Philadelphia Eagles: Did you notice that someone was missing on Sunday?

Despite not practicing all week, the Philadelphia Eagles activated Rasul Douglas for Week 12. Then, they won despite the fact he only played two snaps.

Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz hasn’t been able to dodge all of the darts that have been thrown in his direction in 2018. We at ITI have to admit that we’ve been part of the firing squad, but we can’t turn the page from Week 12 to Week 13 without acknowledging the job he did against the New York Giants on Sunday.

After hearing all week that Philly might be without their top five cornerbacks when they took the field to face the rival Giants, hope was also dampened when we learned that there would be no starting middle linebacker, Jordan Hicks.

Spirits were raised slightly when we learned shortly before kickoff that ‘The Birds’ would, indeed, activate Rasul Douglas despite the knee and ankle issues. The only thing was none of us knew how much he’d be able to contribute. That answer was a surprising one. Douglas only took the field for two defensive snaps on Sunday.

If you don’t believe us, look for yourself:

So, what did we learn?

Sure, there were challenges. Philly made the Giants’ offense look like the New Orleans Saints at times in the first half, but the Eagles limited New York to less than 60 yards in the final two frames.

If you were watching you knew two things and you can spin this two different ways.

With the likes of Sidney Jones, Ronald Darby and Jalen Mills out, Douglas was the best cover guy the Eagles had on the active roster, but again, he only played two defensive snaps. The young guys, Cre’Von LeBlanc, Chandon Sullivan and De’Vante Bausby, stepped up and grew up right before our eyes.

There’s also another way you can spin it. Once games begin, there’s an emotional side that takes over in all of us, players and fans. The emotional side carried the Eagles to victory and, for a second, it almost made us forget Douglas wasn’t playing. Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz deserves a lot of credit for that.

Despite all of the injuries, he worked wonders with a patchwork secondary on Sunday. Let’s see what Philly does with all of those offensive weapons the Washington Redskins have next Monday.