Eagles-Falcons snap counts: Bryce Huff played more … and somehow did even less

The official snap counts from the Philadelphia Eagles’ Week 2 loss to the Atlanta Falcons are in. Let’s take a look and run through some analysis.

OFFENSE

Jordan Mailata hasn’t missed a snap since October 30, 2022. The Eagles pulled their starters late in that game with a big lead.
Landon Dickerson looked a little banged up at one point but he didn’t miss a snap.
This is actually the first time in DeVonta Smith’s career that he’s played 100% of the snaps in back-to-back games. DeVonta led the Eagles in targets with 10, catching seven passes for 76 yards and one touchdown.
Despite missing just two snaps, Dallas Goedert ranked fourth on the team in targets with just four. His three grabs went for 38 yards. Why haven’t the Eagles been able to get him involved more? Is he bad? Does Hurts just not want to throw to him? Do the coaches forget about him? What’s going on? How is Britain Covey getting two more targets than Goedert is?
After logging 26 touches in Week 1, Saquon Barkley had 26 again here. And he would’ve had 27 if he didn’t drop the pass at the end. Honestly, the Eagles didn’t use him enough considering how good he was looking.
Jahan Dotson played 42% of the Eagles’ snaps in Week 1 before going up to 79% this week. That said, he had just one target. That’s two targets in two games. Hurts doesn’t seem to trust him yet.
Grant Calacterra tied his career-high for catches in a game with two. 19 yards tied his fourth-highest yardage total in a game.
Despite playing just 32% of the snaps, Covey ranked second on the Eagles in targets with six. He caught all of them for just 23 yards (3.8 average). Multiple plays were clearly designed targets for Covey as opposed to him being a checkdown option or a read in the progression. The Eagles alsoo had weird personnel usage last year, so, it’s probably not just the offensive coordinator! More bizarre decision-making from Nick Sirianni.
Johnny Wilson has a small role as a blocking receiver, though he’s also seen two targets over two games (the same number as Dotson). Unlike Week 1, Wilson did not play on special teams in Week 2. Probably related to him entering the game questionable to play with a hamstring injury.
Parris Campbell was temporarily elevated from the practice squad to provide more receiver depth. He did not see a target and he did not play on special teams.
With Saquon ripping one run off for 10 yards and then another for 11 on Philly’s second drive, the Eagles had 1st-and-10 at Atlanta’s 15-yard line. Then Kenny Gainwell had two runs go for just six yards combined. That brought up the 3rd-and-4 where Hurts threw incomplete to Wilson in the end zone along the left sideline. And then Sirianni went for it and Hurts’ incompletion brought up a turnover on downs. I get Saquon maybe needing a breather … but that doesn’t mean Gainwell warrants multiple touches in a high leverage situation! Those were his only two touches of the entire game! Again, more bizarre offensive personnel usage. Covey and Gainwell accounted for 44.44% of the Eagles’ non-QB red zone touches in this game. Why!
E.J. Jenkins has played a very small role as the third tight end. The Eagles can only temporarily elevate him from the practice squad once more this season.
Fred Johnson played one snap late in the game, reporting as tackle-eligible. Barkley ran for three yards on that play to set up the 3rd-and-3 where Barkley dropped the game-sealing pass.

DEFENSE

Quinyon Mitchell remained the starting cornerback opposite from Darius Slay. He did not shift inside to play nickel.
Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean were clearly the top two linebackers again.
Avonte Maddox was the Eagles’ top slot option again and the Eagles played a lot of nickel.
Jalen Carter’s snap count percentage was right around where it was last week. He had one assisted tackle and no other stats in this game. Pretty disappointing start to the year for him. Also, Carter was not on the field for the Falcons’ first drive for some reason? UPDATE: Here’s why Carter didn’t start:

#Eagles DT Jalen Carter didn’t start or play in the first defensive series against the Falcons because he was late for something team-related last week, NFL sources told The Inquirer.

Carter was on the field for the second series and, overall, played 46 of 61 snaps on defense —…

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) September 17, 2024

Josh Sweat was the Eagles’ top edge rusher in terms of playing time. He’s the Eagles’ only edge rusher to produce a QB hit so far this season with two in two games. Hooray?
Bryce Huff played just 45% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps in Week 1. He ranked fourth among Eagles edge rushers in playing time. Huff moved up to 52% this week, putting him second among Eagles edge rushers in playing time. Despite this increase, he failed to log a single stat to even show up in the box score. Huff has one assisted tackle and zero other stats through two games this season. That’s pretty troubling!

Eagles with 0 sacks, 1 QB hit on Kirk Cousins in first half.

Edge rush stats:

Josh Sweat: 24 snaps, 2 pressures
Bryce Huff: 19 snaps, 0 pressures
Brandon Graham: 12 snaps, 2 pressures
Nolan Smith: 8 snaps, 0 pressures

Via Next Gen

— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) September 17, 2024

Jordan Davis deflected a Kirk Cousins pass early on but didn’t stand out much otherwise. His snap count percentage dropped by 5% from where it was in Week 1.
Brandon Graham had a sack wiped out by a weak defensive holding penalty that did not impact the play. On one hand, it’s cool for BG that he still looks like he can play in Year 15. On the other hand, it’s bad that he’s looking like their best pass rusher at this point in his career.
Milton Williams is the Eagles’ sole defensive lineman with a sack this season. He came up with one for a big third down stop to force the Falcons to kick a red zone field goal.
Nolan Smith played 46% of the snaps in Week 1 before dropping down to 38% in Week 2. Hard to say the coaches are loving what they see from the 2023 first-round pick.
Trevor Booker logged two tackles for loss despite playing just nine snaps! The entire rest of the defense combined had just 1 TFL (Williams). Maybe play him more!
Kelee Ringo played a very small role on defense once again.
Cooper DeJean was in for just one snap after playing six in Week 1. Vic Fangio clearly doesn’t trust him to play much yet. That much could change over the course of the season … but probably later rather than sooner.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Will Shipley did not have an offensive role this week. He did make a nice special teams tackle on kickoff coverage.
Jalyx Hunt only played on special teams in his NFL debut.
Braden Mann handled kickoff duty once again.

DID NOT PLAY
INACTIVE: A.J. Brown, Devin White, Tanner McKee, Darian Kinnard, Trevor Keegan, Byron Young, Eli Ricks

ACTIVE: Kenny Pickett, Isaiah Rodgers

Brown told ESPN he’ll be out a couple more weeks due to the hamstring injury he suffered in practice. Not good!
White was a healthy scratch. The Eagles gave him $3.5 million guaranteed in the offseason.
Ricks was a healthy scratch after only being active to play one special teams snap in Week 1.
Despite spending the majority of training camp practices as the first-team outside cornerback opposite from Darius Slay, Rodgers did not even play. A little strange to not see him back for kick returns at the very least.