According to the NFL’s official player participation information, here’s how the Tennessee Titans lined up in yesterday’s 14-13 loss to the Buffalo Bills:
Offense (69 total)
QB: Marcus Mariota: 69
RB/FB: Dexter McCluster 30, Bishop Sankey 23, Antonio Andrews 18, Jalston Fowler 7
WR: Kendall Wright 51, Harry Douglas 41, Justin Hunter 40, Dorial Green-Beckham 18
TE: Delanie Walker 49, Anthony Fasano 40, Craig Stevens 27
OL: Byron Bell 69, Jamon Meredith 69, Jeremiah Poutasi 69, Brian Schwenke 69, Taylor Lewan 65, Quinton Spain 4
Other: Karl Klug 1
Defense (53 total)
DL: Jurrell Casey 42, DaQuan Jones 36, Al Woods 26, Karl Klug 15, Angelo Blackson 13, Ropati Pitoitua 2
OLB: Derrick Morgan 49, Brian Orakpo 49, David Bass 4, Deiontrez Mount 4
ILB: Avery Williamson 47, Wesley Woodyard 29, Zach Brown 15, Steven Johnson 5
CB: Perrish Cox 53, Jason McCourty 53, Coty Sensabaugh 25
S: Michael Griffin 53, Da’Norris Searcy 53, Daimion Stafford 10
Beau Brinkley, Marqueston Huff, Phillip Supernaw, and Blidi Wreh-Wilson each only appeared on special teams. Zach Mettenberger was active but did not appear in the game.
Notes:
1. Fourth game of the year, fourth game there was at least a 15 snap disparity between offensive and defensive snaps, and keep in mind Buffalo’s total includes the three kneeldowns at the end of the game. Until it happens, I’m going to keep repeating that, eventually, some week, the Titans will play a reasonable and average and relatively close number of snaps on both offense or defense. It will happen. Really. This week was the defense not having to play a lot, so backups didn’t play a lot.
2. This is the third straight game Dexter McCluster has led all Titans backs in snaps, and the second game in a row where events on the field have not obviously justified that. I freely admit I did not see that coming this year. This was not a Jalston Fowler game.
3. For all of you clamoring for more DGB snaps after the bye week, you got your wish as he went from 14 (in an 82-snap game) to 18 (of 69). From 9 to 13 to 14 to 18 in the four games. Next up, throwing him the ball more often (1 target against the Bills, which drew a pass interference penalty).
4. I think this is the new reality for Delanie Walker: he actually gets to leave the field from time to time. He spent the last half-plus of last season playing over 90% of the time most weeks. That was probably mostly out of necessity after the Craig Stevens and Taylor Thompson injuries. This year, more depth, so more rest. At his age, I like it. He’s still getting thrown the ball a fair amount, ranking second to Kendall Wright in targets once you adjust for the game he missed.
5. I continually had the Titans keeping nine offensive linemen in part because I hate the idea of in-game position moves, like the Titans had to do again this week when Taylor Lewan again missed time. But of course Bob Bostad doesn’t listen to me. This time, it was Quinton Spain who got to go in at guard, not Andy Gallik. You think you learn something about the pecking order, and then it goes and changes…
6. Again, few defensive snaps relatively speaking, so the core people played a lot and the backups didn’t play much. That makes it easy to see trends, like that the Titans primarily matched up to Buffalo in base personnel defense, thus more snaps for Al Woods than for Karl Klug.
7. The optimistic school of thought about the Titans’ inside linebackers this season was that Avery Williamson was an emerging young player and Zach Brown would finally start to translate his physical gifts to the field. The pessimistic school of that was Williamson still had a lot of holes in his game, Brown had not yet started to tap his potential, and this group could be a liability. What the Titans did this week, pulling Williamson off the field some and benching Brown, tells me they were leaning more towards the pessimistic side.
8. Nickelback question decisively answered, with Coty Sensabaugh the man. Weekly watch: Sensabaugh 25 snaps, opposing WR3 Chris Hogan 23 snaps.
9. Another sign of the Titans’ issues at inside linebacker, or perhaps instead more confidence in their defensive back depth with Jason McCourty back, was more dime. They played it a little against the Colts, and Daimion Stafford was out there with Coty Sensabaugh on the first third-and-long against the Bills. Stafford’s 10 snaps were his most since Week 1 against the Buccaneers, when he played 21, all after Da’Norris Searcy left the game.
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