Genard Avery played the fewest snaps of all the Eagles defensive ends on Sunday night but he still had a huge role in their 25-20 win over the 49ers.
Avery played just 16 snaps but finished with 1 sack, 1 TFL and led the team with 5 quarterback hits. He had a QB hit just about every three plays.
Here’s how the DE rotation broke down on Sunday Night Football:
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- Brandon Graham: 56 snaps (77%) — 1 QB hit
- Derek Barnett: 43 snaps (59%) — 4 tackles, 1/2 sack, 2 QB hits
- Josh Sweat: 27 snaps (37%) — 2 tackles, 1 sack, 1 QB hit, 1 TFL
- Genard Avery: 16 snaps (22%) — 1 sacks, 1 TFL, 5 QB hits
The Eagles got great production out of all their defensive ends on Sunday. Even though it didn’t show up in the stat sheet, Graham still had a good game. And his one hit on the quarterback came on the penultimate play to blow it up.
Other defensive snap count notes
• Rodney McLeod, Jalen Mills and Darius Slay played all 73 defensive snaps. That’s impressive especially for Slay, who looked like he avoided another serious injury for the second week in a row. McLeod has now played all 284 through the first quarter of the season.
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• One thing that’s going to stand out for the wrong reasons is that Nathan Gerry played 72 of 73 defensive snaps and had another forgettable performance. Duke Riley played 47 snaps, followed by T.J. Edwards 18, Alex Singleton 15 and Shaun Bradley 2. Singleton on 15 plays had 2 tackles, 1 PBU and the game-winning pick-6.
• With Mills forced back into his old corner position because of injuries, rookie K’Von Wallace started but played fewer snaps than Marcus Epps (27 to 44).
• Despite leaving the game for a bit Fletcher Cox out-snapped all DTs with 50, followed by Javon Hargrave (42), Malik Jackson (41) and Hassan Ridgeway (23). It was a really productive night for the DL.
Full defensive snap counts
Offensive snap count notes
• For the second straight week, fifth-round pick John Hightower led the Eagles’ receivers in snaps. After 78 last week, he had 50 on Sunday. He had just two catches for 22 yards but one of them came on that crucial 4th-and-4.
• Following Hightower in snaps for the receivers: Greg Ward (48), Travis Fulgham (37) and Deontay Burnett (19).
• Despite missing the end of the game, Miles Sanders had 48 snaps to lead the way by a considerable margin among the running backs, ahead of Boston Scott (9), Adrian Killins (4) and Corey Clement (4).
• Carson Wentz and four of his OL — Jordan Mailata, Nate Herbig, Jason Kelce, Matt Pryor — played all 62 snaps. Lane Johnson (37) and Jack Driscoll (27) split time at right tackle as Johnson dealt with his ankle injury. Driscoll also had two snaps as an extra OL.
• Zach Ertz played 59 of 62 snaps and had 4 catches for 9 yards. The 49ers did an excellent job against him.
• Jalen Hurts picked up four more offensive snaps. It was a mixed bag for him but the Eagles continue to put different looks on tape.