We are three weeks into the season, which means we have two weeks of data we can compare to Week 3. This means we’ll have a better idea of what is a trend and what is a one-time thing. The more a defender is on the field, the more chances they make a big play. Once again, we’ll take a look at who is getting on the field more often as well as who has seen the field less. If you are looking for a report on snaps for the offensive side of the ball, you can click here.
Saints 40, Texans 33
With Jonathan Vilma missing this game, JoLonn Dunbar stepped up and became the every down middle linebacker. Third round pick Martez Wilson got the start, and was playing most snaps before getting an injury. Stepping in snap count was Scott Shanle who played 90% of the game. On the defensive line, we saw the return of Will Smith who played in 84% of the game. The Saints also trusted Cameron Jordan with 70% of snaps after playing just 38% last week. After not appearing on the injury report, Jeff Charleston was inactive, so that is where a lot of these snaps came from. Defensive ends Turk McBride and Junior Galette also saw a dramatic decrease in snaps.
The big news in Houston is Mario Williams suffered a knee injury, which he played with but stopped playing every down. If he were to miss time or split some time, it is second round pick Brooks Reed that would take time from him. The Texans also saw a return of Johnathan Joseph who got hurt last week. Because he went back to playing the whole game, Kareem Jackson and Jason Allen both saw a bit of a decrease in snaps, with Jackson back to 69% and Allen down to 28%.
Giants 29, Eagles 16
Nothing too major to report in New York, with the biggest news being Mathias Kiwanuka went from 97% of snaps in Week 2 to 77% of snaps in this game. The man who received those snaps was Dave Tollefson who went from 86% in Week 1 to 38% in Week 2 to 62% in Week 3. Cornerback Aaron Ross went back up to playing over 90% of snaps this week as well.
The biggest change for the Eagles was at safety, where Kurt Coleman who had been playing nearly every play was only in for 12 plays in this game, with Nate Allen taking the snaps that Coleman missed. Due to the rearranging of linebackers, Casey Matthews went down from playing over 80% of snaps the first two weeks to just 64% now. Moise Fokou saw his snaps increase 11% while Brian Rolle went from 13% up to 30%. Defensive end Juqua Parker missed the game with an injury, with Jason Babin getting the most notable change in snaps from 77% to 83%, with other backups also getting a few more snaps.
Lions 26, Vikings 23
After playing roughly 90% of snaps each in the first two weeks; Louis Delmas, Stephen Tulloch and Eric Wright played every down. At linebacker Justin Durant went up in snaps while DeAndre Levy went down, with both of them close to 80% each. On the defensive line, Ndamukong Suh saw snaps like he did last year, with 91% of snaps in this game. Corey Williams also saw an increase from 66% to 78%.
The major change in Minnesota was the return of Kevin Williams, who played in 85% of snaps to start his 2011. Because of that, Letroy Guion went down to 45%, Fred Evans to 13%, Christian Ballard to 9% and Remi Ayodele to 16%. On the other hand, Everson Griffen saw an increase to 41% with the other two defensive ends remaining constant. The Vikings played nickel defense for basically the entire game, which led to Chris Cook playing almost the entire game while Erin Henderson barely played.
Bills 34, Patriots 31
The Bills went to a similar game plan that they had Week 1, where they had at least five defensive backs for basically the entire game. This left Bryan Scott going from 79% of snaps Week 1 to 34% Week 2 to 92% in this game. On the other hand Andra Davis had four snaps, and showed that he is too inconsistent to trust. A few other defensive backs saw more snaps while a few linemen and linebackers saw less, but that looks like it is completely due to the change in opponent.
The Patriots have six players who saw the majority of snaps last week who still did this week. Outside of them, there were a number of injuries that caused major changes. Patrick Chung, Ras-I Dowling, Albert Haynesworth and Myron Pryor didn’t play a down on defense. Because of all of that, Leigh Bodden went from 47% to 89%, Kyle Arrington went up from 44% to 86% of snaps, and Brandon Spikes went from 26% to 68%. Coming back from injury was Gary Guyton who played in a third of this game. We also saw slight decreases in snaps from Andre Carter and Shaun Ellis.
Bucs 16, Falcons 13
The big new for the Buccaneers is Cody Grimm was hurt, and is now out for the year. Replacing him is likely Corey Lynch who took over in this game. They were without Quincy Black, and they played nickel most of the day which led to the snap counts changing a bit for the linebackers. They put in Mason Foster for the entire game, and saw Geno Hayes only play 39% of snaps. On the other hand Dekoda Watson went up to 54% of snaps after just 28% last week, and Adam Hayward played 28% after just two plays previously this season.
