clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Colts week three snaps counts vs. Titans

Taking a look at the snap counts for the Colts offense, defense, and special teams from week three against the Titans.

If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

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.