Injuries across the Detroit Lions roster forced head coach Dan Campbell to ask a lot of his healthy regular starters, and also more than expected from several reserves. It wasn’t always pretty of confidence-inducing, but the Lions delivered in a thrilling 26-23 comeback win.
The snap counts from Detroit’s Week 10 trip to Houston reveal just how strapped for healthy bodies the Lions were in a few spots. It starts on the defense.
Nine defensive starters played at least 58 of the 68 snaps in the game. That includes five iron men:
Safeties Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch
Linebackers Alex Anzalone and Jack Campbell
Cornerback Terrion Arnold
Cornerback Carlton Davis missed three plays after leaving briefly with a minor injury.
Linemen Josh Paschal, Alim McNeill and Levi Onwuzurike all played an absurd amount of snaps for big men thanks to the myriad injuries around them. Paschal was on the field for 61 snaps, with McNeill at 59 and Onwuzurike at 58. That’s over 85 percent for each.
In the third LB vs. third CB snap rate–the Lions almost always have one or the other, but not both, on the field–SAM Trevor Nowaske played more than nickel/slot Amik Robertson, 33 to 29.
The Lions only used No. 4 CB Kindle Vildor on three plays–the ones Davis sat out. No other corners played beyond special teams. Joseph and Branch were the only safeties who played. Reserve Brandon Joseph only played on special teams, while rookie Loren Strickland was inactive in Week 10.
On offense, the starting line and QB Jared Goff all played all 65 snaps. Veteran Dan Skipper got the nod at left tackle with Taylor Decker inactive due to a shoulder injury.
Jamarco Jones made his Lions debut with one official snap as an extra tackle (Skipper’s normal role), though he had two other plays that were negated due to penalties. No other linemen played outside of special teams.
The ever-popular running back splits saw Jahmyr Gibbs getting 60 percent of the workload to David Montgomery’s 40 percent. The Lions had one or the other in on every snap, but never played more than one. Gibbs and Montgomery were the only RBs who played on offense, with Craig Reynolds and Sione Vaki very busy on special teams.
Jameson Williams returned from his two-game suspension and quickly resumed his WR2 role. He played 48 of the 65 offensive snaps, followed by Tim Patrick (32), Kalif Raymond (16) and Allen Robinson (4). Third TE Shane Zylstra got 19 snaps, behind Sam LaPorta (39) and Brock Wright (37), showing the Lions’ need for auxiliary blocking with Decker sidelined.