Bills 31, Eagles 24
The Bills went back to playing a dime defense for the majority of the game, which left Kyle Williams and Marcell Dareus playing just a little more than half the game. The Bills were without Chris Kelsay. This meant 2010 6th round pick Danny Batten playing a lot more, with 62% of the game. Kelsay is hopefully back next week, so Batten will likely go back to just playing a little bit of the game. Due to the increase in dime defense, we saw more of safety Bryan Scott than last week as well as cornerback Reggie Corner.
The biggest changes for Philadelphia came along the line where Trent Cole and Antonio Dixon were out. Replacing Cole was Darryl Tapp who hadn’t played since Week 1, and made 58% of snaps as well as Juqua Parker who played 27% of snaps after not playing since Week 2. At tackle, Derek Landri made his first appearance of the season and played the 24% of the game that Dixon typically plays. We saw a bit more of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie as the slot corner, which led to less of Moise Rokou who just played 24% of this game.
Bengals 30, Jaguars 20
The Bengals had changes mostly based on their opponent. We saw more of Robert Geathers, Frostee Rucker, and less of Michael Johnson and Carlos Dunlap due to more use of the base defense. This also meant Gibril Wilson went from playing 68% of the game back down to 5%, while Manny Lawson went from 7% last week to 60% this time around.
The good news for Matt Roth owners is the Jaguars used him like they did the first two weeks, and he played 80% of snaps compared to the 55% he had last week. Taking the biggest hit for this was Austen Lane who went down to 16% after playing 74% during Roth’s absence. We saw a little less than Clint Session than usual down to 16%, while Kevin Rutland played 23% which is the most we’ve seen from him.
Steelers 38, Titans 17
The Steelers defense was hurt bad this week, as James Harrison, Aaron Smith and Casey Hampton all missed this game. Filling the void on the line was Brett Keisel who hasn’t played since Week 2. He was in for 68% of the snaps. The Steelers used more multiple defensive back sets as well, which put Keenan Lewis and Ryan Mundy in for two thirds of the snaps. For the first time this season James Farrior played every down, while Larry Foote was still in for one third of snaps with Lawrence Timmons playing outside linebacker on 23 of his 72 snaps. In the future if the Steelers use less multiple defensive back sets we could see a lot more of Timmons on the outside.
While Tennessee didn’t see any major changes in players playing, we saw some changes in snap counts along the defensive line. Rookie Jurrell Casey has been playing well recently, which led to his snap percentage to increase to 58%, while rookie Karl Klug has struggled, and his went down to 44%. We also saw Shaun Smith go up to 45%, while William Hayes decreased to 29%. Every other week, we’ve seen linebacker Akeem Ayers and cornerback Alterraun Verner go up or down in snaps based on the amount of nickel defense used, and this week Akeem Ayers saw more with 68%.
Vikings 34, Cardinals 10
The Vikings used nickel defense most of the game, and were without Antoine Winfield. This meant Chris Cook played the entire game while Asher Allen played 74%. This also led to a bit more of Everson Griffen who played 54% of the game as he specializes in pass rushing. We also saw a decrease in the starting defensive linemen’s snaps as the pass rushing wore them out quicker, and barely any E.J. Henderson as Erin Henderson remained the nickel linebacker.
The most significant change was early on in the game Kerry Rhodes injured his foot and will miss at least a month. Former third round pick from the 2009 draft Rashad Johnson took his place, and will likely be the starter for at least the rest of October. After seeing just three to six snaps per game, we saw 20 out of fourth round pick Sam Acho, which was mostly in place of Joey Porter who played just 63% of this game. Porter has a -9.5 rating on the season, so we could see Acho’s time continue to increase as the season goes on.
49ers 48, Buccaneers 3
Looking at just the snap counts for this game could be a little deceiving, as the 49ers were so far ahead that they took players out near the end. We didn’t see Shawntae Spencer, Isaac Sopoaga or Madieu Williams in this game. At safety Donte Whitner was back after missing last week, and played in the base defense while Reggie Smith played safety in the nickel defense. The new nickel cornerback was Chris Culliver who played 46% of the game. On the defensive line, Ricky Jean-Francois played 60% of the time.
Once the Buccaneers decided they weren’t trying to win, they also put in some of their backups making it hard to read much into the snap counts. Defensive tackle Gerard McCoy got hurt early on, and might miss some time. Replacing those snaps was Frank Okam who didn’t play last week, and was in 69% of the time this week. Linebacker Quincy Black missed the game, so we saw more of Dekoda Watson than we’ve seen in the past with his 88% of snaps.
Packers 25, Falcons 14
The only changes for the Packers were based on a slight increase in nickel defense. The most significant change was B.J. Raji who played 93% of snaps in this one after seeing a slight decrease last week. Backups C.J. Wilson and Howard Green saw decreases because of this down to 22% and 12% respectively.
On the defensive line, the Falcons were without John Abraham, but saw the return of Jonathan Babineaux. At the end position this meant Kroy Biermann played 87% of the plays, while Corey Peters went down to 57% and Peria Jerry down to 25% to give Babineaux time for his 69% of snaps. At linebacker we saw Stephen Nichols return and play 43% of the game, which left Mike Peterson not playing at all. Finally William Moore hurt his shoulder which left James Sanders playing 72% of the game. He had last seen major time in place of Thomas DeCoud when he got hurt Week 2.
Seahawks 36, Giants 25
All of the major changes in Seattle came at defensive back, where Marcus Trufant missed the game resulting in Walter Thurmond playing 97% of snaps, and fifth round pick Richard Sherman taking over the nickel spot with 51% of snaps. At safety Kam Chancellor came back from injury, which brought Atari Bigby back to the bench. The Seahawks used more nickel than last week, which meant Leroy Hill see less time than usual with 63%. This might not be permanent, as Aaron Curry who had 35% of snaps this week but now was traded to the Raiders.
