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Eagles-Packers snap counts: Reed Blankenship impresses in first extended action

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By: Brandon Lee Gowton

Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Playing time breakdown.

The official snap counts from the Philadelphia Eagles’ Week 11 win over the Green Bay Packers are in. Let’s take a look and run through some analysis.

OFFENSE


  • A.J. Brown led all Eagles skill players in snap count percentage for the first time this year. His 96.3% topped his previous high from last week against the Indianapolis Colts, which was 88.2%. Brown caught four of his six targets for 46 yards (11.5 average) and one touchdown. He also had a very costly fumble; his second in the last two weeks. But Brown deserve some level of slack after being in rough shape entering the game. I’m not going to post the gross picture here but Brown was seen with a bloodshot eye in the locker room. He said that happened since he was throwing up so much. He also said he lost seven pounds.
  • Landon Dickerson briefly missed some playing time in the second half. Andre Dillard came in to play left guard. Otherwise, the starting offensive line was in tact as they bullied the Packers up front.
  • DeVonta Smith got looked at in the medical tent at one point but his playing time wasn’t really impacted. He led the Eagles in receiving with four receptions for 50 yards. Five of the nine targets that went his way were not completed.
  • Quez Watkins played his highest snap count percentage BY FAR at 82.5%. His previous high was the 64.9% he played against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 7. Good on Nick Sirianni and Shane Steichen for adjusting away from so many multiple tight end sets early on last week. There’s more opportunity for Quez in the offense with Dallas Goedert on injured reserve. Watkins caught three of his five targets for 35 yards … with 30 coming on the back-shoulder touchdown grab.
  • Jack Stoll is still clearly TE1 with Goedert out. Unlike last week, however, he did not see a target.
  • Miles Sanders turned in a new career high with 143 rushing yards. And he did it despite playing his fourth-lowest snap count percentage of the season at 53.8%. Really strong performance.
  • Kenneth Gainwell logged a new season high in snap count percentage. After logging just three total touches over the last two games, he had nine against Green Bay.
  • Grant Calcaterra’s usage was nearly identical to what it was last week as TE2.
  • Boston Scott saw his fourth-lowest snap count percentage of the year but set a season high in rushing with 24 yards. Scott also was the primary kick returner for the second straight week with Britain Covey getting demoted from that role.
  • Zach Pascal played his lowest snap count percentage of the season.
  • Tyree Jackson went from playing 13.2% of the Eagles’ snaps last week to 6.3% this week. Not much action for TE3.
  • Cam Jurgens was basically used as a blocking tight end in a goal line running formation.

DEFENSE


  • Marcus Epps is the only Eagles player who hasn’t missed a defensive snap this year. James Bradberry is close behind with only three missed snaps.
  • Reed Blankenship was forced into action with C.J. Gardner-Johnson suffering a rib injury. He quickly became the first undrafted rookie free agent to EVER intercept Aaron Rodgers. And his pick was hardly a gift; he made a great read (no pun intended) to jump the route. We have been saying that Blankenship deserved to be ahead of K’Von Wallace on the depth chart and he proved as much on Sunday night. Blankenship did get banged up at the end of the game.
  • Javon Hargarve played his fifth-lowest snap count percentage of the season. Fletcher Cox, meanwhile, played his fourth-lowest. The Eagles are trying to budget their snaps, which is smart. Hargrave’s pressure early in the game flushed Rodgers from the pocket and contributed to him throwing his first pick of the night. Cox logged his first sack since Week 3 and two TFLs as well. When it comes to playing time, less can be more for these guys.
  • Linval Joseph was up from 40% last week to 61.2% this week. The Eagles trusted him to play a bit more after only joining the team a couple days before last week’s game.
  • Milton Williams was up from 27.7% last week (tied for his second-lowest snap count percentage this year) to 36.7% this week.
  • Ndamukong Suh also saw an increase from 26.2% last week to 36.7% this week. Though he did not officially log a stat in this game, Suh did get a hand on Rodgers to knock him off his spot to assist a Josh Sweat sack. Not unlike Joseph, Suh is being eased in a bit after being on the market all season.
  • Robert Quinn has been pretty quiet but he was credited with a QB hit in this game. It was his first since his Eagles debut in Week 8.
  • CJGJ left the game early after putting a big hit on Christian Watson over the middle on a Packers fourth-down conversion.
  • K’Von Wallace played well in a very small sample size, logging two tackles (one solo) and one pass breakup in the end zone. Nice to see.
  • Patrick Johnson suffered an ankle injury in this game.

SPECIAL TEAMS



  • Nakobe Dean has played 0.55% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps this season. He’s played 74.2% of their special teams snaps.
  • Britian Covey is on the roster solely to return punts at this point.

DID NOT PLAY

INACTIVE: Ian Book, Trey Sermon, Sua Opeta, Josh Sills, Josh Jobe

ACTIVE: Gardner Minshew

  • Jobe is back from injury so he’s a healthy scratch now after being a special teams contributor earlier this season.

Originally posted on Bleeding Green Nation