Packers Snap Counts Versus The Saints
The snap counts for the Packers versus New Orleans were for the most part predictable.
The Packers did not elevate anyone from the Practice Squad for the game. Vernon Scott was inactive probably due to injury. The healthy inactives were Jean-Charles, Jack Heflin, Jake Hanson (which suggests that he is not the second choice at center should anything happen to Myers), and Isaiah McDuffie. The only one that surprised me was Heflin.
Player | Snaps | % | STs |
Jenkins | 57 | 100 | |
Patrick | 57 | 100 | 1 - 5% |
Myers | 57 | 100 | |
Newman | 57 | 100 | 1 - 5% |
Turner | 57 | 100 | |
Nijman | 1 - 5% | ||
Kelly | 1 - 5% | ||
Runyan | 1 - 5% | ||
Rodgers | 42 | 74 | |
Love | 15 | 26 | |
Adams | 40 | 70 | |
Lazard | 39 | 68 | 5 - 23% |
Valdes-Scantling | 36 | 63 | |
M. Taylor | 15 | 26 | 15 - 68% |
A. Rodger | 15 | 26 | 3 - 14% |
Cobb | 15 | 26 | |
Jones | 28 | 49 | |
Dillon | 16 | 28 | 13 - 59% |
Hill | 14 | 25 | 10 - 45% |
Tonyan | 28 | 49 | 2 - 9% |
Dafney | 19 | 33 | 11 - 50% |
Lewis | 15 | 26 | |
Deguara | 5 | 9 | 6 - 27% |
23 On Offense |
The offensive line gave up 15 pressures on 36 pass attempts, a 42% rate, per Pro Football Focus. That is not good. Jenkins and Myers each gave up one pressure, meaning the other three linemen were responsible for the bulk of the remaining 13 pressures (minus whatever number should be credited to Aaron Rodgers). The line did little to help the running backs. The Packers and Saints each had 3 possessions in the first half but the Packers ran a mere 17 plays: 13 passes (76.5%) and just 4 rushes. On the second possession with the score 10-0, Dillon had consecutive carries of six yards each for the Packers only rushing first down. Aaron Jones rushed twice on the first possession with a long of one yard. The Packers gained just 5 first downs (one by penalty) and did not convert on third down (0 - 3) in the first half.
Rodgers was only sacked twice and hit 7 times. While he was pressured more than one would like, the ball seemed slow to come out. It may be that Rodgers held the ball too long, but it might also be that the Saints, particularly All-Pro MLB Demario Davis (4.49 forty time) and LB Kwon Alexander, have the personnel to cause trouble with teams relying on underneath routes and misdirection.
Deguara was injured (concussion) on the second play of the second half. He played 5 snaps out of a possible 19. That probably explains Dafney's snap count total. It is interesting that Jordan Love and three wide receivers, Amari Rodgers, Cobb, and Malik Taylor all played the same number of snaps (15).
Player | Snaps | % | STs |
Amos | 60 | 97 | 2 - 9% |
King | 56 | 90 | |
Alexander | 56 | 90 | |
Savage | 51 | 82 | 5 - 23% |
Sullivan | 35 | 56 | 2 - 9% |
Black | 14 | 23 | 19 - 86% |
Stokes | 8 | 13 | 17 - 77% |
Yiadom | 6 | 10% | 21 - 95% |
Campbell | 56 | 90 | |
Barnes | 47 | 76 | 10 - 45% |
Burks | 7 | 11 | 21 - 95% |
Summers | 21 - 95% | ||
P. Smith | 38 | 61 | 5 - 23% |
Gary | 37 | 60 | 1 - 5% |
Garvin | 27 | 44 | 4 - 18% |
Z. Smith | 18 | 29 | |
Rivers | 11 | 18 | 10 - 45% |
Clark | 41 | 66 | |
Lowry | 38 | 61 | 1 - 5% |
Keke | 31 | 50 | 7 - 32% |
Lancaster | 29 | 47 | 8 - 36% |
Slaton | 16 | 26 | 6 - 27% |
22 Defensive |
The Packers played 2.5 true defensive linemen per play but could not stop the Saints' rushing attack. New Orleans gained 140 yards in the first half alone on 25 rushes, good for a 5.6 yard average. Even removing Winston's three scrambles for 36, the Saints still gained 104 yards on 22 carries for a 4.72 yard average. The Packers allowed consistent gains. There were only two longish runs, one by Winston for 15 and another by Kamara for 14 yards. It appears that the Packers largely went with the same rotation on the defensive line, though Keke received a higher percentage of snaps than he sometimes received last year. Lowry remained the number two defensive lineman. Lowry finished with 4 tackles (3 solo). Slaton got a decent amount of snaps for a fifth-round rookie, and he finished with 2 solo tackles in 16 snaps. PFF singled out Keke for praise on the defensive line.
