Game ball, three stars and snap count analysis: Week 9, Eagles vs. Jaguars

In their Week 9 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Philadelphia Eagles played 79 snaps on offense and 54 on defense. Let's get straight to snap counts and some additional identifying features.

quarterback

• 79 snaps: Jalen Hurts

Notes: Hurts' last four games:

He also passed for 159 yards and 6 touchdowns.

Run back

• 57 snaps: Saquon Barkley

• 22 snaps: Kenny Gainwell

• 3 snapshots: Reed Blankenship

• 2 snaps: Ben VanSumeren

• 1 snap: Will Shipley

Notes: Before the season began, I made ten Eagles predictions. One of them involved Saquon Barkley:

The Eagles' signing of Barkley has drawn some comparisons to the 49ers' McCaffrey-to-McCaffrey trade in the 2022 season.

McCaffrey previously played for the Carolina Panthers, where he was a rare star player on an otherwise terrible team. Opposing defenses were fixated on him, and if they could slow McCaffrey down, stopping the Panthers' attacks was pretty easy. When he joined an already potent 49ers offense, opposing defenses could no longer attack him as hard as they did in Carolina, and he was named the 2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year.

Likewise, Barkley has been trapped in a terrible Giants offense his entire career, and in Philly he will join an already strong offense with two star receivers in AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith. He will also be running behind what is by far the best offensive line he has ever played with.

The parallels to McCaffrey make sense, but are also unrealistic. McCaffrey ran for 1,459 yards at 5.4 yards per carry last season. He also caught 67 passes for 564 yards. He accumulated 2,023 total yards from scrimmage and 21 total touchdowns. Anyone expecting anything like this kind of production from Barkley will most likely be disappointed. I mean, come on.

What Barkley will be is an upgrade over guys like DeAndre Swift and Miles Sanders, who both had Pro Bowl seasons in Philly but can't do everything Barkley can do. If Barkley touches the ball, I don't know, 275-300 times this season (a big if), he'll be worth the money the Eagles spent on a position they don't often prioritize with premium resources has admitted.

Oops. Barkley is on pace for 1,966 rushing yards, 2,276 yards from scrimmage and 17 touchdowns.

VanSumeren left with a concussion.

And of course, when you see Blankenship's name here, you know the Eagles are in “victory formation.”

Wide receiver

• 76 snaps: DeVonta Smith

• 42 snaps: Jahan Dotson

• 37 snaps: AJ Brown

• 35 snaps: Johnny Wilson

• 5 snaps: Ainias Smith

Notes: Brown came to the sideline before the start of the second half, but went back inside before the teams took the field back. He didn't return. The Eagles will certainly hide the severity of Brown's injury for as long as possible. Interestingly, the trade deadline will be before the Eagles' next practice. If Brown's injury is serious, that could guide their actions on the trade market.

With Brown out, DeVonta Smith stepped up, making a 46-yard catch to put the Eagles in scoring position and then making a stunning one-handed catch in the back of the end zone on the same drive.

Dotson also made an incredible catch by reaching behind a defender, throwing the ball over his head and grabbing it. Dotson's best attribute coming out of college was his hands, and he put them on display in this game.

Wilson thought he had his first career touchdown reception, but was cited for offensive pass interference in the game.

The Eagles, for some crazy reason, had Ainias Smith throw a bubble screen at a crucial moment in the fourth quarter.

Tight end

• 73 snapshots: Grant Calcaterra

• 31 snapshots: Jack Stoll

• 11 snaps: EJ Jenkins

Notes: Calcaterra did a pretty good job of relieving pressure on Dallas Goedert. He had 5 catches on 5 targets for 30 yards. However, he is scheduled to become a free agent next offseason.

It's worth noting that the Eagles decided not to place Goedert on injured reserve following his hamstring injury, suggesting they thought there was a chance he wouldn't have to miss four or more games. He's missed three so far, so maybe he'll return in Week 10 against the Cowboys?

Offensive line

• 79 snaps: Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Mekhi Becton, Lane Johnson

• 78 snapshots: Fred Johnson

• 1 snapshot: Jack Driscoll

Notes: Hurts took 3 sacks, including 2 from Josh Hines-Allen. Fred Johnson has relieved Jordan Mailata, who is eligible to come off injured reserve after the Eagles' Week 10 game at Dallas.

Edge defender

• 42 snaps: Josh Sweat

• 37 snaps: Brandon Graham

• 22 snaps: Nolan Smith

• 6 snaps: Bryce Huff

Notes: Sweat had 2 sacks and he now has at least 1 sack in each of the last 4 games.

There was never any indication from the team that Huff was injured and he only played 6 snaps. This is obviously an alarmingly low number.

Internal defensive line

• 52 snaps: Jalen Carter

• 22 snaps: Milton Williams

• 21 snaps: Jordan Davis

• 16 snapshots: Moro Ojomo

• 1 snapshot: Thomas Booker

Notes: Tank Bigsby played no role for the Jags. He had 8 carries for 22 yards.

Carter played Fletcher Cox-like snaps in this game.

Linebackers

• 53 snapshots: Nakobe Dean and Zack Baun

Notes: Baun was busy playing football all day and Dean made the decisive play. Both linebackers beat Trevor Lawrence. Great day for them as a tandem.

Cornerback and safety

• 54 snaps: Quinyon Mitchell, Isaiah Rodgers, Reed Blankenship and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson

• 52 snaps: Cooper DeJean

• 1 snap: Avonte Maddox

Notes: Rodgers held up well and relieved Darius Slay.

DeJean was a huge improvement over Maddox.

Three stars 🤩

I've always liked the hockey tradition of awarding “stars” to each of the top three players in a game, so let's apply that to Eagles games.⭐⭐⭐: RB Saquon Barkley🌟🌟: LB Zack Baun✨: WR DeVonta Smith

Eagles game ball 🏈

🏈: LB Nakobe Dean: Throughout training camp, Dean got better and better until he was clearly putting together an overall performance that was superior to supposed starter Devin White. Dean won the starting job, struggled initially, but is starting to play like the player the Eagles thought they stole in the third round of the 2022 draft. His biggest mistake since joining the pros was coverage, where he made the decisive play on Sunday.

Seasonal game balls

1. Week 1, vs. Packers: Saquon Barkley
2. Week 2, at Falcons: Nobody
3. Week 3, at Saints: Vic Fangio
4. Week 4, at Buccaneers: Saquon Barkley
5. Week 5: Bye
6. Week 6, vs. Browns: Brandon Graham
7. Week 7, at Giants: Saquon Barkley
8. Week 8, at Bengals: Fred Johnson
9. Week 9, vs. Jaguars: Nakobe Dean

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