Monday Night Football saw the Eagles fall to the Falcons, 22-21, in a heartbreaking game.
A.J. Brown was clearly missed.
Due to a hamstring injury sustained throughout the week, the Eagles’ Pro Bowl receiver was unable to play in this game. As a result, there is now considerable uncertainty regarding his availability for Week 3 in New Orleans.
So how were Brown’s snaps distributed by the Eagles? Here is a look at the production and playing time of the other receivers:
DeVonta Smith: 71/71, 76 yards, 1 touchdown, 10 targets, 7 catches
Jahan Dotson: 1 catch, 1 target, and 6 yards on 56/71
22/71 — 6 targets, 6 catches, 23 yards — Britain Covey
Johnny Wilson: 1 target; 19/71
Parris Campbell: 0 targets with 15/71.
Smith clearly emerged as the game’s best receiving option and performed admirably. He made numerous impressive catches, and his touchdown reception in the end zone demonstrated incredible body control.
However, the Eagles didn’t use Smith inside as much in Week 2 without Brown. Smith spent 53.9% of his snaps in the slot during Week 1. Week two saw a decrease to 33.3%.
The Eagles obviously need more from Dotson. Even though it wasn’t on a route, he made his first grab as an Eagle. He made just one grab, going only six yards on an orbit motion swing pass. Dotson is still getting up to speed because he didn’t arrive until August 22; nevertheless, the Eagles had to forfeit a third-round pick in the trade to get him.
The way Covey was used surprised me. Prior to Monday night, he had only received six targets in his NFL career. In one game, he doubled that figure, averaging just 3.8 yards per reception. Wilson was called for a hold and had one target on an off-scheduled play. Campbell was the clear favorite for the majority of the summer.
Without Brown in the starting lineup, the Eagles used their full complement of 12 players (two tight ends) in this game. In the season opener, they used it barely 25% of the time; this season, they had 24 plays (33.8%) in 12 personnel. There are unquestionably negative effects from Brown losing time.
However, the tight ends weren’t particularly fruitful either. Grant Calcaterra had two catches for 19 yards, and Goedert had three for 38 yards. In a game without Brown, Goedert was only targeted four times, which doesn’t seem like enough.
For all 71 snaps, Jalen Hurts and his offensive line were in action. Monday night was a disaster, but the offensive line appeared strong once more.
Kenny Smith scored 64 snaps and Saquon Barkley
Quinyon Mitchell, a rookie outside cornerback, and Darius Slay were both on the field for every action for the Eagles for the second straight week. They both scored 61. Avonte Maddox played 55 snaps in this game because the Eagles used a lot of nickel.
Running as many 11 players as the Falcons did seems to be a very calculated move on their side. The Eagles were forced to play nickel for a large portion of the game as a result, and the Falcons destroyed the Birds in the run.
Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean each played 60 snaps, while Reed Blankenship and C.J. Gardner-Johnson played all 61.
Jalen Carter led the defensive tackles with 46 snaps, but he was not included in the first series due to disciplinary issues.