49ers 25, Lions 19
After making the first start of his carrer; Ricky Jean-Francois wasn’t in this game. Isaac Sopoaga returned, but only played 23% of the game as the 49ers used a lot more multiple defensive back sets than usual. They basically had the same lineup every play, with 11 players playing 76% of snaps or more, and only having five backups. Outside of nose tackle, the biggest change was in Aldon Smith, who has slowly received more snaps and was up to 76% in this game.
After missing a week and a half’s worth of games, Amari Spivey returned to safety and played 90% of snaps. After playing 27% of snaps last week, Bobby Carpenter rebounded and played 71% this time around. Outside of that, the biggest change was at defensive end, where Lawrence Jackson saw his most time with 51% of snaps after usually playing between 35%-40%, while Kyle Vanden Bosch typically plays between 60-65%, but just played 49%.
Packers 24, Rams 3
The biggest change for the Packers was the return of Frank Zombo after missing the start of the season with an injury. This meant he and Erik Walden split time with Walden receiving 56% of snaps while Zombo had 44%. On the defensive line, the Packers used more two line fronts, so we saw around an 8% decrease for B.J. Raji, Jarius Wynn and Ryan Pickett. On the other hand, C.J. Wilson went up to 38% of snaps which is the highest he has seen.
The big changes included Bradley Fletcher and Ben Leber not playing. In their place, Al Harris played every down at cornerback while Josh Gordy had his first ever defensive snaps and played 56% of the game as the nickel cornerback. Chris Chamberlain took the starting linebacker job, and played 76% of the game. The other big change came at defensive end, where Chris Long and James Hall both played over 90% of snaps, while Robert Quinn was down to 33% and Eugene Sims down to 27%.
Eagles 20, Redskins 13
The major change was Kurt Coleman was the starting safety instead of Jarrad Page. At linebacker Brian Rolle continued to see his role increase, and this week was up to 95% of snaps. There was also a slight change at defensive end, where Jason Babin was down to 70% of snaps which was the lowest for him since Week 1, while Darryl Tapp was up to 67% of snaps which was the highest for him this year.
Every single player was within 4% of snaps from Week 4 to Week 6 as the Redskins were on a bye in Week 5. They are clearly happy on how they use their players, so we’ll move on.
Falcons 31, Panthers 17
Luckily for Atlanta, John Abraham was back and ready to go. He played 73% of snaps which was close to typical for him, which led to a slight decrease for Ray Edwards down to 77%, and a big drop for Kroy Biermann back down to 50%. Defensive backs James Sanders and Chris Owens didn’t play, which left William Moore at safety and Kelvin Hayden increasing to 63% of snaps as the nickel cornerback.
The Panthers have seen so many linebackers go down with injuries, and Omar Gaither joined the list last week. In his place was Thomas Williams who played 35% of the game. The Panthers introduced two of their rookies to the regular season, with seventh round pick Frank Kearse playing 21% of snaps at defensive tackle, and fifth round pick Jermale Hines playing 18% of snaps at safety once Sherrod Martin and Jordan Pugh both had injuries. Linebacker Jason Phillips also saw his first snaps, playing 16% of the game at linebacker.
Bears 39, Vikings 10
The Bears are still looking for the right pair of safeties. Last week it was Brandon Meriweather and Chris Harris, and this week it was Major Wright and Chris Conte. In the past they rotated safeties in and out, but these two weeks the safeties played basically the entire game. Second round pick Stephen Paea saw his first snaps with the defense getting 55% of snaps. Amobi Okoye saw an increase as well, back up to 54% after a down week last week. In their place, Henry Melton was down to 57% after playing 92% of the game last week, and Matt Toeaina not playing. At defensive end, free agent rookie Mario Addison was the backup defensive end instead of Nick Reed.
This week E.J. Henderson got the snaps in the nickel defense back from Erin Henderson. E.J. played 89% of the snaps, which is the most he’s had since Week 3, while Erin was down to 48%. At the safety spot opposite Husain Abdullah, Jamarca Sanford played 60% of the game while Tyrell Johnson had the other 40%. There was a lot less of Everson Griffen on the defensive line, which led to slight increases by most linemen, and the biggest change came from Remi Ayodele who played 37% of the snaps.
Buccaneers 26, Saints 20
The Buccaneers defense looked very different this week compared to last. At defensive end, both Michael Bennett and Adrian Clayborn both played over 80% of snaps for the first time for either of them this season. George Johnson made his debut with the defense, and played 20% of snaps at end. At linebacker, Quincy Black returned and played 69% of snaps, which left Dekoda Watson playing just 9%. Mason Foster was down to just 34% as he’s not 100% healthy yet and the Buccaneers used multiple defensive back sets for the majority of the game. At defensive back, Sean Jones, Ronde Barber and Aqib Talib were all back to playing every down, while Tanard Jackson returned after his yearlong suspension to play 87% at the other safety spot which left Corey Lynch barely playing. Players who played last week and not this week included Gerald McCoy, Larry Asante, Myron Lewis and Anthony Gaitor.
For the Saints, the biggest change was Tracy Porter returned to the starting lineup and played 96% of snaps, which meant Patrick Robinson was down to 35%. The Saints also put in Junior Galette when they wanted a pass rusher instead of Turk McBride. Galette played 31% of the game, while McBride was down to 8%. There was a lot less of Sedrick Ellis than we are used to, while he played a season low 68% of snaps.
Giants 27, Bills 24
In his third game game, Osi Umenyiora played 80% of the snaps which was the most for the defensive linemen. Linebacker Jacquian Williams who saw his snaps double in Week 5 with 93% of snaps went down to 76% which is still higher than where he was at. Linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka saw a big decrease in snaps in Week 5 with only playing half the game, but he was back up to 69% of snaps this week. Losing snaps to Umenyiora and Kiwanuka was Dave Tollefson who played just half the game.