Out of nowhere, sixth round rookie Jacquian Williams played 93% of the game at outside linebacker, which left Greg Jones just playing 5% of the game, and Mathias Kiwanuka down to 49%. The drop in these linebackers’ snaps was also due to an increase in Deon Grant’s playing time. This also led to more rotation of the defensive linemen than usual.
Patriots 30, Jets 21
The Patriots have continued to see a lot of inconsistency in playing time. Linebackers Jerod Mayo, Dane Fletcher and Tracy White all played last week but not this week as well as Josh Barrett as safety. Also at defensive back, Sergio Brown and Antwaun Molden played roughly half the game in Week 4, but barely played this time around. Making up for all this missed time was James Ihedigbo at safety who played basically the entire game and Leigh Bodden at cornerback playing 39% of the game after missing last week. At linebacker Gary Guyton player the entire game and Brandon Spikes played 98% of the snaps. Finally on the defensive line Albert Haynesworth came back and played 39% of the game, while Kyle Love saw an increase to 57% of snaps, which left Gerard Warren going down to 17%.
The Jets game plan on defense meant a lot of defensive backs much to the dismay of Jets IDP owners. We saw run stuffers Bart Scott, Mike Devito and Sione Pouha play just 28% of the game. On the other hand Brodney Pool and Kyle Wilson played almost three fourths of the game while Donald Strickland played 40%. None of this should matter until Week 10 when the Jets face the Patriots again.
Raiders 25, Texans 20
There was some interesting news at defensive back, where both Chimdi Chekwa and Joe Porter missed the game. This meant that third round rookie DeMarcus Van Dyke played 92% of the game after not playing much prior. We also saw the return of Michael Huff at safety after missing the last two games. Outside of that, the biggest news was with Kamerion Wimbley who played every down. Prior to this week he hadn’t seen more than 80%.
There is just one thing in the snap counts worth noting in Houston, and that is at outside linebacker. Former defensive end Mario Williams will miss the rest of the season with an injured pectoral muscle. In his place is rookie second round pick Brooks Reed who played all of the snaps that Williams missed, and will likely be the starter from here on out. He is probably the surest bet of someone who didn’t get much time before but will from here on out from all of the guys this week.
Lions 24, Bears 13
The biggest news in Detroit was that first round pick Nick Fairley made his debut, and played 22% of the game. This took away from Ndamukong Suh who played just 76% of the game, while Corey Williams also saw a decrease down to 67%. We also saw a lot of changes at defensive back with Amari Spievey and Brandon McDonald missing the game. Aaron Berry came back after missing last week and played 79% of the game, while Vincent Fuller made his first snaps with the Lions defense and ended up playing 45% of the game.
The biggest news for the Bears is Chris Harris is back at safety. While I would’ve expected a lot more rotation, instead we saw Major Wright go to the bench and only get off of it for 10% of snaps. On the defensive line, we saw Henry Melton play 92% of snaps, which was by far the most we’ve seen from him this year. This left Amobi Okoye playing just 20% of the game, and Corey Wootton not playing at all.
Chiefs 28, Colts 24
The Chiefs saw both safety Jon McGraw and Andy Studebaker come back after missing last week. McGraw played the entire game, which left Donald Washington playing just 33% of the game. At outside linebacker Studebaker had been seeing just a handful of snaps each game, but in this game he played 67% of the snaps. Part of this was Cameron Sheffield missing the game, but Justin Houston played just 35% of snaps, which was the lowest for him this season. They also rotated linemen a little more than last week, which is not something fantasy owners want to hear.
At defensive tackle with both Eric Foster and Drake Nevis out, we saw Fili Moala come back after not playing since Week 2, and playing 64% of the game while 2010 seventh round pick Ricardo Mathews saw his first snaps of the season with 35% of snaps. This week was also the first time Ernie Sims saw time on the field with 29% of snaps, which left Kavell Conner only playing 71% of snap which is unfortunate for Conner owners who got used to him playing every down.
Chargers 29, Broncos 24
There was only one significant change, as Quentin Jammer returned from his injury and play 94% of the game, which sent Marcus Gilchrist back to the bench. All other slight changes to snap counts came from a slight increase to nickel defenses.
While the Chargers paragraph was very short, we’ll make up for it with the Broncos. Champ Bailey returned from injury and played every down at cornerback. Jonathan Wilhite who had been taking a large part of those snaps didn’t play at all. The other big news was rookie Von Miller who had been playing most of the game only played 51% of the snaps, as he was taken out of the nickel defense in favor of Mario Haggan who ended up playing 54% of snaps. At safety Brian Dawkins suffered an injury, which left Quinton Carter stepping in for him and playing 74% of snaps. On the defensive line, in his second game back Elvis Dumervil increased to 87% of snaps. Making his first snaps of the season was Marcus Thomas who played 46% of this game.
Saints 30, Panthers 27
The majority of players in New Orleans saw the same portion of snaps as last week. The biggest differences was Scott Shanle went up from 71% of snaps to 89%, Patrick Robinson went down from every snap to 87%, and Tom Johnson in his second game went down to 31%.
After injuring himself in Week 3, Chris Gamble returned and played every down. On the defensive line Antwan Applewhite made his debut with the Panthers and played 48% of the game at defensive end. Part of this was due do Thomas Williams, George Selvie and R.J. Stanford all not playing on the defense this week. The other part was Darius Butler decreasing his playing time to 51%. With so much nickel defense, we also saw less of Dan Connor who only played 49% of snaps. Part way into the game Omar Gaither got hurt, and while he is out we should see more of Jason Williams who played 41% of snaps this week.
© 2025 PFF - all rights reserved.