The biggest takeaway from this week’s snap counts comes from the cornerback position. After getting juked out of his jock early in the game, Cam Taylor-Britt was benched. When I say early, I mean early.
Taylor-Britt only played five snaps before being sat down for the night. DJ Turner took all 81 defensive snaps, and Dax Hill and Josh Newton rounded out the group with 64 snaps. Marco Wilson and D.J. Ivey joined Taylor-Britt in the single digits.
While Logan Wilson may be giving up some reps to rookie Barrett Carter, he is still clearly established with the first unit. Wilson’s 65 snaps trailed only rookie Demetrius Knight (71) and were only a small margin. Carter (20) had the fourth most snaps among linebackers, with Oren Burks (26) sliding into the third slot.
When the Bengals added veteran defensive tackle Mike Pennel, coaches said they expected him to get about 22 snaps per game. At the time, it seemed like an arbitrary number based more on alliteration than anything else, but after this week’s game, Pennel has played exactly 22 snaps in three of his four games with the club. Apparently, that number was not approximate or random. Indeed, it appears to be as valid and reliable as Fulton’s 1 out of 5 in The Mighty Ducks.
The rest of the defensive tackle group is also relatively consistent in terms of snap percentage, but all three saw their highest volume of snaps for the year on Monday night. B.J. Hill led the way with 52 snaps. T.J. Slaton took 45 snaps and Kris Jenkins played 41 snaps. The defense was out there for 81 total snaps and nearly 38 minutes of game time. Put that together with the thin mountain air, and you can see why they had little left in the tank by the end of the night.
Conversely, the offense only played 48 snaps. Quarterback Jake Browning and the starting offensive line played all 48 snaps. The three primary wide receivers (Ja’Marr Chase, Andrei Iosivas, and Tee Higgins) all played over 40 snaps, and running back Chase Brown played 35 snaps.
Even the normally interesting tight end position was a snooze fest. With Noah Fant sidelined by a concussion, Mike Gesicki took 27 snaps, and Drew Sample took 22 snaps.
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