Did you notice anything when looking at the snap counts for the Washington Commanders‘ game against the Cowboys?
When looking at defensive snap counts, the first thing I notice is that, with a massive number of snaps, we must keep that in mind when evaluating defensive statistics. For instance, seeing the Commanders‘ defense unable to get off the field (the Cowboys were 6-for-6 on fourth downs), Washington ended up having to play defense for an official 87 snap counts.
Therefore, it’s great to see Jer’Zhan Newton with nine tackles. It’s also great seeing him tally three quarterback sacks and five quarterback hits. Yet, when you stop and wonder, seeing the defense is bad, all these extra plays the Cowboys were running, someone had to make the tackle on those plays. The higher number of plays, then giving a Commanders defender a statistic, might actually be misleading in some instances.
Speaking of the high number of plays, think about it again: the Commanders’ defense was on the field for 87 defensive plays! Get this: Dallas leads the NFL in offensive plays per game at 66.6 this season. In their last three games, the Cowboys have produced 70.7 offensive plays per game. But against the Commanders’ defense? The Cowboys were able to keep the chains moving all day for a whopping 87 total offensive snaps. It’s mind-boggling to think that the Commanders’ defense is so anemic that the Cowboys ran 21 more plays than the average per game over their 16 games.
One of the more perplexing game snaps counts for the Commanders might be third-year safety Quan Martin, who only played 30 percent of 87 snaps, on Thursday. Martin, we know, has had numerous plays where he refuses to wrap up a ball carrier/receiver, and it results in much more yardage. We have also seen him benched previously for his missed tackles. Though younger than both Will Harris (100 percent) and Jeremy Reaves (84 percent), might Martin have been injured? Or might Martin be losing the confidence of the defensive coaching staff?
One other matter that I found perplexing was that not only did Will Harris play 100 percent of the defensive snaps, but Frankie Luvu and Bobby Wagner played all 100 percent of the 87 defensive plays. It was game 16 for a team losing their 12th game of the season, and you are still insisting on playing Wagner and Luvu every single one of those 87 snaps? Ninety-two, when you count the dead plays, and Wagner and Luvu were playing on each one of those as well?
The Commanders’ coaches don’t have any more confidence in their young linebackers than they can’t play them at all? Jordan Magee did get 52 percent of those 87 defensive snaps, but linebackers Kain Medrano and Ale Kaho played special teams, and neither of them saw a single snap on defense. In the 16th game of a terrible, losing season