According to the NFL’s official player participation information, here’s how the Tennessee Titans lined up in yesterday’s 34-28 win over the New Orleans Saints:
Offense (71 total)
QB: Marcus Mariota 71
RB/FB: Antonio Andrews 45, Dexter McCluster 29, Jalston Fowler 8
WR: Harry Douglas 59, Dorial Green-Beckham 48, Justin Hunter 40
TE: Delanie Walker 47, Craig Stevens 40, Anthony Fasano 34, Phillip Supernaw 8
OL: Byron Bell 71, Andy Gallik 71, Taylor Lewan 71, Joe Looney 71, Chance Warmack 71
Defense (76 total)
DL: Jurrell Casey 57, DaQuan Jones 53, Al Woods 40, Karl Klug 21, Angelo Blackson 20, Sammie Hill 15
OLB: Brian Orakpo 72, Derrick Morgan 59, David Bass 22
ILB: Avery Williamson 76, Wesley Woodyard 35, Zach Brown 26
CB: Coty Sensabaugh 73, Cody Riggs 54, Perrish Cox 33, B.W. Webb 18
S: Michael Griffin 74, Da’Norris Searcy 70, Daimion Stafford 18
Beau Brinkley, Marqueston Huff, Steven Johnson, Jamon Meredith, Rico Richardson, and Justin Staples each only appeared on special teams. Zach Mettenberger, Jeremiah Poutasi, and Bishop Sankey did not appear in the game.
Notes and whatnot:
1. This is the first time since Week 1 Dexter McCluster did not lead all Titans running backs in snaps.
2. When Justin Hunter played more snaps than Harry Douglas did in Week 6 against the Dolphins, I wondered if that represented the start of a change in the pecking order, that Douglas’s lousy production (23 targets, 81 yards coming into the Saints game) was starting to see him lose playing time. Apparently not, at least when you’re the only reliable member of the receiving corps.
3. In a different week, I might write about Dorial Green-Beckham’s week. A season-high in snaps, though partly that’s the Titans playing their most offensive snaps since they had 82 Week 3 against the Colts. Thankfully Cian Fahey will be writing about DGB this week, so I’ll try to link to that in a future post and will be sure to plug it on Twitter.
4. Titans averaged 2.07 WR snaps per play, their lowest total since Week 3’s 2.06/play. The Colts game was more of a 2-back contest (Jalston Fowler had 19 snaps), and that plus the game script (Indy came back late, but the Titans weren’t down early like they were against New Orleans) meant less 11 personnel, which had really taken over the last three games of the Whisenhunt era. 1.77 TE snaps per play was the highest since Week 1, where the numbers are kind of worthless because they spent most of the second half in 22 personnel content to take time off the clock.
5. After Fowler played 8 snaps, it seems possible the Titans will continue to see some games as 2-back games and some games as not 2-back games.
6. More disappointing “active but did not appear in the game on either offense or special teams,” Bishop Sankey or Jeremiah Poutasi? To me, it’s clearly Sankey, since he was a higher pick and backs rotate more than offensive linemen do. I just thought it would be Jamon Meredith at left guard instead of Joe Looney, since it didn’t seem to make much sense to play Poutasi there after he’d spent his entire Titans tenure practicing at right tackle. A third-round pick who doesn’t play as a rookie at a position you don’t rotate is not that big a deal. If this were his second season, that’s another thing. If he were in his fourth season and he didn’t even dress at all, he’d be Mike Martin.
7. I wondered if the Saints would try to spread the Titans out, but instead they stuck to a lot of 2-TE sets of their own, thus DaQuan Jones and Al Woods in the Jurrell Casey neighborhood for snaps and Karl Klug down around 21.
8. Derrick Morgan’s shoulder injury and the high snap count in general meant the most playing time for David Bass since he played 25 snaps in Week 1, most of that in the ending “backups, here’s your chance” part of the game. I really would like to see the Titans find another backup outside linebacker, because I worry a lot about Brian Orakpo. He’s meant a lot to the defense, and I’d like to see him as effective as he can be for 16 games.
9. Wesley Woodyard had 6 tackles (I don’t count tackle assists), matching Michael Griffin’s team-leading total in less than half as many snaps. When he is in the game, he is making tackles. On a per-snap basis, Zach Brown’s 5 were more than Woodyard managed, but each of Brown’s came after a successful Saints play. Tackle stats are highly context-dependent (Brown’s whiff obviously matters a ton in judging tackling quality), but both of those are things I’ve noticed in past weeks.
10. For injuries mucking up the spirit of the comparison, CB3 Perrish Cox’s 33 snaps match opposing WR3 Marques Colston’s 36 snaps surprisingly well. The Saints were actually surprisingly even in snaps by half, 39 in the first two quarters and 37 in the vesper half.
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