It came out of necessity thanks to injury, but the Eagles finally did something fans have been asking them to do for quite some time: they played Rasul Douglas at safety.
It took the team already being short at the position and losing Sidney Jones (hamstring) relatively early in Thursday’s game, but Douglas ended up playing 42 snaps as a safety in Thursday’s 34-13 win.
After Jones came out (after just eight snaps), Avonte Maddox moved from his still-new post at safety for Rodney McLeod and took over as the nickel cornerback. Then the Eagles brought Douglas on the field as a safety instead of Tre Sullivan or Deiondre’ Hall, who are actually safeties.
Coming into Thursday’s game, Douglas had played just nine defensive snaps all year.
Other defensive snap count notes:
- Michael Bennett and Chris Long each had 47 snaps to lead the defensive end rotation. That’s the first time either of them has led that rotation this season. Brandon Graham played 39 and Derek Barnett played 31 as he came back from a shoulder injury that kept him out last Sunday.
- LB Kamu Grugier-Hill and DT Treyvon Hester each played just 15 defensive snaps but impacted the game. KGH had that interception on the second snap of the game and Hester had two tackles and a QB hit. Hester actually wrecked one of the Giants’ drives.
NFL
- Malcolm Jenkins, Maddox, Ronald Darby and Jordan Hicks played all 65 defensive snaps. Hicks is now 385/385 this season.
Offensive snap count notes
- Lane Johnson played three quarters or 58 snaps on a high ankle sprain. Gutty performance. Jason Peters played 38 snaps before leaving with a biceps injury. Big V played 34 snaps, mostly in relief. Stefen Wisniewski got in for 13 snaps and even Chance Warmack got out there for a snap.
- Wendell Smallwood led the way in snaps for running backs with 44 and Corey Clement got 26 as he returned from his quad injury. Smallwood had 18 carries for 51 yards and Clement had 11 carries for 43 yards and a touchdown.
- Zach Ertz didn’t leave the field, playing all 71 offensive snaps. That’s the first time he’s done that this year. He had seven catches for 43 yards and a touchdown. Slacker. (Dallas Goedert played 32 snaps and had one catch.)
- Jordan Matthews played 26 snaps (36 percent) and pulled in two big catches on third downs to put the game away.
- In the last four games, Kamar Aiken has played 69 snaps and has just one catch on one target for 14 yards; it came against Tennessee.
- Shelton Gibson still can't get on the field. Just four snaps for him on offense.
Here’s a full look at snap counts:
Offense
Isaac Seumalo: 71 snaps (100 percent)
Brandon Brooks: 71 (100)
Jason Kelce: 71 (100)
Carson Wentz: 71 (100)
Zach Ertz: 71 (100)
Nelson Agholor: 64 (90)
Alshon Jeffery: 59 (83)
Lane Johnson: 58 (82)
Wendell Smallwood: 44 (62)
Jason Peters: 38 (54)
Halapoulivaati Vaitai: 34 (48)
Dallas Goedert: 32 (45)
Corey Clement: 26 (37)
Jordan Matthews: 26 (37)
Kamar Aiken: 14 (20)
Stefen Wisniewski: 13 (18)
Josh Perkins: 11 (15)
Shelton Gibson: 4 (6)
DeAndre Carter: 2 (3)
Chance Warmack: 1 (1)
Defense
Malcolm Jenkins: 65 snaps (100 percent)
Avonte Maddox: 65 (100)
Jordan Hicks: 65 (100)
Ronald Darby: 65 (100)
Nigel Bradham: 64 (98)
Jalen Mills: 63 (97)
Michael Bennett: 47 (72)
Chris Long: 47 (72)
Fletcher Cox: 45 (69)
Rasul Douglas: 42 (65)
Brandon Graham: 39 (60)
Derek Barnett: 31 (48)
Destiny Vaeao: 28 (43)
Kamu Grugier-Hill: 15 (23)
Treyvon Hester: 15 (23)
Sidney Jones: 8 (12)
Josh Sweat: 7 (11)
Tre Sullivan: 3 (5)
Deiondre’ Hall: 1 (2)