Eagles snap counts: Why didn’t Jordan Davis play more in opener?

[time2rock]

Eagles snap counts: Why didn’t Jordan Davis play more in opener?

 

DETROIT — The Eagles were gashed in the run game on Sunday afternoon in their 38-35 win. The Lions had 181 yards on the ground and averaged 6.5 yards per carry. D’Andre Swift had 144 yards and averaged 9.6.

If only the Eagles traded up in the first round to draft the best run-stuffing defensive tackle in college football.

Oh wait! They did! And Davis played just 22 snaps (32%) in the opener despite being effective against the run.

He played the fewest snaps of the Eagles’ five defensive tackles:

Fletcher Cox: 39 snaps (57%)
Javon Hargrave: 38 snaps (55%)
Milton Williams: 33 snaps (48%)
Marlon Tuipulotu: 29 snaps (42%)
Jordan Davis: 22 snaps (32%)

So Tuipulotu, a sixth-round pick from a year ago, had seven more defensive snaps than Davis. That’s not a shot at Tuipulotu, who had the biggest pressure in the game to force the pick-6. But it’s surprising to see Davis play so little.

A big storyline around Davis this offseason was about his conditioning and whether or not he’d be able to play more in the NFL than he did at the college level. After Sunday’s game, he said he felt good.

"We rotate, so it’s good,” Davis said. "Same thing at Georgia. At Georgia we rotated, here we rotate. Whenever my number is called, I know I’m ready. Obviously as you go on you’re going to feel a little bit tired but that’s the game, right? Everybody’s tired. Conditioning-wise, I feel great.”

Put this on the long list of questions for defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon on Tuesday.

Other defensive notes:

• Marcus Epps and T.J. Edwards did not leave the field, playing all 69 snaps.

• Despite arriving 11 days earlier, C.J. Gardner-Johnson played 67 of 69 snaps. He was active.

• Rookie linebacker Nakobe Dean played just three snaps. We knew he was behind Edwards and Kyzir White but thought he’d maybe get mixed in a little more.

Full defensive snap counts:

 

Offensive notes:

• The entire OL and Jalen Hurts played all 77 snaps. That’s always a beautiful thing.

• DeVonta Smith led the receivers with 74 snaps, followed by A.J. Brown (67), Quez Watkins (41) and Zach Pascal (17). It looked like the Eagles were getting Pascal out there on third downs.

• Miles Sanders led the way for the running backs with 40 snaps, followed by Kenny Gainwell (23) and Boston Scott (14). Good rotation here. Gainwell got work in the 2-minute offense.

• The Eagles used a good bit of 12 personnel (two tight ends) on Sunday. Dallas Goedert played 71 snaps, followed by Jack Stoll (28) and Noah Togiai (11).

Full offensive snap counts:

 

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-snap-counts-why-didnt-jordan-davis-play-more-opener

[Procus]

I have no problem breaking the rookies in slowly, especially with the new shortened preseason

[UK_EaglesFan89]

56 minutes ago, Procus said:

I have no problem breaking the rookies in slowly, especially with the new shortened preseason

I have no problem with it in theory... But I do have an issue with it when he is good against the run and we were getting gashed. That doesn't really feel like the best use of resources. 

[Rob331]

I can see criticizing the big thing  - but the Philly media even criticizes the minutia. 

[nipples]

1 hour ago, Rob331 said:

I can see criticizing the big thing  - but the Philly media even criticizes the minutia. 

I mean Jordan Davis best trait right now is as a run stopper. They were getting gashed all day in the running game so… I think it’s fair to question why he was on the field so little. 

[Rob331]

23 hours ago, nipples said:

I mean Jordan Davis best trait right now is as a run stopper. They were getting gashed all day in the running game so… I think it’s fair to question why he was on the field so little. 

The big thing is that they missed 13 tackles, most in the league as per football focus. Most of those were on the perimeter. 

BTW - If they were in position to make the tackles Gannon had them in the right place - players have to make plays. 

[nipples]

29 minutes ago, Rob331 said:

The big thing is that they missed 13 tackles, most in the league as per football focus. Most of those were on the perimeter. 

BTW - If they were in position to make the tackles Gannon had them in the right place - players have to make plays. 

He's also ultimately responsible for them knowing how to tackle though.

 

[Procus]

On 9/12/2022 at 5:30 PM, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I have no problem with it in theory... But I do have an issue with it when he is good against the run and we were getting gashed. That doesn't really feel like the best use of resources. 

Big picture.  We're looking at JD's career right now, and we want it to start off on the right foot.  He made a great showing in week one and just left us wanting to see him play more.  I think too many rookies are rushed in too soon and some lose their confidence after making bad appearances.  How many QBs do you see who play well in year 2 after holding a clipboard most of year 1.

[stine]

19 hours ago, Rob331 said:

The big thing is that they missed 13 tackles, most in the league as per football focus. Most of those were on the perimeter. 

BTW - If they were in position to make the tackles Gannon had them in the right place - players have to make plays. 

  I take anything PFF writes with a grain of salt. They also said that the Eagles line was a top 3 unit last weekend. Not sure what everyone else saw, but I saw a bad performance on Sunday. I am sure they will do much better this week, but that ranking was a joke. Not even close IMO

[stine]

12 hours ago, Procus said:

Big picture.  We're looking at JD's career right now, and we want it to start off on the right foot.  He made a great showing in week one and just left us wanting to see him play more.  I think too many rookies are rushed in too soon and some lose their confidence after making bad appearances.  How many QBs do you see who play well in year 2 after holding a clipboard most of year 1.

  Playing DT is a bit more less complicated than QB. I see D-Linemen start week 1 all the time when drafted in the top of round 1. QB's are a whole different ball game.

 

 

[stine]

I was very pleased by the play of Epps and White. The defensive backfield did a good job other than tackling....

[Rob331]

3 hours ago, stine said:

I take anything PFF writes with a grain of salt. They also said that the Eagles line was a top 3 unit last weekend. Not sure what everyone else saw, but I saw a bad performance on Sunday. I am sure they will do much better this week, but that ranking was a joke. Not even close IMO

On this, we don't see it the same way. I think the ine played well. When pressure was it's worse, there were more rushing than we had linemen. The RB's and Hurts planned runs were all executed well based on the yardage gained and yards per carry. 

[stine]

21 minutes ago, Rob331 said:

On this, we don't see it the same way. I think the ine played well. When pressure was it's worse, there were more rushing than we had linemen. The RB's and Hurts planned runs were all executed well based on the yardage gained and yards per carry. 

There was one play where Johnson had 2 people to block. He chose the inside Guy that was already being blocked by the guard and allowed the DE to go without and resistance. He did not get penalized as he did have his guy blocked, but in reality he screwed up by taking the wrong man. But PFF does not hold this against him. A flaw in their system