Jalen Carter didn’t play a snap on Thursday night before he was ejected for spitting on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott in the Eagles’ 24-20 win.
That’s a significant change to the Eagles’ defense.
Not only is Carter one of the Eagles’ best overall players, a guy who demands double-teams, but he also plays a ton. In his first year under Vic Fangio, Carter played 84% of the Eagles’ snaps in the regular season and 88% in the playoffs.
Here’s how the defensive tackle snaps were split on Thursday night after Carter’s disqualification:
Moro Ojomo: 55 snaps (90%)
Jordan Davis: 53 snaps (87%)
Byron Young: 22 snaps (36%)
Gabe Hall: 5 snaps (8%)
Entering this game, the Eagles had five defensive tackles active. Rookie fourth-round pick Ty Robinson was a healthy scratch.
Those 55 snaps for Ojomo were a career high. His previous high was 44 snaps against the Giants in Week 18 last year. Davis’s career-high is 62 in that OT game against the Bills in 2023, but this was a much higher percentage. Young’s career-high was 24 snaps as a rookie with the Raiders, but he came close on Thursday night.
A huge topic in the offseason was about Davis’s conditioning level and whether or not he’d be able to play more snaps. He didn’t have a choice in Week 1. And the fourth-year DT had a really strong game with 6 tackles, a TFL and a batted pass.
“Jordan’s been working his ass off to get to where he’s at,” Zack Baun said. “He should be very proud of himself and I hope he knows that the work he put in wasn’t for nothing. I thought he did a really good job. And then Moro stepping in and stepping up. He did a good job as well.”
Other defensive notes
• Cooper DeJean, Quinyon Mitchell, Reed Blankenship and Zack Baun played all 61 defensive snaps. DeJean played outside cornerback in the Eagles’ base package and moved inside on nickel downs.
• The Eagles split their starting safety responsibilities in this game. Sydney Brown was next to Blankenship in the base package and Drew Mukuba was on the field in nickel. Mukuba played 51 of 61 snaps (84%) in his NFL debut, while Brown played 14 snaps (23%).
• Adoree’ Jackson got the start at outside cornerback and played 42 of 61 snaps (69%). He would have played more but he missed some time while getting checked for a concussion. Jakorian Bennett played 7 snaps. Jackson had a rough game, giving up 5 catches on 7 targets for 103 yards.
• Nolan Smith led the way for the edge rushers with 52 snaps (85%), followed by Jalyx Hunt 39 snaps (64%), Josh Uche 19 snaps (31%) and Patrick Johnson 12 snaps (20%). Johnson was an elevation from the practice squad, while Azeez Ojulari and Ogbo Okoronkwo were healthy scratches. The Eagles on Friday signed veteran DE Za’Darius Smith, who will join the rotation soon.
• Baun didn’t leave the field and Jihaad Campbell barely did. He played 56 of 61 snaps (92%) in his NFL debut. Baun and Campbell played very well.
Offensive notes
• Jalen Hurts and 4/5ths of his offensive line played all 63 offensive snaps. Landon Dickerson (back) left after 52 snaps and was replaced by Brett Toth, who played the final 11 plays at left guard.
• DeVonta Smith led the way for receivers with 56 snaps, followed by A.J. Brown (55), Jahan Dotson (29), Darius Cooper (2) and John Metchie III (1). Dotson had a very good game, while Brown got just one target that came in a big moment in the fourth quarter.
• Saquon Barkley led the way at running back with 50 snaps (79%), followed by A.J. Dillon (8) and Will Shipley (5). It seemed like Shipley was the RB2 but he suffered a ribs injury.
• Dallas Goedert played 52 snaps (83%) and caught all seven of his targets. Grant Calcaterra played 37 snaps and Kylen Granson got 17. The Eagles used their 12 and 13 personnel packages quite a bit in Week 1. At times, Granson got some looks in a fullback-like role after Ben VanSumeren suffered a knee injury on the opening kickoff.
• It’s always a good sign for the Eagles when Cooper DeJean gets some offensive snaps. He’s the deep guy in victory formation.
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