Snap Counts on defense are revealing

[charron]

You know it might take Quinn a few games to really see what these guys do well and how best to use them and that's normal.

 

[JohnsKey19]

This makes me wonder as the season progresses, will LVE be offered in a trade if another team has serious LB issues?

At this point, the team should just wait and hope he signs a nice contract with another team and get the comp pick.

 

[ChuckA1]

If you want to know who the coaches think are your best players and gives us the best chance to win- look at the snap counts after each game.

Let’s look at last night’s defensive snap counts and what they tell us about improving this D:
SNAP COUNT NUMBERS

• Defensive line-
  • DeMarcus Lawrence- 43 snaps- (66% of all def plays)
  • Randy Gregory- 37 snaps (57%)
  • Osa Odighuizua- 36 snaps (55%)
  • Carlos Watkins- 30 snaps (46%)
  • Brent Urban- 28 snaps (43%)
  • Dorance Armstrong- 27 snaps (42%)
  • Terrell Basham- 24snaps (37%)
  • Quinton Bohannon- 20 snaps (31%)
  • Bradley Anae-10 snaps (15%)
• Linebackers
  • Micah Parsons- 51 snaps (78%)
  • Keanu Neal- 50 snaps (77%)
  • Jaylon Smith- 16 snaps (25%)
  • LVE- 14 snaps (22%)
  • Jabril Cox- 1 snap (1%)
• Secondary
  • Trevon Diggs- 65 snaps (100%)
  • Anthony Brown- 65 snaps (100%)
  • Donovan Wilson- 55 snaps (85%)
  • D Kazee -52 snaps (80%)
  • Jourdan Lewis - 49 snaps (75%)
  • Javon Kearse - 40 snaps (62%)
  • M Canady - 2 snaps (3%)

So….what does this tell us?

1. The Cowboys feel better about having Parsons and Neal on the field than LVE and Jaylon.
2. The DL rotations are certainly in flux.
3. For all the ps hype about Nashon Wright and Jabril Cox, they played a grand total of 1 snap between them. That may change as the year progresses.​

Great post Bob. This is very helpful info in understanding what the coaches are thinking as of the first game.

 

[conner01]

Thx Bob. Snap counts for LVE and number 9 don't bode well for their future here. I bet Cox snaps steadily increase moving forward.

I don’t think they mean that much
They rotated the LB’s in a set manner depending on what the offense was suppose to be doing
The pkg will be LVE and Cox by season end once Cox gets more experience and may even change more when you play a better run team

 

[Runwildboys]

No he was not ....... Tank was

Oh crap, sorry. For some reason when I read that, I thought DLaw, not Gregory. My bad.

 

[conner01]

At this point, the team should just wait and hope he signs a nice contract with another team and get the comp pick.

If you don’t play him he’s not getting a fat contract for sure
He and Cox should be the two in that rotation and probably will be as Cox gets more experience later this season

 

[cowboys1981]

Anae had no business being in their on that final drive while Lawrence was out up until that big pass was completed at the end.

 

[ChuckA1]

This D will only get better with a Vea type DT. Maybe next year.

 

[zrinkill]

Oh crap, sorry. For some reason when I read that, I thought DLaw, not Gregory. My bad.

No prob

 

[Malhavoc]

If you think AB was bad against AB. AB would have gone for 200 yds against Wright.

Wright ain’t worse than Brown. And the sooner they decide to put someone else on the outside the better.

 

[Bobhaze]

Wright ain’t worse than Brown. And the sooner they decide to put someone else on the outside the better.

Coaches play the players they think give us the best chance to win. If they thought Nashon Wright gave us a better chance to win, he would be in there. Maybe later in the season- but right now Brown is ahead of him on the depth chart for a reason.

 

[Malhavoc]

Coaches play the players they think give us the best chance to win. If they thought Nashon Wright gave us a better chance to win, he would be in there. Maybe later in the season- but right now Brown is ahead of him on the depth chart for a reason.

