:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/52160985/usa_today_9725957.0.jpeg)
Another 4th quarter, single digit loss to a team the Chargers should have beaten. There are areas that the Chargers need to fix, but let’s look at the snap count this week to figure out how playing time could be attributed to another 4th quarter heartbreaker. A common theme in earlier snap count articles from this season was a Chargers’ loss and more snaps on defense than offense. While this theme seems somewhat broad or conclusory, it has almost held true for each Chargers’ loss. We will look at the offense and defense to analyze each squad’s play time percentage (some players are not on the snap count list, because they did not participate on offense or defense last week and this week; however, they may have seen special teams snaps).
Chargers’ Offense:
| Pos. | Name | W12 Snaps | "% of Total W12" | W13 Snaps | % of Total W13 Snaps | WoW % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QB | Philip Rivers | 59 | 100% | 55 | 100% | 0% |
| C | Matt Slauson | 59 | 100% | 55 | 100% | 0% |
| T | King Dunlap | 59 | 100% | 55 | 100% | 0% |
| G | Orlando Franklin | 59 | 100% | 55 | 100% | 0% |
| T | Joe Barksdale | 59 | 100% | 55 | 100% | 0% |
| WR | Dontrelle Inman | 55 | 93% | 53 | 96% | 3% |
| WR | Tyrell Wiliams | 51 | 86% | 53 | 96% | 10% |
| G | D.J. Fluker | 59 | 100% | 52 | 95% | -5% |
| RB | Melvin Gordon | 53 | 90% | 49 | 89% | -1% |
| WR | Travis Benjamin | 38 | 64% | 43 | 78% | 14% |
| TE | Antonio Gates | 36 | 61% | 33 | 60% | -1% |
| TE | Hunter Henry | 30 | 51% | 24 | 44% | -7% |
| TE | Sean McGrath | 13 | 22% | 6 | 11% | -11% |
| RB | Kenneth Farrow | 6 | 10% | 6 | 11% | 1% |
| FB | Derek Watt | 7 | 12% | 5 | 9% | -3% |
| C | Spencer Pulley | 0 | 0% | 3 | 5% | 5% |
| WR | Jeremy Butler | 3 | 5% | 2 | 4% | -1% |
| G | Kenny Wiggins | 3 | 5% | 1 | 2% | -3% |
While there wasn’t much of a difference from Week 12 to Week 13, we can see who was involved in the snaps for the majority of this game. We saw a little more involvement from Tyrell Williams and Travis Benjamin, but a common narrative is “Give Melvin Gordon the ball more.” While he has maintained a steady amount of snaps, seeing 89% of snaps on offense, people are crying out for more MGIII. Why not more MGIII when we’ve seen flashes of hero ball from Phillip Rivers? It will be interesting to see if the play calling changes at all in the next few weeks. MGIII has been racking up yards and has been scoring almost every week. At this point in the season, why not give him the ball more and keep building his confidence for next season? Ronnie Hillman hasn’t seen the field, so we’ll have to see how he fits into the offense and how many snaps he’ll take away from MGIII and Kenneth Farrow.
Chargers’ Defense:
| Pos. | Name | W12 Snaps | "% of Total W12" | W13 Snaps | % of Total W13 Snaps | WoW % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CB | Craig Mager | 68 | 97% | 65 | 100% | 3% |
| SS | Jahleel Addae | 66 | 94% | 65 | 100% | 6% |
| CB | Casey Hayward | 68 | 97% | 64 | 98% | 1% |
| LB | Korey Toomer | 68 | 97% | 62 | 95% | -2% |
| LB | Denzel Perryman | 43 | 61% | 60 | 92% | 31% |
| LB | Melvin Ingram | 64 | 91% | 57 | 88% | -3% |
| SS | Adrian Phillips | 28 | 40% | 56 | 86% | 46% |
| DT | Corey Liuget | 42 | 60% | 54 | 83% | 23% |
| DE | Joey Bosa | 57 | 81% | 49 | 75% | -6% |
| NT | Damion Square | 39 | 56% | 44 | 68% | 12% |
| CB | Trevor Williams | 54 | 77% | 37 | 57% | -20% |
| LB | Kyle Emanuel | 36 | 51% | 36 | 55% | 4% |
| DT | Tenny Palepoi | 19 | 27% | 18 | 28% | 1% |
| FS | Dwight Lowery | 70 | 100% | 13 | 20% | -80% |
| DE | Darius Philon | 12 | 17% | 12 | 18% | 1% |
| NT | Ryan Carrethers | 0 | 0% | 10 | 15% | 15% |
| LB | Chris Landrum | 15 | 21% | 7 | 11% | -10% |
| LB | Tourek Williams | 2 | 3% | 6 | 9% | 6% |
| LB | Jerry Attaochu | 18 | 26% | 0 | 0% | -26% |
| FS | Dexter McCoil | 1 | 1% | 0 | 0% | -1% |
For the first time in what seems like forever, Dwight Lowery is not at the top of the snap count list. His hand injury really set him back this week and his playing time percentage really took a hit (-80% change in snaps from Week 12 to Week 13). While he sat with the hand injury, Adrian Phillips saw more playing time. This defense has been plagued with injuries and the secondary is not the only group that is experiencing injury woes.
The exit of Jerry Attaochu and Brandon Mebane have hurt the front seven; however, Damion Square has been playing well and somewhat reliable after his return from his suspension. Attaochu was officially sent to the IR list last week and we saw the return of Ryan Carrethers who immediately hit the field as soon as he became active.
The lack of a consistent lineup and the number of defensive snaps could be a couple of reasons why the Chargers’ defense gets beat late in the 4th quarter. There are many gaps that the Chargers could improve on, but landing a top-10 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft could help them land another defensive stud, like Joey Bosa.
We will break down the Chargers’ playing time next week when they visit the Panthers.