Bengals snap count takeaways vs. Broncos

Two big things stood out.

The most interesting takeaway from this week’s snap counts for the Cincinnati Bengals is the linebacker position.

Against the Denver Broncos, only two linebackers took snaps on defense, which is a bit of a surprise. The real surprise was that it was Akeem Davis-Gaither, not Germaine Pratt, who took all of the snaps. Davis-Gaither played 60 snaps, while Pratt played 50.

Pratt has been a starter since his rookie season in 2019. He has faced some criticism this year over missed tackles and an apparent decline in his movement skills. However, he has a career-high 137 tackles for the season with one game to go. The coaching staff’s support of him has been unwavering.

Davis-Gaither only made four starts prior to stepping in for the injured Logan Wilson this season. Most of his previous starts came against the Baltimore Ravens when Lou Anarumo shifted to more of a traditional 4-3 defense to defend the option. Davis-Gaither has long been a fan-favorite who many saw as underutilized.

Pratt played well against the Broncos. In addition to his key interception, he had seven tackles on the day. Davis-Gaither had six of his own. Was it simply a matter of leaving the more athletic Davis-Gaither on the field on passing downs while bringing in a defensive back for Pratt, or is there more to it than that? Could this be an indication that the coaching staff is less confident in Pratt? Or are they getting higher on Davis-Gaither?

Pratt’s 83% is the second-lowest percentage of snaps he has taken all year. Even when Wilson was healthy, Pratt took 90% or more of the snaps in all but one game. Since Wilson’s injury, Pratt has taken 100% of snaps in all but one game. The only exception was last week when Maema Njongmeta was given a late look.

Tee Higgins was questionable for this game. Reportedly, he wasn’t heavily involved in the initial game plan but told Zac Taylor it was too big of a game for him to miss. Then he went out there and caught 11 of 12 targets for 131 yards and three touchdowns. Would you believe it if I told you he was on a snap count?

Tee always gets WR2 snaps. His reps are usually closer to Ja’Marr Chase’s than Andrei Iosivas’s, and anyone else who played did so sparingly. This week, Chase took 88 of 90 snaps, Iosivas took 71, and Higgins took only 62.

For perspective, this means Higgins was targeted about once every five snaps. He scored a touchdown once every 21 snaps and averaged over two yards per snap. That’s insane.

Of course, “tight end” Mike Gesicki had 10 receptions for 86 yards on 12 targets in only 51 snaps. He had a reception once every five snaps as well and was targeted almost once every four snaps. No touchdowns and a lot fewer yards for Gesicki, but still impressive.

Drew Sample, a very different type of tight end (notice the lack of quotation marks), took 55 snaps and had one catch for 3 yards.

Bengals vs. Broncos Snap Counts