There were very, very few bright spots to the Philadelphia Eagles' 34-17 blowout loss to the New York Giants, but there were some pleasant moments in the game that gave Philly fans hope for the future.
One player stood out to fans after making quite an impression on defense in very few snaps: Patrick Johnson. With Nolan Smith and Ogbo Okoronkwo on IR, depth players like Azeez Ojulari and Johnson have moved up the depth chart to play.
Johnson made the most of his snaps in Week 6 as he had 22 in the Giants game. He finished the game with two tackles, one tackle for loss, one quarterback hit, and his first NFL career sack. After 66 games in his NFL career, he had finally taken down the quarterback with the ball in his hands.
While he had limited snaps on the field, he ended up arguably being the best defensive player on the field at MetLife Stadium. According to Pro Football Focus, Johnson got an overall grade of 71.6, the highest of any Eagle on the team.
Johnson has more than proven he should play more on defense
It's not like the edge rushers on the Eagles have been anything spectacular. Philly is tied for 26th in the NFL in sacks with nine in just six games. Among the edge rushers, Za'Darius Smith has the most with 1.5, but is fourth on the team behind Zack Baun, Jordan Davis, and Moro Ojomo (none are edge rushers).
At some point, the Eagles might be looking for more edge rusher help via trade, but it's been crazy that guys like Johnson and Ojulari are only getting opportunities now because of injuries. The two have proven that they need to get more snaps on defense.
After Johnson was initially cut from the roster in August, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman spoke highly of him and wanted to get him back on the roster as soon as possible. It's clear the Eagles like Johnson, so why is it taking him so long to get more snaps?
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The Eagles need some boost with their pass rushers, and Johnson could be the spark missing from this defense, which has regressed from last year's team. Watch for Fangio and the Eagles to play Johnson more in the upcoming weeks and get more chances to sack the quarterback.