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The Indianapolis Colts made a remarkable comeback on Sunday, overcoming a double-digit fourth quarter deficit to defeat the Tennessee Titans 35-33. After looking bad for the first three quarters, the Colts looked really good in the final quarter, and that was enough to be the difference. Let's take a look at the snap counts for a better idea of how much each player was on the field on Sunday and see what we can learn from that:
Offense:
Player | Pos. | Snaps | Percent |
Joe Reitz | T | 59 | 100% |
Hugh Thornton | G | 59 | 100% |
Jack Mewhort | T | 59 | 100% |
Khaled Holmes | C | 59 | 100% |
Andrew Luck | QB | 59 | 100% |
Anthony Castonzo | T | 59 | 100% |
Donte Moncrief | WR | 56 | 95% |
T.Y. Hilton | WR | 53 | 90% |
Coby Fleener | TE | 50 | 85% |
Frank Gore | RB | 45 | 76% |
Andre Johnson | WR | 40 | 68% |
Jack Doyle | TE | 20 | 34% |
Phillip Dorsett | WR | 14 | 24% |
Tyler Varga | RB | 7 | 12% |
Josh Robinson | RB | 7 | 12% |
Jonotthan Harrison | C | 3 | 5% |
Notes:
Donte Moncrief played the most snaps of any Colts wide receiver, with T.Y. Hilton not far behind. I think this is something that we will continue to see more of with Andre Johnson struggling - Hilton and Moncrief seeing a lot of time. Phillip Dorsett didn't come close to cracking the top three at the position, but he did play 14 snaps - which, for the fourth receiver, isn't bad, but I wonder if we'll see his snaps increase as well.
Speaking of Andre Johnson - he played 40 snaps and was thrown at one time, a pass which he dropped. Sure, people will be quick to point out the 37-yard reception negated by a holding penalty, but the point is that on the plays that actually counted, he did nothing.
The Colts talked about getting the tight ends more involved this week, and based on playing time they did just that. Coby Fleener played 85% of the snaps, while Jack Doyle was in on 34% of them. The two combined to catch seven passes for 83 yards.
Defense:
Player | Pos. | Snaps | Percent |
Mike Adams | SS | 81 | 100% |
D'Qwell Jackson | LB | 76 | 94% |
Vontae Davis | CB | 76 | 94% |
Dwight Lowery | FS | 76 | 94% |
Jalil Brown | CB | 75 | 93% |
Jerrell Freeman | LB | 75 | 93% |
Kendall Langford | DE | 60 | 74% |
Henry Anderson | DT | 59 | 73% |
Erik Walden | LB | 56 | 69% |
Jonathan Newsome | LB | 51 | 63% |
David Parry | NT | 40 | 49% |
Bjoern Werner | LB | 34 | 42% |
Josh Thomas | CB | 28 | 35% |
Billy Winn | DT | 25 | 31% |
Robert Mathis | LB | 20 | 25% |
Earl Okine | DE | 19 | 23% |
Zach Kerr | NT | 18 | 22% |
Clayton Geathers | FS | 9 | 11% |
Sio Moore | LB | 7 | 9% |
Colt Anderson | SS | 6 | 7% |
Notes:
The defense was on the field for 81 snaps, which is a lot. They had trouble getting the Titans offense off the field for a large portion of the game.
Josh Thomas, just signed last week, played 28 snaps and did well in those opportunities.
After playing 13 snaps last week, Robert Mathis increased his workload to 20 snaps on Sunday. He did well, as according to Pro Football Focus, he recorded three pressures, two hurries, and a sack on 15 pass rush opportunities.
I don't have an explanation for the question of why Nate Irving isn't playing more. I just don't have a good answer for it. He's not still hurt - at least, not badly enough to show up on the injury report or to miss practice. And the Colts' inside linebackers have struggled for much of the season. It makes perfect sense to me, then, that giving Irving more playing time would be a good thing to do, but so far the Colts haven't done that. In week one he played one defensive snap (and one special teams snap), in week two he was inactive, and then in week three he didn't play a single snap defensively (though playing 18 special teams snaps). Why aren't the Colts giving him a shot? I don't know - but what I do know is that, if I had a say in it, I'd give him an increased workload defensively and see if he could help the unit.
Special Teams:
Player | Pos. | Snaps | Percent |
Colt Anderson | SS | 29 | 85% |
Josh McNary | LB | 28 | 82% |
Clayton Geathers | FS | 25 | 74% |
Sio Moore | LB | 24 | 71% |
Tyler Varga | RB | 23 | 68% |
Winston Guy | FS | 22 | 65% |
Jack Doyle | TE | 20 | 59% |
Nate Irving | LB | 18 | 53% |
Pat McAfee | P | 17 | 50% |
Griff Whalen | WR | 17 | 50% |
Eric Patterson | CB | 17 | 50% |
Jonathan Newsome | LB | 11 | 32% |
Bjoern Werner | LB | 11 | 32% |
Billy Winn | DT | 11 | 32% |
Matt Overton | LS | 11 | 32% |
Jonotthan Harrison | C | 10 | 29% |
Earl Okine | DE | 8 | 24% |
David Parry | NT | 6 | 18% |
Zach Kerr | NT | 6 | 18% |
Joe Reitz | T | 5 | 15% |
Hugh Thornton | G | 5 | 15% |
Mike Adams | SS | 5 | 15% |
D'Qwell Jackson | LB | 5 | 15% |
Kendall Langford | DE | 5 | 15% |
Henry Anderson | DT | 5 | 15% |
Josh Thomas | CB | 5 | 15% |
Adam Vinatieri | K | 5 | 15% |
Todd Herremans | G | 5 | 15% |
Jalil Brown | CB | 4 | 12% |
Donte Moncrief | WR | 2 | 6% |
Phillip Dorsett | WR | 2 | 6% |
Josh Robinson | RB | 1 | 3% |
Notes:
Colt Anderson played the most special teams snaps of any Colts player on Sunday. He has been at the top of this list in every game so far this year and has played 73 special teams snaps total through three games.
As noted earlier, Nate Irving played 18 special teams snaps but zero defensive snaps.