The biggest change in snap counts was Thomas DeCoud was back to playing every down, which ended James Sanders snaps with the defense. Outside linebacker Stephen Nicholas missed the game, and in his place was Mike Peterson who played 74% of the game. On the defensive line, Corey Peters was even healthier which led to even more snaps to 71%, while Peria Jerry saw his snaps decrease again.
Cowboys 18, Redskins 16
Good news to the Sean Lee owners of the world, as he went up from playing 81% of snaps last week to 98% of snaps this week. It was Keith Brooking who saw the decrease in snaps while Bradie James stayed constant. The Cowboys saw Terence Newman return and play 83% of snaps. That along with a lot more multiple defensive back formations led to Anthony Spencer and Jason Hatcher seeing significantly less snaps. Because of Newman’s return, Alan Ball was benched and only played 56% of snaps.
The biggest news in Washington was the return of LaRon Landry who played 88% of this game and put Reed Doughty on the bench. Cornerback Josh Wilson missed half the game this week but was back to playing every down this week. Linebacker Brian Orakpo missed some time, but he should be fine. On the off chance he does miss time, than Rob Jackson is likely to take the snaps. Everything else has stayed very consistent with the team.
Steelers 23, Colts 20
The Steelers make it nice an simple, with seven players playing 100% of snaps both last week and this. The only change was Brett Keisel missed the game. Because of that, Ziggy Hood went up to 95% of snaps while Aaron Smith went up to 86%. Everyone else stayed within five percent compared to last week.
Things aren’t looking good, with Gary Brackett and Melvin Bullitt landing on injured reserve. Spliting time at safety this week was undrafted free agent from 2010 David Caldwell and undrafted rookie Joe Lefeged, with Lefeged getting 47 snaps to Caldwell’s 25. Taking over the nickel cornerback spot was Terrence Johnson which used to be the job of Justin Tryon. The front seven stayed basically the same.
Packers 27, Bears 17
As expected with Nick Collins out, Charlie Peprah took the safety snaps with 86% of plays. Tramon Williams saw his return and played every down resulting in Jarrett Bush only playing 16% of plays. At linebacker, Brad Jones did not take snaps from Erik Walden in this one, as he was the only linebacker to play 100% of snaps. At the defensive line, Jarius Wynn played 71% of snaps compared to Ryan Pickett who only played 38%.
With Major Wright getting injured last week, Craig Steltz got the start and played 97% of snaps. The Bears needed to play a lot of nickel in this one, so nickel cornerback D.J. Moore went up to 61% of snaps, while Nick Roach went down to 39% of snaps. The defensive line saw minor changes in snap counts, mostly due to the desire for stronger pass rushers rather than stronger players in run defense.
Seahawks 13, Cardinals 10
The Seahawks made the news a week ago with the news that Aaron Curry has been benched. First, Leroy Hill saw an increase in snaps and was up to 95% of snaps in this game. Also seeing an increase in snaps was David Hawthorne, who went up from 57% last week to 77% this week. Taking his starting job was rookie K.J. Wright played a decent 45%, while Aaron Curry still saw eight snaps.
Despite being questionable earlier in the week, Daryl Washington returned at inside linebacker and played 70% of snaps despite not starting. His replacement Stewart Bradley remained in the starting lineup alongside Paris Lenon. Reggie Walker who had 35 snaps last week as a backup inside linebacker had none this time around. Other than that this week looked much like last week in terms of snaps for the Cardinals.
Titans 17, Broncos 14
Due to the Titans needing less nickel defense, we saw a bit more of Will Witherspoon and Akeem Ayers. Both players saw less than 55% of snaps last week, and were both above 70% this time around. On the defensive line, William Hayes returned from injury but just with 28% of snaps. While most defensive linemen saw a slight decrease in snaps thanks to his return, the player that was hit the most was Derrick Morgan who went down to 49%.
There are nine players who saw 79% or more snaps in this game, and they were all within 5% of their snap percentage from last week. The Broncos used a lot less nickel defense this week, which meant Jonathan Wilhite went down to 41% of snap from 70%. Because more defensive linemen had the opportunity to play and more of a run emphasis, we saw more of Jason Hunter and Brodrick Bunkley, and less of Derrick Harvey.
Raiders 34, Jets 24
The Raiders saw a lot of injuries in the secondary, with Chris Johnson hurting his hamstring and Michael Huff suffering a concussion. Because of that, we saw a lot of Joe Porter, Chimdi Chekwa and Jerome Boyd in the secondary. On the defensive line, Matt Shaughnessy also suffered an injury, which resulted in both Trevor Scott and John Henderson seeing an increase in snaps. Outside of them, the biggest change was Quentin Groves who spiked up from 37% to 64%.
