Week 11 Snap counts, usage trends, and roster thoughts

[Chopper0080]

Week 11 snaps in detail

Offense (62 snaps)

Drew Stanton - 62 (100%)

Andre Ellington - 46 (74.2%)
Stepfan Taylor - 13 (21.0%)
Robert Hughes - 8 (12.9%)

Larry Fitzgerald - 56 (90.3%)
Michael Floyd - 56 (90.3%)
John Brown - 44 (71.0%)
Jaron Brown - 9 (14.5%)
Ted Ginn - 6 (9.7%)

John Carlson - 46 (74.2%)
Rob Housler - 15 (24.2%)
Troy Niklas - 11 (17.7%)

Jared Veldheer - 62 (100%)
Ted Larsen - 62 (100%)
Lyle Sendlein - 62 (100%)
Paul Fanaika - 62 (100%)
Bobby Massie - 62 (100%)

Defense (56 snaps)

Calais Campbell - 53 (94.6%)
Tommy Kelly - 40 (71.4%)
Dan Williams - 18 (32.1%)
Frostee Rucker - 36 (64.3%)
Kareem Martin - 6 (10.7%)
Alemeda Ta'amu - 1 (1.8%)

Larry Foote - 56 (100%)
Alex Okafor - 49 (87.5%)
Sam Acho - 15 (26.8%)
Kevin Minter - 8 (14.3%)
Marcus Benard - 15 (26.8%)

Patrick Peterson - 56 (100%)
Antonio Cromartie - 56 (100%)
Rashad Johnson - 56 (100%)
Deone Bucannon - 48 (85.7%)
Jerraud Powers - 48 (85.7%)
Tyrann Mathieu - 48 (85.7%)
Tony Jefferson - 6 (10.7%)

Trends

1-For I believe the 3rd week in a row, I will start with Alex Okafor. Oak is here to stay. Almost 90% of snaps. 5 of the past 6 games he has played over 80% of snaps, and in all 6, he has played over 75%. He is playing LB and DE. Standing up, hand down. Two sacks this week, 5 sacks in the 8 games he has played this year. When Shaughnessy comes back, Oak isn't getting his snaps reduced, and that is a fact.

2-This team played a dime package pretty much all game. Martin showed why he isn't getting more snaps by making a stupid penalty. With Stinson out, the Cards went with less of a rotation, and instead chose to give more snaps to Campbell, Kelly, and Rucker.

3-I'm curious to see if Taylor's usage increases over the next couple games, or if his 21% of the snaps was more because of Ellington's injuries.

4-I think we can expect to see this type of secondary usage to continue going forward. Yes, we don't play a bunch of throwing teams, but vs Wilson, Kaep, and Smith, more speed at LB by playing Bucannon makes sense.

5-Rooks. John Brown has played over 50% of the game snaps in every game but two. Deone Bucannon has played over 60% of the game snaps in every game but two as well. Nice workload from rookies on a pretty solid roster.

Thoughts

1-2nd week in a row, let's start with the defense. The defense shut a very good offense down. Nice pressure on Stafford throughout the game, nice job of shutting down Golden Tate completely with a combo of coverage guys. Defense played a bunch of games with Stafford, and he struggled. NIce work all around.

2-It is early, but in my opinion, Okafor is rushing the passer better than Abraham was last year. He is consistently getting in the backfield, while not getting pushed around the QB.

3-Our secondary is playing extremely well right now, and you can see it in how they are communicating. They are constantly shifting and moving around, but are rarely out of position. They are driving on the ball which shows they are playing with their eyes on the QB rather than on their man. That shows trust and comfort.

4-"Interior OL is a glaring issue every week, and isn't something that gets solved with keeping more guys into block. We will struggle with the Rams interior defensive line. That was from last week, and it isn't changing folks. We will struggle with the Lions interior defensive line." Wrong. Offensive line played pretty well.

5-I'm sad to see Niklas aggravating his high ankle sprain. I was excited when I saw Niklas getting snaps early, but that obviously didn't last. I wonder if he will sit on inactive list or if they will IR him for the rest of the year.