The Packers managed zero sacks and just 3 QB hits, two by Gary and one by Preston Smith. The outside linebackers gave up contain a few times, including Gary on a Winston scramble. It seemed clear that the Packers only put Zadarius Smith on the field in obvious passing situations. I thought Campbell was active while also being a little up and down at times, but he also seemed to fare well in coverage. Per PFF, the Packers pressured Winston 10 times on 24 pass attempts, Winston usually had lots of time to throw the ball. Winston averaged 3.14 seconds to release the ball.
Not surprisingly, the secondary did not hold up very well. I thought Amos came up often to limit gains, something Clinton-Dix was very poor at. Amos finished with a team high 9 tackles (7 solo). Jaire Alexander was very good, as usual. King allowed two touchdowns, and Sullivan allowed another (on a rub - but teams are going to try to do that). Sullivan was also injured during the game.
All statistics per nflgsis or Pro Football Focus in this interesting article.
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Comments (26)
jeremyjjbrown
September 13, 2021 at 07:29 am
thegreatrenaldo, if you rewatched this game to count snaps that deserves some extra credit...
Edit: nevermind. I zoned out before the last sentance :)
stockholder
September 13, 2021 at 07:38 am
I'm excited. We still will win the division.
Thegreatreynoldo
September 13, 2021 at 07:53 am
I published this and then watched Andy Herman's podcast. Maybe I am not crazy. So, I chose a photo of Lowry and Heflin because I think we know that some of these holdovers aren't good enough. The team should try new blood. Heflin as a UDFA probably isn't good enough to replace Lowry as the DE type, but he isn't really better than replacement level now for a couple of full seasons. I'd settle for Keke being the No. two defensive lineman and see how that works out. Lancaster, who I like more than most, did not have a good game.
LaFleur says King, when he gets his hands on receivers, can be a really good CB. That's great, but the Packers seem to play off and soft much of the time. Really would have preferred Nelson or Witherspoon for less money than bringing back King.
Yiadom played a handful of snaps and didn't kill us, IIRC, and played 95% of ST snaps even though he just got here. Maybe he will be an upgrade over Jackson, but that's TBD.
Coldworld
September 13, 2021 at 08:25 am
Lowry to me is the problem. He just makes the run game easy for most teams. Lancaster’s usage puzzles me. He should be a depth clogger, particularly after just returning from injury. Barry seems to just have continued Pettine’s failed approach to the line.
LambeauPlain
September 13, 2021 at 12:16 pm
The D yesterday was "Pettine lite." Soft and at times, confused. Whatever Barry has been selling has not been sold to the players yet.
Barry being Mr. Rah Rah is fine and all, but you cannot cheer on guys like Lowry, Lancaster, Burks or King to be more than they are: below average players.
Coldworld
September 13, 2021 at 08:55 am
King playing off never made any sense. Yet that’s a mistake they returned to from the outset. If LaFleur knows it, how come Barry perpetuated it? So many questions that seem of the all to obvious to be excusable type. Looks like the Packers coaches and veterans have spent the off season believing their own hype.
LambeauPlain
September 13, 2021 at 12:19 pm
King is fast with 4.4 straight line speed...but he is not "quick". When he plays off, his feet are clumsy and slow in recovery. He invites a passing target from the QB when in single, off coverage. It is usually a completion.
LambeauPlain
September 13, 2021 at 12:20 pm
Doh! Dup post.
marpag1
September 13, 2021 at 08:32 am
I find it both amusing and also very maddening that even sports outlets that claim to be reputable (I'm looking at you, CBS) are running headlines today that say: "Aaron Rodgers gets benched for Jordan Love!!!" Bullshit. If that's not typical media sensationalism then I'm not sure what is. Yeah, Rodgers sucked as much as anyone, but the only reason he got pulled and Love got snaps is because the game was out of reach.
Coldworld
September 13, 2021 at 09:00 am
While I agree as to the reason, arguably his play merited being pulled, so being mad about the distinction seems somewhat futile. Rodgers was not putting the ball in great places on most of his completions. For me, he looked like a player for whom camp alone was not enough quite conclusively.
marpag1
September 13, 2021 at 09:02 am
Well, I did say, " Yeah, Rodgers sucked as much as anyone..."
