According to the NFL’s official player participation information, here’s how the Tennessee Titans lined up in yesterday’s 16-14 win against the Jaguars:
Offense (58 total)
QB: Charlie Whitehurst 58
RB/FB: Bishop Sankey 29, Dexter McCluster 17, Leon Washington 12, Jackie Battle 8
TE: Delanie Walker 51, Chase Coffman 10, Brett Brackett 9
WR: Justin Hunter 54, Kendall Wright 45, Nate Washington 42, Derek Hagan 4
OL: Andy Levitre 58, Taylor Lewan 58, Michael Oher 58, Brian Schwenke 58, Chance Warmack 58
Other: Karl Klug 1
Defense (77 total)
DL: Jurrell Casey 57, Sammie Hill 45, Ropati Pitoitua 33, Mike Martin 25, Karl Klug 13, Al Woods 11
OLB: Derrick Morgan 68, Shaun Phillips 47, Kamerion Wimbley 33, Quentin Groves 6
ILB: Avery Williamson 58, Wesley Woodyard 49
CB: Jason McCourty 76, Blidi Wreh-Wilson 76, Marqueston Huff 54
S: Michael Griffin 77, George Wilson 71, Daimion Stafford 48
James Anderson, Beau Brinkley, Zaviar Gooden, and Brandon Harris each only appeared on special teams. Kris Durham, active for the first time this year, and Zach Mettenberger were both active but did not appear in the game.
Notes and observations:
1. This is the fourth consecutive game Bishop Sankey has led all Titans backs in snaps. That sounds like heavy usage, until you also note he’s only played 42% of the snaps in those four games. Even in this game, when he was the only real halfback for under center carries, he only played half the time. ICYMI, the Titans are really serious about this being a major running back committee.
2. One day, perhaps Craig Stevens and Taylor Thompson will return and the Titans can play 12 personnel more regularly, and with greater versatility. Instead, I think they’re probably pretty defined with their usage and play-calling.
3. The wide receiver distribution of snaps was pretty much the same as last week, so I’m ready to assume something at least vaguely similar going forward. Kris Durham nearly got a snap, then the play didn’t happen.
4. Defensive line rotation was mostly the same as last week, except Karl Klug and Al Woods played about a dozen fewer snaps than last week. There was not a correspondent increase in the snaps of other defensive linemen, as the Titans spent more time this game with fewer defensive linemen on the field.
5. Minor change in the outside linebacker rotation, as Shaun Phillips played more snaps than Kamerion Wimbley for the first time this season. Snaps had been relatively close at times before (31-27 in the opener, for instance), but Wimbley had always played more. No, this was not strictly an effect of Wimbley’s injury late in the game-even up to that point, Phillips had played more snaps.
6. The inside linebacker battle seems to have been decided, with as I suspected Zaviar Gooden not appearing on defense and Avery Williamson playing plenty. With Wesley Woodyard, one thing to wonder about is whether he has an undisclosed injury, especially after getting his right ankle looked at during yesterday’s game.
7. Brandon Harris, 42 to 0 snaps. Marqueston Huff, 10 to 54 snaps. Yes, this represents a change in how the Titans wanted to play nickel. Jaguars WR3 Allen Hurns played 49 snaps, for that watch.
8. As I thought was likely to happen, George Wilson played in almost all situations as Bernard Pollard’s replacement. He did that while continuing to play his dime linebacker role, though I’ll have to pay attention on a rewatch to see just how much Daimion Stafford was playing up like Pollard would.
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