Eagles-Rams snap counts: Time for less Quez Watkins, more Olamide Zaccheaus

Playing time breakdown.

The official snap counts from the Philadelphia Eagles’ Week 5 win over the Los Angeles Rams are in. Let’s take a look and run through some analysis.

OFFENSE

• Jalen Hurts and the starting offensive line played the entire game. Winning formula.
• A.J. Brown missed a single snap. He led the Eagles in receiving yards (127) but ranked second in targets (8) and tied for second in receptions (2).
• The Eagles finally got Dallas Goedert going. He saw a team-high nine targets for eight catches, 117 yards, and one touchdown.
• DeVonta Smith played a lot but saw five targets for just one six-yard reception.
• Quez Watkins saw three targets and caught two of them for four yards. He inexplicably failed to follow good blocking on a 3rd-and-2 bubble screen to get tackled for a loss instead of picking up the first down. Infuriating play that killed a promising drive. After watching Watkins struggle dating back to last year, the Eagles really need to limit his role. Especially when Olamide Zaccheaus has been making the case for more snaps. Even though OZ didn’t log a target in this one, he has 69 receiving yards in his last three games while Watkins has 68 in his last 10 combined.
• D’Andre Swift saw 23 total touches for 108 yards as RB1.
• Kenny Gainwell had a really nice third down play where he offered a good block in pass protection before leaking out for a catch and breaking a tackle for a first down. That was impressive. As a runner, though, he only managed to gain 17 yards on seven carries (2.4 average). That puts him at 3.2 yards per carry on the season.
• The Eagles used more 12 personnel than they did last week when Jack Stoll only played 8% of the snaps. Stoll saw his third target of the season for a four-yard gain.
• OZ saw his lowest snap count since Week 1, when he only played seven snaps (10.6%). More OZ, less Quez.
• Grant Calcaterra has yet to see a target this season. He hasn’t seen one since Week 15 last year.

DEFENSE

• Justin Evans played every snap in his first game back from injury. His return seemed to work towards stabilizing at the secondary.
• It’ll be interesting to see how the Eagles handle the playing time at linebacker with Nakobe Dean now eligible to return from injured reserve. Though he botched two takeaway attempts on Sunday, Nicholas Morrow has mostly played well as the green dot. He could go down to being LB3 behind Dean and Zach Cunningham, who were the two starters in Week 1.
• Josh Sweat led all Eagles edge rushers in snaps to notch two QB hits and a forced fumble. With two FF through five games, Sweat has a good chance to surpass his previous career high of three in one season.
• With Fletcher Cox out, Jalen Carter played his highest snap count percentage this season. His previous high was 50% in Week 1. The increase was worth it; Carter had two sacks and two tackles for loss. The Eagles want to rotate their defensive tackles to keep them fresh … but they might want to consider upping Carter’s snap count when needed.
• Haason Reddick’s back-to-back sacks to end the game were pretty cool. He’s now up to three in his past two games. Heating up with the cast off?
• Bradley Roby played more snaps than expected in his Eagles debut. They really needed him with their other slot CB options struggling. His playing time should increase as he gets more adjusted to the defense.
• The Eagles curiously started Mario Goodrich in the slot after making him a healthy scratch in Week 3 and playing him for zero defensive snaps in Week 4.
• Kentavius Street saw his highest snap count percentage this season since he was upgraded from DT6 to DT4 with Cox and Marlon Tuipulotu out.
• Eli Ricks was part of the rotation at slot CB.
• Derek Barnett did not log a stat for his fourth consecutive game. He has one sack and four QB hits over his last 14 games.
• Moro Ojomo made his regular season NFL debut after previously being a healthy scratch every week. He had a small role as DT5.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• No defensive snaps for Josh Jobe with the Eagles abandoning their James Bradberry in the slot and Jobe on the outside approach.
• Zero defensive snaps for Christian Elliss since Week 3.
• Terrell Edmunds was relegated strictly to ST duty one week after playing 100% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps as a starting safety and struggling.
• Boston Scott deserves a carry or two here and there. The Eagles can afford to take those out of Gainwell’s workload.
• Tyler Steen only played on special teams during his NFL regular season debut.
• Britain Covey made his impact felt despite playing just four ST snaps; he returned two punts for 35 yards.

DID NOT PLAY

INACTIVE: Fletcher Cox, Marlon Tuipulotu, Sydney Brown, Tanner McKee, Rashaad Penny, Albert Okwuegbunam

ACTIVE: Marcus Mariota

• The Eagles are reportedly hoping to have Cox back for Week 6.
• Brown might be able to play in Week 6 as well.
• Although he gets to suit up under the NFL’s new third quarterback rule, McKee is the only Eagle to not be officially active for a single game this season.