Canady, Lewis, anybody is better than Brown on the outside. His only shot of offering anything to this team is in the slot. If they think that Brown is their best option then that is disturbing.

 

[kumizi]

• Osa Odighuizua- 36 snaps (55%)
• Carlos Watkins- 30 snaps (46%)
• Brent Urban- 28 snaps (43%)
• Dorance Armstrong- 27 snaps (42%)
• Terrell Basham- 24snaps (37%)
• Quinton Bohannon- 20 snaps (31%)

I thought our secondary was bad going into the season but the D-line might be worse. The above list doesnt even include Gregory who didnt do anything.

The Cowboys are always one really good draft away from being contenders. The problem is they usually blow the 2nd and 3rd round picks and by the next draft, there are even more needs.

Best case scenario I can see is that both Gregory and Gallimore become impact players as the season goes on and we trade for a Corner. Lots of wishing and hoping.

 

[Bobhaze]

Canady, Lewis, anybody is better than Brown on the outside. His only shot of offering anything to this team is in the slot. If they think that Brown is their best option then that is disturbing.

I’m not sure that “anyone is better than Brown”…at least with our other corners. Look we played arguably a top three set of receivers. It’s one game. Antonio Brown has made a career out of making lots of corners look bad. Let’s see what more evidence shows. It’s been one game.

Anthony Brown is not an All Pro. Never has, never will be. But he has been competent. When I look at who is behind him on the depth chart, I don’t feel any confidence.

 

[Malhavoc]

• Osa Odighuizua- 36 snaps (55%)
• Carlos Watkins- 30 snaps (46%)
• Brent Urban- 28 snaps (43%)
• Dorance Armstrong- 27 snaps (42%)
• Terrell Basham- 24snaps (37%)
• Quinton Bohannon- 20 snaps (31%)

I thought our secondary was bad going into the season but the D-line might be worse. The above list doesnt even include Gregory who didnt do anything.

The great Tampa Dline looked a hot mess. Didn’t look much better than our group.

 

[kumizi]

The great Tampa Dline looked a hot mess. Didn’t look much better than our group.

All four of their starters have a track record of being very good players.

And Vita Vea was destroying everyone in his path in the 4th quarter.

 

[Malhavoc]

All four of their starters have a track record of being very good players.

And Vita Vea was destroying everyone in his path in the 4th quarter.

And yet as a group they looked bad and let Dak throw for over 400 yards. Vea has a couple plays where he overpowered our guys. But for all their talent they didn’t fair much better than our JAGS.

 

[Malhavoc]

I’m not sure that “anyone is better than Brown”…at least with our other corners. Look we played arguably a top three set of receivers. It’s one game. Antonio Brown has made a career out of making lots of corners look bad. Let’s see what more evidence shows. It’s been one game.

Anthony Brown is not an All Pro. Never has, never will be. But he has been competent. When I look at who is behind him on the depth chart, I don’t feel any confidence.

He’s not competent. Lewis doesn’t have his speed but he has better technique and feel for the position. And far better ball skills. And I’m not saying Lewis is the answer but he can’t be worse. That TD he gave up it could have been any NFL WR. As soon as they came off the LOS he was just about done. His lack of technique is pretty startling.

 

[RonWashington]

Agreed. It amazes me that our 2016 second round LB and our 2018 first round LB played about 25% of last night’s game. If we want to know why our defense has to be rebuilt there’s a start.

Jourdan Lewis had 5th highest snaps of secondary personnel yet had an INT and a fumble recovery , one in the end zone one right around the end zone . Man needs more snaps Anthony Brown less .

 

[stinkface]

He’s not competent. Lewis doesn’t have his speed but he has better technique and feel for the position. And far better ball skills. And I’m not saying Lewis is the answer but he can’t be worse. That TD he gave up it could have been any NFL WR. As soon as they came off the LOS he was just about done. His lack of technique is pretty startling.

Everyone talks about Browns speed, but the reality is if almost any receiver gets a step on him it's over. His playing speed must be much much worse then his timed speed.