The Bills defense is hurting, with Kyle Williams, Shawne Merriman and Reggie Corner all missing this game. In the front seven, Marcell Dareus saw his snaps increase to 94%, Dwan Edwards to 89%, Spencer Johnson to 87% and Kellen Heard to 56%. A lot of this was also because the Bills used less dimes defenses than usual. This week was also the return of Terrence McGee, who has been a big IDP star in the past. He played 89% of the game, which left Leodis McKelvin playing just 32% of the game. At middle linebacker, the Bills opted to use third round pick Kelvin Sheppard more, with 55% of snaps, while Andra Davis played just 11%. This change could be permanent, which means Davis likes won’t see much time going forward.
Patriots 20, Cowboys 16
For once the Patriots defense was relatively stable from one week to another. Free agent addition Andre Carter has played a surprisingly high amount of snaps, and this week he was up to playing 92% of the game. Most of his increase was at the expense of Mark Anderson who played just 12% of the game. Everything else stayed close to the same as last week.
The Cowboys defense is easy to follow, as eight players played at least 89% of the game. After not playing for the past month, Orlando Scandrick returned and played 91% of the game which left Alan Ball just playing 11%. After playing the same number of snaps as Bradie James last week; Keith Brooking was up to playing half the game at inside linebacker while James played just 18% of the game.
Steelers 17, Jaguars 13
The Steelers were again without Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton and James Harrison. The Steelers continued to use Lawrence Timmons at outside linebacker, while Larry Foote played 71% of the game at inside linebacker which was by far the most we’ve seen from him. In his second game back, Brett Keisel was up to 92% of snaps, while Cameron Heyward was down to 12%. The Steelers also decided to let Steve McLendon play more at nose tackle, as he was up to 45% of snaps, while Chris Hoke went down to 17%.
Week 6 saw two returns for the team. Defensive end Aaron Kampman played 32% of snaps in his first game of the 2011 season, while fellow pass rusher Matt Roth played just 59%. At linebacker Clint Session missed the game, so Russell Allen started and played half of the game. Outside of that, most players played roughly the same amount as last week.
Jets 24, Dolphins 6
For the Bart Scott owners who were worried after last week; fear not. He played 94% of snaps this week which is more than any other week this year. On the other hand, Sione Pouha and Mike Devito only played half the game which is still lower than they are used to. Part of this was because third round pick Kenrick Ellis made his debut and played 28% of the game. Linebacker Aaron Maybin played more than we are used to seeing, with 31% of snaps, which is likely due to the injury to Bryan Thomas two weeks ago. In general the defensive backs played a lot less because the Dolphins aren’t the Patriots.
While it didn’t make much of a difference on the scoreboard; seeing players return from injuries was a good sign. Vontae Davis missed two games, and played 98% of games which was the most for him this year. Linebacker Koa Misi missed one game and played 58% which is close to typical for him, and Tony McDaniel hadn’t played since Week 1 played 42% in this game. On the line, Phillip Merlin didn’t play to give McDaniel those snaps, while Jason Taylor was down to 23% of snaps. Finally Nolan Carroll who had started the previous two games didn’t play to make room for Davis.
Bengals 27, Colts 17
The major noteworthy snap count information in Cincinnati is Rey Maualuga missed the game. Thomas Howard who had played every snap this season played just two thirds of the game, and Manny Lawson was down to 30%. In their place, Brandon Johnson played 72% of the game after playing just 3% last week, and Dan Skuta played 62% after just 10% last week. Basically the linebacker situation which had been very clear cut is now a mess.
Returning to the defensive tackle was a familiar face; Daniel Muir. The biggest decrease in snaps was then Antonio Johnson who was down to 38% of snaps which was the lowest he has seen. At linebacker Philip Wheeler continued to see a steady increase in snaps. There isn’t much higher he can go, as he played in 87% of snaps. The biggest decrease in a non-defensive back was in Dwight Freeney, who just played 55% of snaps.
Raiders 24, Browns 17
The Raiders made a trade for former first round pick Aaron Curry, and in his first game as a Raider he played 30% of the game. On the other hand Quentin Groves didn’t play at all, and the Raiders used more multiple defensive back sets which had its effect on the rest of the snaps of the defense. Because Curry was in the starting lineup, he should get more snaps when the Raiders use more of their base defense.
The Browns were without Joe Haden in this game, which left Dimitri Patterson as the starter and Buster Skrine as the nickel corner. At linebacker, Kaluka Maiava played his first snaps since Week 1 and played 20% of the game, which left Scott Fujita playing just 74% of the game compared to playing every down like he is used to. As a backup defensive end Auston English saw 13% of snaps instead of Marcus Benard who didn’t play at all. Undrafted rookie James Dockery played his first snaps ever on defense with 4 snaps.
Ravens 29, Texans 14
Baltimore had Bernard Pollard play 100% of snaps at safety for the second straight week with Tom Zbikowski still out. Outside of that, Haloti Ngata was up to 86% of snaps, while Pernell McPhee saw his role increase to play 44% of snaps. Outside of that, Dannell Ellerbe and Haruki Nakamura both played their first snaps after not playing last week, but were very limited in time. Fifth round pick Chykie Brown played his first snap on defense, although it was on a last second bomb to end the half.
With Mario Williams out for the season, Brooks Reed got his first ever start and played every snap. After missing two weeks, Kareem Jackson returned to the starting lineup and played every down except in the goal line defense; which left Jason Allen only playing a snap. At defensive end, J.J. Watt saw his role continue to decrease with just 61% of snaps, while the rest of the defensive line saw slight increases.
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