But even there, if everyone who deserved it actually did get benched, the Packers would have had to forfeit for lack of available players. Probably by the second quarter.
dobber
September 13, 2021 at 10:27 am
They needed to keep most of the 1s out there because they needed to play together against a live opponent.
Hopefully it was humbling for them.
Coldworld
September 13, 2021 at 10:32 am
Rodgers seems to accept that they thought it would be easy. That’s a pretty damning indictment of both himself as a veteran and if the coaching team.
LayingTheLawe
September 14, 2021 at 09:39 pm
True. They could have added:
Davante Adams benched for Malik Taylor
Aaron Jones benched for Kylin Hill.
I guess those aren't clickbaity enough. Even big outlets like CBS and ESPN use a LOT of the clickbait stuff nowadays.
Handsback
September 13, 2021 at 08:33 am
I think Brian Kelly and the old USC/Tampa Bay coach John McKay said it best....
Philarod
September 13, 2021 at 08:53 am
I may be in favor of it as well.
Lphill
September 13, 2021 at 08:37 am
Kevin King is a liability and the entire league knows it .
dobber
September 13, 2021 at 09:54 am
"It is interesting that Jordan Love and three wide receivers, Amari Rodgers, Cobb, and Malik Taylor all played the same number of snaps (15). "
It shows that there's a clear pecking order in the minds of LaF and Hackett with regard to WRs, and these guys are on tier 3.
jeremyjjbrown
September 13, 2021 at 11:04 am
On bright note Cobb looked like he could run again.
LambeauPlain
September 13, 2021 at 12:23 pm
I think that was a blown coverage by the Saints...but at least Randall knew where the daylight was.
RCPackerFan
September 13, 2021 at 11:35 am
I do think they have packages they will be using with Cobb and Rodgers. Whatever reason they didn't use them.
flackcatcher
September 13, 2021 at 01:54 pm
Well, with the offensive snap count as it was, Lafleur never got that deep into his playbook.
LambeauPlain
September 13, 2021 at 12:25 pm
The only thing that could have made the game more miserable was if Aikman and Buck called the game for Fox.
therealcause
September 13, 2021 at 12:30 pm
Wouldn't the line have given up 15 pressures on 180 attempts? 36 passes x 5 linemen?
Or was a Packers QB pressured on 15 attempts out of 36, meaning that multiple pressures could have happened in the same attempt, and they would still only count as one pressure?
If Winston was pressured on 10 of 24 attempts, that's a 42% pressure rate for the Packers as well!
Thegreatreynoldo
September 15, 2021 at 02:17 am
Fair points. Here is what Zach Kruse wrote on this point:
"The Packers offensive line allowed just one sack and three quarterback hits over 41 pass-blocking opportunities. At Pro Football Focus, the Packers were the second-highest graded pass-blocking offensive line in the NFL in Week 1."
"Overall, Rodgers was under pressure on 10 of his drop backs against the Saints. He completed just two passes and had an interception while under pressure. Unfortunately for the Packers, Rodgers also wasn’t any good from clean pockets."
I don't see 41 pass attempts. ESPN and nflgsis both list 28 attempts by AR and 7 by Love for a combined total of 35. Neither site shows any carries by AR or Love - carries by them probably started out as pass attempts, though we shall see with Love.
If correct, AR was pressured 10 times on presumably 28 attempts which yields a 35.7% pressure rate.
Off topic: the WRs played 160 total snaps on 57 offensive plays. That equals 2.8 WRs on the field per offensive play. TEs played 67 snaps/57 plays = 1.18 TEs on the field per play. RBs played a combined 58 snaps, divided by 57 = 1.02 RBs per play.
GB played a ton of 11 personnel.
On defense, DBs played 286 snaps on 62 plays, or 4.61 DBs. ILBs played 110 good for 1.77 ILBs (Campbell, Barnes and Burks). Under Pettine, GB played a ton of dime and were often around 5.4 DBs per play. ILBs and DL were both on the high end with DBs down if I were to compare Barry's personnel usage to Pettine's. Barry's defense (IMO) did prevent big plays until later in the game when the Saints' persistent moderate cuts as opposed to gashes could no longer be ignored because the Packers needed the ball back.
So, not much dime, mostly nickel, with more DL and ILB than previously under Pettine.
joejetson
September 13, 2021 at 08:55 pm
Kevin King seeing the field for even one play is one too many. Every opponent builds their offensive game plan around exploiting King. You know it, I know it, the rest of the league knows it, so why do they keep playing him?