Game ball, three stars and snap number analysis: Week 6, Eagles vs. Panthers

In their Week 6 loss to the Carolina Panthers, the Philadelphia Eagles played 64 snaps on offense and 79 on defense. Let’s get straight to the number of shots, some notes and some special recognition.

Strategist

• 64 shots: Tanner McKee

Notes: McKee finished 26 of 45 for 215 yards, 1 TD and 0 INT. He looked like a replacement. But honestly, it could have been a lot worse, considering the Eagles had no running game, an offensive line with three inexperienced players, very little pass protection, a trash can system, and McKee playing from behind all day. I’m curious to look at it some more.

Run back

• 61 shots: Dameon Pierce

• 3 shots: Carson Steele

Notes: The Eagles were without RB1 Saquon Barkley (hamstring), RB2 Tank Bigsby (IR) and RB3 Will Shipley (IR).

It looked like the Eagles were going to put Steele in this game, but he quickly injured his arm/shoulder and didn’t return. Once out, the Eagles lost their RB1, RB2, RB3 and RB5.

Pierce carried 12 times for 35 yards.

The Eagles don’t have a running game.

Wide receiver

• 52 photos: Makai Citron

• 42 shots: DeVonta Smith

• 40 snaps: Dontayvion highlights

• 39 shots: Darius Cooper

• 8 photos: Elijah Moore

Notes: Smith made a nice contested catch for a touchdown.

It was also by far McKee’s best throw of the day.

Smith was clearly about to count. He normally never leaves the field. I think this shows a certain level of desperation against Smith going into three divisional games when he’s not 100% healthy.

Rookie receiving the leaders:

Not great.

Tight end

• 52 shots: Dallas Goedert

• 19 photos: Johnny Mundt

• 4 shots: EJ Jenkins

Notes: Goedert has played well this season. On Sunday, he had six catches on eight targets for 61 yards. He also drew a pass interference call that gave the Eagles a scoring opportunity that led to a touchdown. (He also had his pants down during the play.)

If I were a team in need of a good tight end down the stretch, I would think about what it would take to get him.

Mundt won’t go down as one of the Eagles’ all-time best free agent signings. He was recruited to be a tight end blocker and he was a terrible blocker. On Sunday, he was flagged for a catch (his third of the season) and he gave up a sack after missing his assignment.

Zach Ertz was not elevated for this game. He can’t be excited about ending his career on a practice squad, not playing in games while guys like Mundt and Jenkins are active. To be clear, I’m not saying Ertz should standing, because he hasn’t really done anything to contribute positively either, but this season must be tough for him. His only real reason to stay is to break Harold Carmichael’s career receptions record, and it’s not clear he’ll achieve that.

Offensive line

• 64 snaps each: Jordan Mailata, Willie Lampkin, Jake Majors, Tyler Steen, Markel Bell

Notes: Drew Kendall was active for this game, but he was only healthy enough to be an EMT. And so, the Majors took off, and he made one of the most critical errors of the game, when he returned a ground ball to McKee just as the Eagles had finally gained momentum.

There’s not much to say here, really. This is a skeleton crew offensive line, and collectively they couldn’t get anything going in the running game. They also gave up a lot of pressure in the passing game. Some youngsters like Kendall, Lampkin and Bell will gain valuable experience and the Eagles will be able to evaluate their play over a long season. But it’s probably going to be lousy all year.

Edge defenders

• 72 photos: Arnold Ebiketie

• 48 shots: Keyshawn James-Newby

• 24 shots: Jonathan Greenard

• 14 shots: Nolan Smith

Notes: Jalyx Hunt and AJ Epenesa missed this game due to injuries.

Smith left early with what is clearly a concussion. He took a big shot to the head on a chip from Chuba Hubbard, and he didn’t try to break his fall by going down to the ground.

He then tried to get up, but his body wouldn’t cooperate.

Smith has played well this season. On his 14 snaps Sunday, he had three tackles and a sack. Like Goedert above, if I’m a team that needs stretch run help, Smith would be on my radar.

Greenard has brought nothing to this team through the first six games. It was the third game he played. He has one tackle, zero sacks. When I watched him a little bit on some pass rush opportunities, he was under absolutely no pressure. The Eagles traded two third-round picks for Greenard, then gave him a four-year contract worth $98 million.

Greenard has dealt with injuries, and he’s pretty clearly on the pitch count at the moment, but man, the Eagles would love a mulligan on this acquisition.

Interior defensive line

• 74 shots: Jalen Carter

• 41 shots: Jordan Davis

• 32 shots each: Moro Ojomo, Byron Young

• 15 shots: Ty Robinson

Notes: Eagles offensive and defensive snap counts so far this season:

Over their last four games, the Eagles defense has played 76.8 snaps per game, largely because the Eagles’ garbage offense can’t stay on the field. At some point, the Eagles will have to be smart about wearing down Carter in a losing season.

Ojomo played through pain throughout this match. He’ll probably be on the injury report this week, and then we’ll know what he was dealing with. For the second time this season, Ojomo jumped offside in a situation in which the opposing offense probably wasn’t even going to make a play.

Davis made some plays in the running game and even as a passer in this game. I thought his passer penalty was a tough break, because he was trying to throw a pass and his hands fell on a very short quarterback’s head. Still, for a guy making money, playing just over 50% of the snaps doesn’t seem like a good use of that money.

Linebacker

• 79 photos: Zack Baun

• 48 shots: Jihaad Campbell

• 28 photos: Jérémie Trotter

Notes: Trotter replaced Campbell for a bit. I think he deserved that. He had five tackles and half a sack on his 28 snaps. Campbell also had five tackles, on his 48 snaps.

Cornerback and safety

• 79 shots each: Quinyon Mitchell, Andrew Mukuba

• 78 photos: Cooper DeJean

• 77 photos: Riq Woolen

• 48 shots: Kenny Moore

• 1 shot: Jonathan Jones

Notes: As we noted in our 10 Awards article, DeJean just isn’t the same All-Pro caliber player this season that he was at the end of his rookie season in 2024 and his sophomore season in 2025. He missed a lot of tackles and he had communication issues with Woolen.

Three stars 🤩

⭐⭐⭐: DeVonta Smith

🌟🌟: Dallas Goedert

✨: Jalen Carter

Ball game 🏈

Person.

Follow Jimmy and PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski | the voice of Philly

Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports

Add Jimmy’s RSS feed to your feed reader