Bengals snap rely takeaways vs. Broncos

Essentially the most attention-grabbing takeaway from this week’s snap counts for the Cincinnati Bengals is the linebacker place.

In opposition to the Denver Broncos, solely two linebackers took snaps on protection, which is a little bit of a shock. The actual shock was that it was Akeem Davis-Gaither, not Germaine Pratt, who took the entire snaps. Davis-Gaither performed 60 snaps, whereas Pratt performed 50.

Pratt has been a starter since his rookie season in 2019. He has confronted some criticism this 12 months over missed tackles and an obvious decline in his motion expertise. Nevertheless, he has a career-high 137 tackles for the season with one recreation to go. The teaching workers’s assist of him has been unwavering.

Davis-Gaither solely made 4 begins previous to stepping in for the injured Logan Wilson this season. Most of his earlier begins got here in opposition to the Baltimore Ravens when Lou Anarumo shifted to extra of a conventional 4-3 protection to defend the choice. Davis-Gaither has lengthy been a fan-favorite who many noticed as underutilized.

Pratt performed properly in opposition to the Broncos. Along with his key interception, he had seven tackles on the day. Davis-Gaither had six of his personal. Was it merely a matter of leaving the extra athletic Davis-Gaither on the sector on passing downs whereas bringing in a defensive again for Pratt, or is there extra to it than that? Might this be a sign that the teaching workers is much less assured in Pratt? Or are they getting increased on Davis-Gaither?

Pratt’s 83% is the second-lowest share of snaps he has taken all 12 months. Even when Wilson was wholesome, Pratt took 90% or extra of the snaps in all however one recreation. Since Wilson’s damage, Pratt has taken 100% of snaps in all however one recreation. The one exception was final week when Maema Njongmeta was given a late look.

Tee Higgins was questionable for this recreation. Reportedly, he wasn’t closely concerned within the preliminary recreation plan however advised Zac Taylor it was too large of a recreation for him to overlook. Then he went on the market and caught 11 of 12 targets for 131 yards and three touchdowns. Would you consider it if I advised you he was on a snap rely?

Tee all the time will get WR2 snaps. His reps are normally nearer to Ja’Marr Chase’s than Andrei Iosivas’s, and anybody else who performed did so sparingly. This week, Chase took 88 of 90 snaps, Iosivas took 71, and Higgins took solely 62.

For perspective, this implies Higgins was focused about as soon as each 5 snaps. He scored a landing as soon as each 21 snaps and averaged over two yards per snap. That’s insane.

After all, “tight end” Mike Gesicki had 10 receptions for 86 yards on 12 targets in solely 51 snaps. He had a reception as soon as each 5 snaps as properly and was focused nearly as soon as each 4 snaps. No touchdowns and lots fewer yards for Gesicki, however nonetheless spectacular.

Drew Pattern, a really totally different sort of tight finish (discover the dearth of citation marks), took 55 snaps and had one catch for 3 yards.

Bengals vs. Broncos Snap Counts