now up to one full sack with the Eagles after logging half a sack in this game.
  • It’s a shame Maddox got hurt because he was playing really well early on.
  • Milton Williams got banged up in this game but was able to return.
  • Jordan Davis suffered a concussion and got ruled out.
  • K’Von Wallace saw some playing time in the slot later in the game after it was clear that Scott wasn’t faring well there.
  • Nakobe Dean played his first non-garbage time snap since Week 9.

SPECIAL TEAMS



  • A little interesting to see no defensive snaps for Zech McPherson when Josiah Scott was clearly struggling. Might’ve been worth putting him into the mix.
  • The Eagles did not punt in this game (and yet somehow lost) so Brett Kern’s only playing time came as a holder.
  • The Cowboys only punted once, which resulted in Britain Covey’s sole snap played.

DID NOT PLAY

INACTIVE: Jalen Hurts, Trey Sermon, Sua Opeta, Josh Sills, Janarius Robinson, Kyron Johnson

ACTIVE: Ian Book

  • Kyron was a healthy scratch for the first time this year.
  • Book was active for the first time since joining the Eagles. He was QB2 behind Minshew.

Originally posted on Bleeding Green Nation