A Look Inside the Numbers of Eagles' 37-19 Loss Tells an Interesting Story
PHILADELPHIA - If a picture can paint a thousand words, then what can numbers tell you?
Plenty, if you know how to read them.
Here is a look inside some numbers from the Eagles’ 37-19 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
16. Total tackles made by Rams linebacker Micah Kiser on Sunday. He also forced the fumble on Miles Sanders. Kiser (6-0, 244) was a fifth-round pick out of Virginia two years ago. He played all 16 as a rookie with no starts.
The Rams aren’t expected to have another first-round pick until 2022 after various trades, which would make it five straight years without picking in the top 32 (2017-22) assuming they don’t trade into the first round.
Yet, LA has hit on Kiser and it looks like safety Jordan Fuller, too. A sixth-round pick last spring, the Ohio State product packed a wallop on some of his tackles on Sunday, and he was the team’s second-leading with nine. Both he and Kiser played all of the Rams’ defensive snaps against the Eagles.
0: Number of defensive snaps taken by three Eagles draft picks - safety K’Von Wallace and linebackers Shaun Bradley and Davion Taylor. The three played special teams, however, with Bradley and Wallace each getting 15 snaps and Taylor eight.
Wallace made a big special team play recovering a fumble forced by T.J. Edwards on a punt return deep in LA territory that set up an Eagles touchdown.
At least rookie second-round pick Jalen Hurts got three snaps.
131: Yards from scrimmage Miles Sanders had on Sunday, with 95 yards rushing and 36 receiving. He also had a 5-yard TD run in his season debut. If you’re looking for a bright spot from Sunday, he is it.
94 and 89: Percentage of snaps played by Eagles tight ends Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert, respectively, on Sunday. That is a high number and the guess is many of those snaps were taken on the field at the same time in 12 personnel packages.
It is reasonable to assume that based on the snaps of the wide receivers. Outside of Jalen Reagor, who, for the second week in a row led all WRs in playing time, and DeSean Jackson, the snaps for J.J. Arcega-Whiteside (16), Greg Ward (13), and John Hightower (7) were low compared to last week against Washington.
Each week’s game plan is different based on matchups, no doubt, but it’s interesting to note that Ertz played 85 percent of the snaps against the WFT to Goedert’s 79 percent with Ward getting 30 snaps, Arcega-Whiteside 28, and Hightower 27.
Ward was targeted seven times against Washington compared to only once against the Rams; Hightower had four targets a week ago and none on Sunday.
That is a big change no matter who the opponent is.
VIDEO: Postgame breakdown with myself and John McMullen
3: Sacks the Washington Football Team had against the Arizona Cardinals, who beat the WFT, 30-15 on Sunday. The WFT had eight against the Eagles and won by 10.
6: Carries Rams’ wide receivers had on various sweeps and tosses, with Robert Woods getting three carries, one he turned into a touchdown run, Cooper Kupp two, and Van Jefferson one. That threesome accounted for 37 of LA’s 191 yards rushing and helped keep an already reeling Eagles defense off balance.
Meanwhile, Eagles receiver Jalen Reagor with his running back background still has not been used on any jet sweeps or quick tosses. Philadelphia used just two players to carry the ball on Sunday – Sanders and Boston Scott (four rushes, 19 yards) – and Corey Clement got just three snaps on offense with no touches or targets. Carson Wentz had two scramble runs.
The Rams had six players carry the ball, including some designed runs for Jared Goff. That LA lost Cam Akers to a rib injury early may have contributed to that high number of ball carriers, More likely, that is just the way Sean McVay likes to operate.
77: Percentage of touchdowns the Eagles defense has allowed when teams get inside their red zone. The Rams put up TDs on four of five trips on Sunday after the WFT did three times on four trips. Washington cashed just one TD in three trips against the Cardinals on Sunday.
6.5: Early betting line and number of points the Eagles are favored by against Sunday’s opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals.
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