Eagles snap counts: How Eagles played it without A.J. Brown

Eagles snap counts: How Eagles played it without A.J. Brown originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Eagles lost a heartbreaker 22-21 to the Falcons on Monday Night Football.

They definitely missed A.J. Brown.

The Eagles’ Pro Bowl receiver didn’t play in this game because of a hamstring injury suffered during the week and his status for Week 3 in New Orleans is now very much up in the air.

So how did the Eagles divvy up Brown’s snaps? Here’s a look at how much the other receivers played and their production:

DeVonta Smith: 71/71 — 10 targets, 7 catches, 76 yards, 1 TD
Jahan Dotson: 56/71 — 1 target, 1 catch, 6 yards
Britain Covey: 23/71 — 6 targets, 6 catches, 23 yards
Johnny Wilson: 19/71 — 1 target
Parris Campbell: 15/71 — 0 targets

Obviously, Smith became the top receiving option in this game and had a good showing. He made some tough grabs and his touchdown catch in the back of the end zone showed off next-level body control.

But without Brown, the Eagles didn’t play Smith inside as much in Week 2. In Week 1, Smith played 53.9% of his snaps in the slot. In Week 2, that was down to 33.3%.

Of course, the Eagles need more out of Dotson. He got his first catch as an Eagle but it wasn’t even on a route. His one catch came on an orbit motion swing pass and went for just 6 yards. Dotson didn’t arrive until Aug. 22 so he’s still catching up but the Eagles had to give up a third-round pick in the trade to acquire him.

Covey’s usage was surprising. He had just six targets in his NFL career before Monday night and then doubled his career total in one game for just 3.8 yards per reception. Wilson’s one target came on an off-schedule play; he was also flagged for a hold. Campbell spent a lot of the summer as the favorite to be the No. 3 wideout but was cut and landed on the practice squad; he didn’t see a single pass go his way.

Other offensive notes

• The Eagles bumped up their 12 personnel (two tight end) usage in this game a bit without Brown in the lineup. They had 24 plays (33.8%) in 12 personnel after using it just 25% of the time in the first game of the season. There are definite trickle-downs to Brown missing time.

But it’s not like the tight ends were super productive either. Goedert had 3 catches for 38 yards and Grant Calcaterra had 2 for 19. Goedert was targeted just four times in a game without Brown — that doesn’t seem like enough.

• Jalen Hurts and his entire offensive line played all 71 snaps. A lot went wrong on Monday night but the offensive line looked solid again.

• Saquon Barkley got 64 snaps and Kenny Gainwell got just 7. Will Shipley didn’t touch the field. Aside from his drop on a 3rd-and-3 (obviously a big mistake), Barkley had a productive night.

Barkley had 26 touches for the second straight week. He’s the first Eagles running back to have 26+ touches in the first two weeks of the season since LeSean McCoy in 2012. The only other player in Eagles history to do that was Herschel Walker in 1992.

Defensive notes

• The Eagles for the second straight week kept rookie Quinyon Mitchell on the field for every snap as an outside cornerback, along with Darius Slay. Both played 61. The Eagles ended up using a lot of nickel in this game, which means Avonte Maddox played 55 snaps.

It seemed very strategic on the Falcons’ part to run as much 11 personnel as they did. That forced the Eagles into nickel for much of the game and then the Falcons gashed the Birds in the run.

• Reed Blankenship and C.J. Gardner-Johnson played all 61 snaps, while Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean played 60 each.

• At defensive tackle, Jalen Carter led the way with 46 snaps but was held out from the first series for disciplinary reasons, according to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. After Carter, Jordan Davis played 29 snaps, followed by Milton Williams (25), Moro Ojomo (17) and Thomas Booker (9). Booker played just nine snaps but had 3 tackles and 2 TFLs.

• On the edge, Josh Sweat led the way with 40, followed by Bryce Huff (32), Brandon Graham (28) and Nolan Smith (23). Huff wasn’t dead last like he was in Week 1 but he definitely struggled in this game.

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