6-We saw the defense that you can count on us playing vs Philly, Green Bay, Detroit, New Orleans, Seattle, and probably Kaep. And in the Super Bowl if we are playing Denver, New England, or Indy. 6 DBs with Campbell, Foote, and Okafor rarely coming off the field. Our best grouping if you ask me.

7-Looking forward, what Keim does with our defense will be interesting. Cro will likely price himself out of AZ, but his size, and ability to match up vs TEs at times is pretty unique. I like Powers, but he doesn't offer that ability, and it helps our defense be more versatile. Again, I don't believe we will be able to re-sign Cro, but I do believe we will look to add someone who offers similar versatility. Same with Tommy Kelly and Larry Foote.

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That is all I have this week. If you have other questions, let me know.

 

[kerouac9]

Great stuff as usual, Chopper.

Okafor has to have come as a pleasant surprise to everyone in the organization. Played very little his rookie year and stepped in an has been unexpectedly productive following a ton of time out in the preseason and early in the year. Really fantastic. I've long said that mid-round Longhorn prospects are undervalued. I think that Sam Acho has been a solid player this year, too. I think he deserves a nice Rashard Johnson-type contract extension.

It seemed to me like Niklas actually earned the starting spot this year. Didn't hear that he'd left the game with an injury. That's terrible news, but the latest in an increasingly long line of 2nd round misfires.

The Ghost is not good at football. 8 snaps is big more than halfway through his second season. Ugh.

 

[juza76]

Great stuff as usual, Chopper.

Okafor has to have come as a pleasant surprise to everyone in the organization. Played very little his rookie year and stepped in an has been unexpectedly productive following a ton of time out in the preseason and early in the year. Really fantastic. I've long said that mid-round Longhorn prospects are undervalued. I think that Sam Acho has been a solid player this year, too. I think he deserves a nice Rashard Johnson-type contract extension.

It seemed to me like Niklas actually earned the starting spot this year. Didn't hear that he'd left the game with an injury. That's terrible news, but the latest in an increasingly long line of 2nd round misfires.

The Ghost is not good at football. 8 snaps is big more than halfway through his second season. Ugh.

probably out for the season

 

[Zeno]

So what do we think the game plan against Seattle will be? Stop the run and force Wilson to sit in the pocket and pass? Can we stop their run game (which includes Wilsons scrambles) successfully? Will the team blitz as often knowing that Wilson is pretty quick and agile?

Will Dan Williams get more than 18 snaps this week?

 

[Totally_Red]

I thought John Carlson played his finest game as a Cardinal. He didn't drop a single pass that I saw and did a good job of getting open especially early on. He is one of the targets that Drew Stanton seems to trust. Hopefully the drops are a thing of the past.

I love Jarraud Powers as a nickle back, but don't want to see as the #2 guy playing outside.

It IS great to see Okeafor step up. I still think pass rushing OLB and interior linebackers are at the top of the off-season shopping list.

 

[Chopper0080]

Great stuff as usual, Chopper.

Okafor has to have come as a pleasant surprise to everyone in the organization. Played very little his rookie year and stepped in an has been unexpectedly productive following a ton of time out in the preseason and early in the year. Really fantastic. I've long said that mid-round Longhorn prospects are undervalued. I think that Sam Acho has been a solid player this year, too. I think he deserves a nice Rashard Johnson-type contract extension.

It seemed to me like Niklas actually earned the starting spot this year. Didn't hear that he'd left the game with an injury. That's terrible news, but the latest in an increasingly long line of 2nd round misfires.

The Ghost is not good at football. 8 snaps is big more than halfway through his second season. Ugh.

Yeah, I don't believe anyone saw Okafor doing what he is doing. On IR last year, and started the year injured. Now, he is a key piece on our defense potentially heading into the postseason. And I agree with your mid round Texas LB statement. They may not all turn into stars, but they all seem to stick on rosters, and contribute in some way. I agree that Acho deserves a raise, though he may be a role player which is fine.

If I talked about The Ghost, I would probably agree with you.

 

[football karma]

I thought Niklas leaving at the half was a part of the running game going south

high ankle sprain which means he wont be back for a while

Darren Fells -- its your turn