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Offense gets a boost from an unlikely source: NBC Sports Philadelphia

Vaseline October 14, 2024

The Eagles were finally at full strength on offense on Sunday afternoon, but that didn’t last long.

Dallas Goedert suffered a hamstring injury on the first drive of the Eagles’ 20–16 win over the Browns and did not return. In his absence, third-year tight end Grant Calcaterra had a career game.

Goedert played just 3 snaps on Sunday before leaving. Calcaterra made 57 of 62 plays on offense, which was a career high, surpassing his previous mark of 39 against the Giants in 2022. Jack Stoll played 39/62.

It was also a career stat sheet game for Calcaterra, who had four catches for 67 yards. He had a 34-yarder and a 20-yarder in this game and quarterback Jalen Hurts seemed to trust him.

“Well, I think that’s the biggest lesson, and in five games it’s only been one time where we’ve really had everyone, our clean sheet, first unit, first group,” Hurts said. “And that is certainly a challenge in itself that we have to overcome as a team. But I’m very proud that they were willing to go the extra mile and be ready.

“And then, honestly, some of those things just stand out, you know, that’s Grant. He had two back-to-back (catches). Yeah, the second one should never go to him, honestly. It’s not his ball. But he showed up. We were able to get it to him and he ran with the ball in his hands.

Before Sunday’s game, Calcaterra had 176 career yards in 34 games. He had more yards against the Browns than he had in 15 games last year. Calcaterra’s performance on Sunday amounts to 27% of his career output.

Other offensive comments

• Jordan Mailata played the first 49 shots of the game before leaving with a hamstring injury. Fred Johnson played the final 13 snaps and held his own against All-Pro Myles Garrett. Mailata was seen after the match on crutches and with his left leg in a sleeve.

• Jalen Hurts and four of those five offensive linemen played all 62 snaps. Devonta Smith also played all 62 and had 3 caches for 64 yards and a touchdown.

• AJ Brown played 57 of 62 in his return after missing three games with a hamstring injury. He had a typical AJ Brown game with 6 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown. After that, Jahan Dotson played 22 snaps, Johnny Wilson played 4 and Parris Campbell didn’t see the field.

• At running back, Saquon Barkley played 49 of 62 snaps and had his toughest outing of the season. He had just 47 attempts on 18 rushing attempts. Jim Schwartz’s defense performed well against Barkley. Kenny Gainwell played 13 snaps and Will Shipley did not see the field on offense.

• Reed Blankenship was fouled three times. He is the deep man in the victory formation. When Eagles fans see Blankenship getting offensive snaps, it’s a good thing.

Defensive comments

• The biggest personnel change after the bye week was the switch from Avonte Maddox to Cooper DeJean as the nickel cornerback. DeJean started the game and played 52 of 57 defensive snaps (91%) and played well. Maddox was the extra defender in the dime package and was on the field only twice.

• Zack Baun, Quinyon Mitchell, Blankenship and CJ Gardner-Johnson did not leave the field and played all 57 snaps.

• At DT: Jalen Carter (43), Milton Williams (26), Jordan Davis (21), Moro Ojomo (21), Thomas Booker (8). Ojomo will get pressure and deserve a real spot in this rotation.

• On the edge: Josh Sweat (39), Bryce Huff (31), Brandon Graham (23), Nolan Smith (21). Huff’s 54% is a season high and he’s finally done some good things. Huff had a pair of tackles, half a sack and a QB hit in this game. The Browns have given up a lot of pressure and sacks this season, but the Eagles’ front was good on Sunday.

• When the Eagles went to their dime pack, Baun stayed on the field and Nakobe Dean left. That’s why Dean played 55 of 57 snaps.

• Darius Slay played 29 snaps before leaving with a knee injury. In his place, Isaiah Rodgers played 22 snaps and Kelee Ringo played 6. It’s a boost for the Eagles to have decent depth at cornerback.