Packers Week 12 Snap Counts: Eagles dominated possession on SNF

Tempo, turnovers, and short drives all led to the Packers being out-snapped nearly 2-to-1 on Sunday night.

The flow of Sunday night’s game between the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles was truly bizarre, as the two teams combined for one of the more entertaining games of the 2022 NFL season. The Eagles won 40-33, but the snap counts between the two teams — as well as the time of possession — suggest that they should have dominated much more on the scoreboard.

The Eagles ran 80 total plays on offense compared to the Packers’ 49 and held the ball for 35:34 to the Packers’ 24:26. However, a few factors were responsible for that discrepancy despite the Packers keeping the game close.

One is the fact that Green Bay’s scoring drives were unusually short in this game. Despite struggling to generate explosive scoring plays this season, the Packers had three touchdowns of 20 or more yards on Sunday night, including a season-long 63-yarder from rookie Christian Watson in the fourth quarter. Additionally, the Packers’ other three touchdown drives all came from good field position. Their three touchdown drives in the first half started at their own 41, the Eagles’ 37, and the Eagles’ 13, the latter two resulting from a turnover on downs and a fumble.

Additionally, the Eagles went up-tempo on a few occasions, particularly early in the first and third quarters. They had a ten-play touchdown drive to start the game that took only 3:41 off the clock, then ran an 11-play, 91-yard drive in the third quarter that took a little over five minutes.

All of those factors led to the substantial discrepancy on the total snap numbers despite the game being separated by just seven points. Here’s how the individual snap counts break out.

OFFENSE (49 total plays)

Quarterbacks

Aaron Rodgers 39, Jordan Love 10

Rodgers played through three quarters of the game but had to come off the field after a drive late in the third quarter that ended in a Packers field goal. Early on in that series, he took a big hit to the midsection and was clearly in pain the whole way down the field. He only attempted two more passes on that series after the hit, both checkdowns, as the running game got the team into field goal range. He left after that point, finishing with a stat line of 11-for-16 for 140 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions.

Jordan Love played out the fourth quarter and kept the Packers very much in striking distance. He hit Christian Watson for a 63-yard catch-and-run touchdown and looked both decisive and accurate with the football. It was easily his best-looking performance as a pro and will surely be something to build on as he expects to see more playing time (if not all of the playing time) the rest of the season. Love finished 6-for-9 for 113 yards and a score, and it could have been a bigger stat line if not for a pair of drops, one by Aaron Jones in a perfect cover-2 beater up the sideline and one by Randall Cobb on third down in the end zone (that appeared to feature uncalled pass interference).

Running Backs

Aaron Jones 35, AJ Dillon 21

Dillon looked more explosive in this game than at any other point this season, as he ran with power and authority on his eight carries. Dillon scored his first touchdown since week one in this game, a 20-yarder that was also just his second carry of 20-plus on the season, finishing with 64 total yards on the ground plus 24 yards on three receptions.

Jones had tougher sledding in the run game, gaining 43 yards on 12 carries, but he made a mark as a receiver. He caught three of four targets for 56 yards and a touchdown, that coming from Rodgers on a scramble drill. He should have had the fourth catch on that hole shot from Love, which would have gone for another 20 yards.

Wide Receivers

Allen Lazard 49, Christian Watson 45, Randall Cobb 22, Sammy Watkins 4, Samori Toure 2

The Packers have a very clear top two in their receiving corps, with Lazard and Watson being an obvious tier above the other receivers in the room at this point. Watson gave the Packers their biggest play of the season in this game, a 63-yard touchdown on a crossing route that saw him get to the sideline and put on the afterburners. It was his third straight game with a touchdown and his second out of those three with over 100 yards, as he caught four of six targets for 110 in total.

Lazard was targeted just three times on the night, catching two passes for 24 yards. Cobb added two receptions for 19 yards, including the Packers’ first touchdown, an 11-yarder that saw Rodgers work to his third read as the Eagles focused on Watson’s underneath crossing route.

