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It was great to see the Chargers bounce back after a depressing loss against the Denver Broncos in Week 8; however, when looking at the snap count, things were really shaken up compared to Week 8. This week the Chargers activated a few new players and their inactive/DNP list included: Chris Hairston, Craig Mager, Jahleel Addae, Denzel Perryman, Jatavis Brown, Max Tuerk, Hunter Henry, Jeremiah “Jerry” Attaochu. The Chargers also lost Dexter McCluster after a freak home accident where he broke his forearm, so the Chargers moved him to IR. As you can imagine the snaps got shaken up and playing time distribution were all over the place. We’ll start by looking at the offense.
Chargers’ Offense:
| Pos. | Name | W8 Snaps | "% of Total W8" | W9 Snaps | % of Total W9 Snaps | WoW % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | D.J. Fluker | 81 | 100% | 80 | 100% | 0% |
| QB | Philip Rivers | 81 | 100% | 80 | 100% | 0% |
| C | Matt Slauson | 81 | 100% | 80 | 100% | 0% |
| T | Joe Barksdale | 74 | 100% | 80 | 100% | 0% |
| T | King Dunlap | 72 | 100% | 80 | 100% | 0% |
| WR | Dontrelle Inman | 79 | 88% | 76 | 95% | 7% |
| TE | Antonio Gates | 55 | 51% | 66 | 82% | 31% |
| WR | Tyrell Wiliams | 59 | 88% | 66 | 82% | -6% |
| RB | Melvin Gordon | 65 | 87% | 65 | 80% | -7% |
| G | Orlando Franklin | 81 | 100% | 61 | 76% | -24% |
| WR | Griff Whalen | 4 | 12% | 49 | 61% | 49% |
| C | Spencer Pulley | 0 | 0% | 19 | 24% | 24% |
| TE | Sean McGrath | 32 | 32% | 17 | 21% | -11% |
| RB | Kenneth Farrow | 8 | 3% | 15 | 19% | 16% |
| G | Kenny Wiggins | 0 | 0% | 11 | 14% | 14% |
| WR | Jeremy Butler | 0 | 0% | 10 | 12% | 12% |
| FB | Derek Watt | 17 | 7% | 9 | 11% | 4% |
| TE | Asante Cleveland | 0 | 0% | 8 | 10% | 10% |
| WR | Travis Benjamin | 38 | 61% | 7 | 9% | -52% |
| WR | Isaiah Burse | 0 | 0% | 1 | 1% | 1% |
| T | Chris Hairston | 16 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| RB | Dexter McCluster | 3 | 9% | 0 | 0% | -9% |
| TE | Hunter Henry | 45 | 63% | 0 | 0% | -63% |
The numbers that really jump out to me are (obviously) the drop off of snaps with Travis Benjamin and Hunter Henry. Enter and reenter Griff Whalen and Antonio Gates. Griff Whalen saw a huge spike in his snaps and increased his playing time percentage by 49%, compared to last week. Antonio Gates, who played better than he has all year, also saw a big jump (+31%) in his playing time percentage.
The top snap hoggers remained at the top, which is a welcomed sight. The Chargers’ key O-line players have generally remained healthy this season (knock on wood). The O-line opened up some holes for some key plays throughout this game and bought Philip Rivers enough time and helped him earn a 117.6 passer rating. Rivers also topped the chart at getting 100% of the snaps on offense.
The new faces that we saw (or somewhat new) were Isaiah Burse and Jeremy Butler. The Chargers were spreading the snap count wealth to those players who were in the 20%-10% range.
Hopefully with some time, before the Chargers’ matchup with the Dolphins, some of the Chargers’ key offensive players heal up and get back on the field (Hunter Henry). If some of these injured players make it back for Sunday’s matchup, look for the low participants to drop off the snap count chart.
Chargers’ Defense:
| Pos. | Name | W8 Snaps | "% of Total W8" | W9 Snaps | % of Total W9 Snaps | WoW % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CB | Casey Hayward | 64 | 98% | 64 | 98% | 0% |
| CB | Brandon Flowers | 63 | 97% | 64 | 98% | 1% |
| LB | Korey Toomer | 32 | 49% | 64 | 98% | 49% |
| FS | Dwight Lowery | 64 | 98% | 63 | 97% | -1% |
| LB | Melvin Ingram | 62 | 95% | 55 | 85% | -10% |
| DE | Joey Bosa | 55 | 85% | 51 | 78% | -7% |
| SS | Adrian Phillips | 60 | 92% | 50 | 77% | -15% |
| DT | Corey Liuget | 51 | 78% | 47 | 72% | -6% |
| FS | Dexter McCoil | 8 | 12% | 33 | 51% | 39% |
| DT | Tenny Palepoi | 30 | 46% | 31 | 48% | 2% |
| NT | Brandon Mebane | 39 | 60% | 30 | 46% | -14% |
| NT | Damion Square | 13 | 20% | 27 | 42% | 22% |
| LB | Kyle Emanuel | 36 | 55% | 24 | 37% | -18% |
| CB | Steve Williams | 22 | 34% | 23 | 35% | 1% |
| DE | Darius Philon | 10 | 15% | 15 | 23% | 8% |
| LB | Joshua Perry | 35 | 54% | 13 | 20% | -34% |
| LB | Tourek Williams | 10 | 15% | 12 | 18% | 3% |
| LB | Deon King | 0 | 0% | 10 | 15% | 15% |
| LB | Chris Landrum | 1 | 2% | 9 | 14% | 12% |
| FS | Darrell Stuckey | 2 | 3% | 5 | 8% | 5% |
| LB | Jatavis Brown | 50 | 77% | 0 | 0% | -77% |
| LB | Denzel Perryman | 8 | 12% | 0 | 0% | -12% |
| CB | Craig Mager | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0% |
With the myriad of injuries, this defense’s playing time distribution has been anything but consistent. For example, last week Korey Toomer played 32 snaps (49%) and saw double that playing time this week. The absence of key players such as: Jatavis Brown; Denzel Perryman; Caraun Reid; and Craig Mager, has really impacted the Chargers’ snap count. There has not been a consistent lineup for the Chargers’ defense due to injuries which says something about their defense, which recently found its identity and has been creating turnover opportunities.
The defensive front showed a healthy rotation of somewhat fresh legs throughout the game. Brandon Mebane and Joey Bosa saw a little less playing time while Damion Square saw a nice spike in his playing time compared to last week. The defensive front has proven to be one of our strongest assets this year, despite the amount of linebackers that the Chargers have pulled from obscurity. A few weeks ago we didn’t know much about Korey Toomer, now he’s topping the snap count chart. Another new linebacker we saw was Deon King. King did not get too many snaps in so we will see where he stands after the return of Perryman and Brown.
We saw a little more of the “Slim Reaper” (Dexter McCoil) and less of Adrian Phillips. McCoil has been playing fairly well this year, at least competently, so he should be someone we watch out for as the season goes on and after the return of Jahleel Addae. Brandon Flowers, fresh off a concussion, came back and made a huge splash against the Titans. Casey Hayward and Flowers both came up big and proved that they should be a the top of the snap counts.
With the possible return of some of the Chargers’ key players, there will be another snap count shakeup against when the Chargers host the Miami Dolphins, at the Q, at 1:05 pm.