The Cleveland Browns didn’t seem to belong on the same field as the Arizona Cardinals in Week 6. The 37 – 14 score tells the tale but the game didn’t seem that close for most of it except for a time after the hail mary touchdown that cut the lead to nine at halftime.
The lack of their top three tackles and Nick Chubb significantly impacted the run game while the defense didn’t look capable of keeping the game low scoring, only forcing two punts.
Baker Mayfield was uncomfortable in the pocket all day turning the ball over twice, one interception and one fumble. His hail mary heave helped bump his overall numbers up but his play was lacking even before hurting his shoulder again.
With a short week, Kareem Hunt possibly significantly injured and a whole host of questions for the team to answer, the next few days could lead to a lot of soul-searching.
Taking a look at the snap counts could be a part of that soul-searching process especially on the defensive side of the ball.
Offensive Snap Counts
With Odell Beckham Jr. missing some time due to getting his shoulder injured, it is not surprising to see him in on only 54% of the snaps. Seeing Hunt at 69% of the snaps with D’Ernest Johnson and Demetric Felton each only have 12 snaps calls in to question the top back’s use after being injured all week.
With Andy Janovich on the injured reserve, the Browns only used their replacement fullback, Johnny Stanton for two snaps on offense.
Only 59 total snaps for the Cleveland offense on Sunday, compared to Arizona’s 75.
Defensive Snap Counts
It is on the defensive side of the ball that some of the most interesting snap counts come. Greg Newsome II, coming back from a calf injury, only played 21 snaps. Jadeveon Clowney, coming back from knee and elbow injuries, played in 58 snaps while his backup, Takk McKinley, only played in 26.
Perhaps the most surprising is that Grant Delpit only played in 9 snaps for the Browns defense while the other two safeties both played all 75 snaps.
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah has seemingly taken over as Cleveland’s every-down linebacker while Anthony Walker is the only other second-level defender to get a lot of snaps.
Special Teams Snap Counts
With Owusu-Koramoah taking more defensive snaps, his time on special teams continues to be low compared to earlier in the season. Interestingly, many defensive starters saw the field for special teams this week.
Herb Miller, brought up from the practice squad, saw a lot of time on special teams along with rookies Richard LeCounte and Tony Fields.
1
1
Read more: https://sports.yahoo.com/browns-week-6-snap-counts-105240738.html?src=rss
