Saints snap counts, Week 11: Was Marcus Davenport demoted?

New Orleans Saints LB Kiko Alonso and LG Nick Easton saw their highest snap counts of the 2019 season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The New Orleans Saints defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 11, but they did so with some uncommon splits in their snap counts. Second-year pass rusher Marcus Davenport was the third wheel in the defensive end rotation. Backup left guard Nick Easton played a full game in his first appearance on offense this season. Linebacker Kiko Alonso played the second-most snaps at his position group. Six difference defensive backs played more than 50% of snaps. Here’s how everything shook out against the Buccaneers:

Offensive backfield

  • QB Drew Brees, 67 (96%)
  • RB Alvin Kamara, 43 (61%)
  • RB Latavius Murray, 29 (41%)
  • FB Zach Line, 23 (33%)
  • QB Taysom Hill, 10 (14%)
  • FS Marcus Williams, 2 (3%)

The Saints may have caught some flak from the broadcast team for putting Hill in for a pass attempt rather than Brees, but it’s a look they’ve had success with before given Brees’ subpar arm strength on passes deeper downfield. This time it happened to bite them when Hill was surprised by an unblocked blitzer. Kamara improved as the game wore on and steadily looked more comfortable after he bounced off of some Buccaneers defenders. Williams got in on the victory formation to close out the game, which is always nice to see.

Skills positions

  • WR Michael Thomas, 57 (81%)
  • TE Jared Cook, 49 (70%)
  • WR Tre’Quan Smith, 42 (60%)
  • WR Ted Ginn Jr, 38 (54%)
  • TE Josh Hill, 32 (46%)
  • WR Krishawn Hogan, 13 (19%)

It’s a shame that the Saints can’t get any consistent production out of their wide receivers besides Thomas, because they’re all getting on the field very often without justifying it. This is now two weeks in a row where multiple receivers played 50% or more of snaps on offense but failed to combine for multiple catches. The clock is ticking on Smith and Ginn’s job security. Hill was on track to see his usual workload (39 snaps per game) but a concussion sidelined him.

Offensive line

  • T Terron Armstead, 70 (100%)
  • C Erik McCoy, 70 (100%)
  • T Ryan Ramczyk, 70 (100%)
  • G Larry Warford, 70 (100%)
  • G Nick Easton, 70 (100%)
  • G Will Clapp, 14 (20%)
  • G Patrick Omameh, 1 (1%)

It was a heck of an outing for Easton, who got his first snaps on offense of the year and turned them into a game-long performance. He effectively came off the bench to pitch a no-hitter. When Hill went out with a concussion, the Saints’ go-to adjustment was increased snaps for Clapp as a blocker, though Omameh joined him in a heavyset offensive line look on Brees’ leaping fourth-down conversion.