Snap Counts: A humiliation ritual unfolded in the Eagles’ secondary

By the time the Eagles staggered out of AT&T Stadium after a 24-21 second half meltdown, the secondary looked like Jerry Jones forced them to complete a Stage 1 Humiliation Ritual in front of all the Eagles faithful who dared to show up in Dallas.

Three of the five starters were gone. Adoree Jackson was being evaluated for a concussion and never returned. Reed Blankenship tried to get back in but his thigh injury shut him down. Drew Mukuba’s injury was the most brutal of the bunch. He had to be helped into the locker room and later left on crutches.

All of this now carries over into a short week, with the Bears coming in on Black Friday and the Eagles having almost no time to figure out who is physically able to play football.

The Eagles defense snap counts show the disaster clearly.

Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell played every single snap, which tells you exactly how stretched this group was. Mukuba managed 71 snaps before going down. Blankenship played 47 before the thigh injury knocked him out.

Sydney Brown, who played only 60 snaps in the first ten games of the season, was suddenly thrust into 26 snaps because there was no one else left. Jackson played 26 before his night ended.

Michael Carter II had played just two defensive snaps since arriving in Philadelphia, and then suddenly had to play 25 snaps at nickel, safety and anywhere the Eagles needed an emergency body.

Even Kelee Ringo had to be thrown in for a few plays because the secondary was running on fumes.

Mitchell was barely tested and gave up only sixteen yards on four targets, but Dallas spent the rest of the afternoon attacking Jackson and DeJean, targeting them eleven times and racking up over two hundred yards.

This is what happens when your secondary is held together by whatever tape the trainers could find on the sideline. The Eagles entered the game with only three safeties on the 53 man roster, and by the end of the night two were injured and the only healthy one was Brown.

Marcus Epps cannot return from IR until the Chargers game and the only safety on the practice squad is Andre Sam, who has played one defensive snap in his NFL career. Carter may have to play real safety snaps against Chicago whether the Eagles want him to or not.

Nakobe Dean continued to be one of the few bright spots on defense. He played 62 of 74 snaps and once again looked like the best blitzer on the team. Jihaad Campbell barely saw the field because Dean has completely taken command of the middle of the defense.

DeJean, Mitchell and Zack Baun were the only three players who did not leave the field at any point, which shows you how thin this defense was by the end of the night. Jalen Carter played 95 percent of the snaps, Jordan Davis handled 66 percent, and the rotation behind them was stretched beyond anything you would ever want in Week 12.

Jaelan Phillips played 59 snaps, Jalyx Hunt played 43, and Nolan Smith finally ramped up to 40 snaps after weeks of gradual increases.

On offense, Jalen Hurts and the entire offensive line played all 63 snaps.

Fred Johnson started at right tackle for Lane Johnson and did everything he could against an aggressive Dallas front. DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown were on the field for almost the entire game, playing 60 and 59 snaps, and both produced early before the offense collapsed in the second half.

The running back rotation barely existed. Saquon Barkley played 83 percent of the snaps but had another rough outing, finishing with 22 rushing yards on 10 carries and adding a costly fumble. Dallas Goedert played 58 snaps but had two catches for 20 yards, with two more wiped out by penalties.

The snap counts tell the full story.

The defense was exhausted, the secondary was falling apart in real time, and the offense once again collapsed after a fast start. If the Eagles do not get healthy bodies back this week, it is going to get very ugly very quickly. ‍

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