After palying 18 snaps in inside linebacker in Week 2, Josh Mauga didn’t play a down on defense this past week. Jim Leonard went back to playing nearly every down at safety, which meant Brodney Pool was only in on 21% of snaps. The three starting defensive linemen all saw increases in snaps, with Sione Pouha and Mike Devito both saw 75% of snaps compared to the mid 60’s, while Muhammad Wilkerson saw 57%.
Chargers 20, Chiefs 17
The biggest fantasy impact for the future is inside linebacker Donald Butler was taken out of nickel situations in favor of Na’il Diggs and Stephen Cooper. This led to him only playing 63% of snaps. Both Bob Sanders and Corey Liuget missed action in this one, while Quentin Jammer suffered an injury. In place of Sanders, we saw Steve Gregory play the entire game at safety. Marcus Gilchrist saw an increase in snaps once Jammer went down, while Vaughn Martin, Antonio Garay and Jacques Cesaire all saw increases of snaps on the defensive line with Liuget out.
The only significant changes in Kansas City had to do with injuries, where Brandon Flowers and Jon McGraw went down in Week 3. Travis Daniels replaced Flowers, while Donald Washington replaced McGraw. The rest of the changes in snaps came from a change in the amount of nickel defense.
Ravens 37, Rams 7
The most noteworthy change in Baltimore was Haloti Ngata who played 91% of snaps last week saw just 67% this week. He doesn’t appear on the injury list, so it’s unknown why he saw this decrease. Although the Ravens had the big lead, other stars saw the same amount of snaps. Both Terrance Cody and Pernell McPhee saw 45% of snaps which are increases. Dominique Foxworth was out in this one, but Chris Carr was back seeing 37% of snaps.
Other than Bryan Kehl and his three snaps in Week 2; everyone who played in Week 2 played in Week 3 as well. We got to see more of Ben Leber, who played 63% of snaps basically matching Brady Poppinga. On the defensive line, we saw less of Chris Long and James Hall, with more of Eugene Sims and Robert Quinn. The rookie Quinn saw 65% of snaps; the second most for the Rams defensive linemen.
Panthers 16, Jaguars 10
The Panthers defense is a mess, with Thomas Davis out for the year, Charles Godfrey missing the game and Chris Gamble suffering an injury. At linebacker James Anderson saw every snap, with Dan Connor playing 62% of the game, and Jason Williams playing his first snaps on defense with 56% of plays. Linebacker Thomas Williams also played his first game on defense, with 38% of snaps. At safety Jordan Pugh got the start and played every down, while Darius Butler saw a large increase in snaps with Gamble out. On the defensive line, Ronald Fields also played his first game on defense, getting 22 snaps mostly in run defense.
The story in Jacksonville was similar in terms of injury, with starters Matt Roth and William Middleton missing the game with injuries and Courtney Greene hurting his neck early on. Because of all that, we saw Derek Cox at cornerback, Dwight Lowery at safety, and Austen Lane stepping up to 74% of snaps at defensive end. Also seeing more snaps at defensive end was Tyson Alualu who went back up to 91% of snaps.
Browns 17, Dolphins 16
The Browns linebacking situation stayed basically the same, as well as their defensive backs. The only noteworthy difference was Mike Adams had more snaps than Usama Young by six. Cleveland never took out their defensive ends last week, but this week we saw a little less of Jayme Mitchell, Jabaal Sheard and Ahtyba Rubin. Each still had more than 85% of snaps, but the backups all saw a few snaps this time around.
The Dolphins used a lot more multiple defensive back formations which affects some of the changes in this game. Vontae Davis missed the game, so we saw more of Nolan Carroll and Will Allen. Defensive linemen Kendall Langford and Paul Soliai both went from over 70% of snaps to less than 50%, which is partially due to the increase in nickel defense, but also because of the addition of Igor Olshansky who was in for 18 plays.
49ers 13, Bengals 8
The 49ers saw a bit of a makeover with their secondary, with Dashon Goldson joining the lineup and starting at safety, while Shawntae Spencer became the nickel cornerback. Donte Whitner suffered an injury, which led to Madieu Williams still receiving a number of snaps. Outside of the defensive backs, things stayed fairly normal with seven players playing every down, and Tarell Brown just missing one play.
The biggest thing to say about the Bengals is Rey Maualuga was out for nine plays, compared to three from last week. The exact same players who saw time last week saw time this week, with everyone staying very close to the amount of snaps they saw last week.
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