The official snap counts from the Philadelphia Eagles’ Week 18 loss to the Washington Commanders are in. Let’s take a look and run through some analysis.
OFFENSE
- Drew Kendall played the entire game at center. Fred Johnson played the entire game at left tackle.
- Matt Pryor started at right tackle … and then shifted to right guard … and then shifted to left guard.
- Tanner McKee played the entire game in his second career start. Wasn’t pretty.
- Jahan Dotson is technically a starter as WR3 and he nearly played the entire game. Dotson led the Eagles in targets with eight … but only made three catches for 40 yards.
- Darius Cooper caught three of his five targets for 33 yards … but also cost the Eagles with his taunting penalty.
- Cameron Williams made his NFL regular season debut against Washington. For being a Day 3 rookie seeing his first-ever action against Von Miller, he seemed to fare well enough at right tackle.
- Kylen Granson became the top tight end option after Grant Calcaterra got hurt.
- Brett Toth started at left guard but wasn’t able to finish the game due to a concussion.
- Tank Bigsby was pretty good whenever he touched the ball. He had 16 carries for 75 yards (4.7 average) and one touchdown … plus one reception on one target for 31 yards. So, naturally the Eagles’ coaching staff didn’t get him the ball once in the final 17 minutes of game time.
- Britain Covey logged his first reception since September 22, 2024.
- Grant Calcaterra logged his second career touchdown.
- Tyler Steen, another starter who didn’t get to rest the entire game, started at right guard before giving way to Pryor shifting inside and Williams coming in at right tackle. Steen re-entered the game after Toth suffered a concussion, moving Pryor from right guard to left guard.
- Will Shipley logged 3.5 yards per carry and 6.2 yards per reception in his second season. Those are not good numbers.
- Could’ve been cool to give Cameron Latu a touch or target in this game.
- DeVonta Smith was in for nine snaps to go over 1,000 receiving yards on the season.
- Why is A.J. Dillon the roster? He’s been a healthy scratch since Week 6 … only to return and barely play in Week 18?
DEFENSE
- Jeremiah Trotter Jr. looked good in his second career start at off-ball linebacker. Especially strong when he’s firing downhill.
- Kelee Ringo and Jakorian Bennett were really bad.
- Michael Carter started the game at nickel cornerback but shifted to safety due to Brandon Johnson suffering an injury.
- Jihaad Campbell played most of the game. If the Eagles were worried about Nakobe Dean not being able to play against the San Francisco 49ers, guessing we would’ve seen less of Campbell and more of Smael Mondon … who didn’t log a defensive snap.
- Byron Young is usually DT4 but he was DT1 in this game.
- Rookie Ty Robinson played 53 defensive snaps prior to Week 17. He had 51 in Week 18.
- Josh Uche looked good. Probably doesn’t hurt that he had fresh legs from being a healthy scratch since Week 12. He hadn’t played on defense since Week 8.
- The Eagles wanted the benefit of resting starters … but Jalyx Hunt only played more snaps in 11 games this season. Nolan Smith, Moro Ojomo, and Jordan Davis also saw significant playing time.
- Brandon Graham was counted on to help fill snaps in what was likely the last regular season game of his career.
- Mac McWilliams only entered the game after Brandon Johnson got hurt and Michael Carter shifted to safety, opening up a spot at nickel corner.
SPECIAL TEAMS
- Smael Mondon was the only non-specialist limited to special teams duty.
DID NOT PLAY
INACTIVE: Lane Johnson, Jalen Carter, Nakobe Dean, Jaelan Phillips, Dallas Goedert, Marcus Epps, Landon Dickerson
ACTIVE: Jalen Hurts, Adoree’ Jackson, A.J. Brown, Sam Howell, Saquon Barkley, Quinyon Mitchell, Reed Blankenship, Cooper DeJean, Cam Jurgens, Zack Baun, Jordan Mailata
- There were some calls for the Eagles to insert starters once it looked like the Detroit Lions were going to beat the Chicago Bears. But it was too much to ask starters come in cold like that. Of course, the Eagles could’ve opted to start the starters, try to build a lead, and then take them out … but that’s now how they went about it. And it cost them the No. 2 seed.