Tight Ends

Robert Tonyan 25, Marcedes Lewis 19, Josiah Deguara 14, Tyler Davis 9

Tonyan saw three of the four targets to tight ends in this game, catching all three for 20 yards. The fourth went to Davis on one of Rodgers’ two interceptions. The blame for that is probably shared between quarterback and receiver, with Davis not flattening his route to attack the football and Rodgers making a somewhat ill-advised throw up the seam.

Offensive Linemen

David Bakhtiari 49, Elgton Jenkins 49, Josh Myers 49, Jon Runyan, Jr. 49, Yosh Nijman 49

The starting line made it through another full game, with Runyan making his first appearance in Philadelphia, where his father played for years with the Eagles. The group gave up three sacks on Rodgers, plus another two hits on the quarterback and a few other pressures. They did move the Eagles in the run game, however, helping Dillon and Jones combine to average a bit more than five yards per carry.

DEFENSE (80 total plays)

Defensive Linemen

Kenny Clark 57, Jarran Reed 46, Dean Lowry 39, T.J. Slaton 27, Devonte Wyatt 20

The Packers stayed in nickel throughout most of Sunday night’s game, despite getting gashed constantly on the ground. The Eagles got more than 200 rushing yards from their running backs, and that does not even account for the 157 that quarterback Jalen Hurts put up on his own. The only notable play from the group came from Reed, when he earned a half-sack with Preston Smith on a great bullrush up the middle. Otherwise, the defensive line got pushed around consistently by an excellent Eagles line. The one notable number here is a career-high in snaps for Wyatt, who should continue to see that number increase as the Packers fall farther and farther away from the possibility of the postseason.

Outside Linebackers

Preston Smith 59, Kingsley Enagbare 53, Jonathan Garvin 21, Justin Hollins 21

Enagbare had a few excellent plays early on, making a pair of short-yardage run stops early on to help the defense get a stop in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Hollins made some impressive plays just a few days after the Packers claimed him on waivers, and he picked up a sack on Hurts plus a second TFL in the run game. Smith had a half-sack to take his 2022 total up to 5.5 after recording 1.5 last week against Tennessee.

Inside Linebackers

Quay Walker 80, Krys Barnes 51, Isaiah McDuffie 19

Green Bay chose not to use their penny package much in this game, instead sticking largely with a two-linebacker nickel look for the most part. Clearly it did not work, and Walker’s struggles to contain Jalen Hurts as a QB spy helped contribute to the massive rushing numbers that the quarterback recorded. Walker did record a fumble recovery, however, scooping up the football and nearly returning it for a touchdown in the first half, and he also led the team with 11 total tackles. Barnes had six total tackles while McDuffie added three.

Safeties

Adrian Amos 80, Rudy Ford 80, Darnell Savage 1

Each of Ford and Amos recorded nine total tackles in this game, but Amos’ play has continued to tail off this season. He struggled mightily in run fits and was part of the reason for the big gains by the Eagles at the second and third levels of the defense. Ford was elevated to the full-time starting safety over Savage for this game, and he delivered the Packers’ only turnover by stripping the football from A.J. Brown to lead to Walker’s fumble recovery.

Savage, meanwhile, injured his foot on his only snap of the first drive, which came in dime personnel with the Eagles facing a 3rd-and-10. Not only was he benched from the starting safety role, but it appears that he was put behind cornerback Keisean Nixon as the primary nickel back as well.

Cornerbacks

Rasul Douglas 80, Jaire Alexander 79, Keisean Nixon 66, Corey Ballantine 1

As noted above, Nixon played as the nickel back on the first drive even before Savage was injured. His biggest contributions came as a kickoff returner, however, where he had 5 returns for 172 yards including big returns of 38, 52, and 53 yards.

Alexander missed a single snap after appearing to suffer a minor injury, but was back on the field after just one play. He had the only pass breakup from the secondary to go with six tackles, while Douglas gave up a touchdown pass to Quez Watkins and made eight tackles.

SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS

Dallin Leavitt 25, Tyler Davis 24, Innis Gaines 18, Isaiah McDuffie 18, Eric Wilson 18, Keisean Nixon 17, Rasul Douglas 15