Welcome to the Wild Card round edition of Snaps, Pace & Stats, where we examine trends in snap totals and no-huddle usage. It is meant as a 30,000-foot view of upcoming games, with the goal of identifying which matchups will — and which will not — be played on fertile fantasy soil.
2016 Snaps Per Game | NFL Rank | Last Four Games | NFL Rank |
Houston Texans (66.9) | 5th | New York Giants (70.5) | 3rd |
Oakland Raiders (65.5) | 11th | Houston Texans (69.0) | 4th |
Green Bay Packers (64.3) | 13th | Seattle Seahawks (67.3) | 8th |
Pittsburgh Steelers (64.1) | 14th | Pittsburgh Steelers (65.8) | 11th |
New York Giants (63.6) | 16th | Detroit Lions (64.8) | 12th |
Seattle Seahawks (63.3) | 19th | Oakland Raiders (64.0) | 14th |
Detroit Lions (61.3) | 29th | Green Bay Packers (60.8) | 25th |
Miami Dolphins (57.1) | 32nd | Miami Dolphins (57.0) | 31st |
Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans
Even if the Raiders avoided their quarterback apocalypse, this would project as a slow-paced matchup. Oakland allows the fourth-fewest plays per game (61.7) and the second-fewest during the last month (57.3). They wanted to be a run-based offense with Derek Carr. Now that he’s gone, they will hide whoever takes snaps — whether it’s an injured Matt McGloin or, more likely, a raw Connor Cook. The Texans’ run defense grades 18th-best, while their pass coverage ranks fifth. Oakland will rely on their fifth-highest-graded run-blocking and gaggle of running backs to hammer Houston’s relative weakness. As long as the game stays close, they won’t be in a rush to snap it again.
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