Snap counts: Aaron Glenn continues to adapt to injuries on defense

With injuries on the defensive side of the ball continuing to mount, Lions DC Aaron Glenn continues to adapt his personnel groupings. Let’s look at how he’s adjusting by examining the snap counts from Week 13.

Let’s take a detailed look at the Detroit Lions’ Week 13 snap counts from their 23-20 win over the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day. Here’s how things shook out.

Offense

Quarterbacks

Jared Goff: 70 (100%)
Hendon Hooker: 0 (0%)

While 70 snaps is a heavy amount for a team that only scored 23 points, it’s interesting to see that 49 snaps came in the first half when the Lions were dominating, and just 21 occurred in the second half when they managed to score just once.

Running backs

David Montgomery: 38 (54%)
Jahmyr Gibbs: 32 (46%)
Sione Vaki: 0 (0%) — 18 special teams snaps (75%)
Craig Reynolds: 0 (0%) — 16 (67%)

For the first time in a minute, Montgomery out-snapped Gibbs. Some of this could be due to the Lions giving him more opportunities against his old team, but Detroit also appeared to be focused on asserting a power run game and Montgomery suits that best.

Tight ends

Sam LaPorta: 66 (94%)
Brock Wright: 30 (43%) — 6 (25%)
Shane Zylstra: 5 (7%) — 16 (67%)

After a game in which Goff and Laporta didn’t seem to be on the same page, they corrected that path against the Bears, connecting on both of the Lions’ touchdowns. This is also LaPorta’s second game in a row seeing over 90% of offensive snaps, indicating he may be putting his early injuries behind him.

Wide receivers

Amon-Ra St. Brown: 64 (94%)
Jameson Williams: 55 (79%)
Tim Patrick: 49 (70%)
Allen Robinson: 7 (10%)
Maurice Alexander: 0 (0%) — 8 (38%)

With Kalif Raymond landing on injured reserve, the majority of his snaps did not go to a WR4 spot, but instead, was folded back into the top three wide receivers, who all saw slight upticks—with Patrick seeing the biggest increase.

Offensive line

Penei Sewell: 70 (100%) — 6 (25 %)
Graham Glasgow: 70 (100%) — 6 (25 %)
Kevin Zeitler: 70 (100%) — 6 (25 %)
Frank Ragnow: 70 (100%)
Dan Skipper: 69 (99%) — 6 (25%)
Jamarco Jones: 3 (4%)
Michael Niese: 0 (0%) — 6 (25%)
Christian Mahogany: 0 (0%) — 6 (25%)
Taylor Decker: INJURED — INACTIVE
Kayode Awosika: INACTIVE
Colby Sorsdal: INACTIVE
Giovanni Manu: INACTIVE

With Taylor Decker unavailable due to injury, Skipper started at left tackle again and played all but one snap, which he missed due to injury. Jones was elevated from the practice squad as a reserve, filled in at left tackle when Skipper missed, as well as in a sixth offensive lineman role. For the second game in a row, Mahogany was in the game as a reserve over Awosika, suggesting he has indeed jumped him on the depth chart.

Defense

EDGE

Za’Darius Smith: 55 (82%)
Al-Quadin Muhammad: 43 (64%)
Mekhi Wingo: 14 (21%) — 8 (33%)
Levi Onwuzurike: 10 (15%)
Josh Paschal: 7 (10%)

The Lions lost both Paschal and Onwuzurike to injury in this game, forcing the Lions to shift Muhammad from a reserve to a starting role opposite Smith. Fortunately for the Lions, Muhammad stepped up to the task and easily had his best game of the season.

With the injuries on the edge, the Lions leaned on Wingo to play the edge more (12 of his 14 snaps were at defensive end). He also left the game with an injury but was able to return later in the contest.

Following the game, Lions coach Dan Campbell downplayed the severity of the injuries to Paschal and Onwuzurike but did acknowledge that they could still miss some time.

“I feel like it’ll be okay,” Campbell said. “It could be a little bit. They could be down for a bit.”

DT

Alim McNeill: 63 (94%) — 2 (8%)
DJ Reader: 37 (55%) — 2 (8%)
Pat O’Connor: 4 (6%) — 12 (50%)
Brodric Martin: 2 (3%)

McNeill played an insane 94% of snaps from the interior, likely as a fallout from interior players like Onwuzurike (one interior snap) and Wingo (two interior snaps) needing to be used on the edge. The Lions also adjusted by playing more nickel in this game, with one of the options being to remove an interior lineman in favor of a defensive back.

Linebackers

Jack Campbell: 67 (100%) — 2 (8%)
Malcolm Rodriguez: 46 (69%)
Trevor Nowaske: 31 (46%) — 18 (75%)
Ezekiel Turner: 22 (33%) — 18 (75%)
David Long: 12 (18%) — 10 (42%)
Ben Niemann: 4 (6%) — 18 (75%)

Rodriguez was well on his way to playing a full complement of snaps when he was injured and exited the game. Dan Campbell was less optimistic about Rodriguez’s injury, suggesting it could be long-term.

“I’ll be honest with you, I think Rodrigo’s the one that could be the worst,” Campbell said. “And I don’t know how significant it’ll be just yet, but he’s the one I fear a little bit.”

As a result of Rodriguez’s injury, Turner saw his snaps increase at WILL, with 20 of his 22 defensive snaps coming in the second half. If Rodriguez indeed needs to miss any time, Turner appears to be the next man up at WILL alongside Jack Campbell.

Nowaske also saw 20 defensive snaps in the second half, but he remained mostly at SAM, which was more of a direct result of the injury issues the Lions had on the EDGE.

Cornerbacks

Terrion Arnold: 64 (96%)
Amik Robertson: 47 (70%)
Kindle Vildor: 38 (57%) — 2 (8%)
Khalil Dorsey: 32 (48%) — 18 (75%)
Carlton Davis: INJURED — INACTIVE
Emmanuel Moseley: INJURED — INACTIVE

Arnold did not start this game because the Lions did not want to throw him right back into the fire as he was also coming off an injury. But, once he showed he was going to be just fine, the Lions left him in the game, while continuing a rotation at the opposite corner spot.

As noted earlier, the Lions also adjusted to injuries up front by deploying more nickel than they have recently. On average, the Lions spend about 35-50% of their time in subpackages, and Robertson’s 70% of snaps was the most he has seen in a game since Week 6.

Safety

Kerby Joseph: 67 (100%) — 2 (8%)
Brian Branch: 67 (100%)
Brandon Joseph: 4 (6%) — 4 (17%)
Loren Strickland: 0 (0%) — 16 (67%)

The Lions’ stud safeties continue to play every snap, while reserve Brandon Joseph saw his four snaps at the end of the first half when the Lions went to a “prevent” defensive package to guard against any Hail Mary attempts to score.

Special teams

Jake Bates: 12 (50%)
Jack Fox: 8 (33%)
Hogan Hatten: 8 (33%)

Jake Bates is apparently human, after missing his first field goal on the season (he’s now made 19 of his 20 attempts), while Jack Fox proves he is still indeed not human, after a ridiculous 61-yard punt that was downed at the 1-yard line.