Take notes on the snap count from the Lions’ victory over the Broncos
There is a pattern of players staying with the team in the Week 15 triumph over the Denver Broncos that stands out right away from the snap count notes. It’s especially true when you’re attacking.
Every single one of the 66 offensive snaps was played by the starting offensive line. That rush originated with David Montgomery as well as Jahmyr Gibbs, who took almost the same number of snaps.
Since the win over the Chargers in Week 10, this was the first time that the team’s top five quarterbacks started and ended the same game.
They are Taylor Decker, Jonah Jackson, Frank Ragnow, Graham Glasgow, and Penei Sewell. And it showed in the field, where the Lions ran for almost 200 yards.
There were 34 plays for Montgomery and 32 for Gibbs. There were no other RBs who played.
They also didn’t have a fullback, but Dan Skipper took eight snaps for the extra tackle, and James Mitchell, a blocking tight end, was on the playing surface for six.
The changes to the secondary starting group were clear. Melifonwu played 62 out of 64 snaps as the safety instead of Tracy Walker for the second game in a row.
Walker did not come in and play defense. It was the same at safety, where Khalil Dorsey took over for Jerry Jacobs. The outside cornerback job was split between Dorsey (44 snaps) or Kindle Vildor (18), while Jacobs only played on special teams.
Aidan Hutchinson’s busy schedule doesn’t seem to be ending. The great defensive end played 59 of the 64 snaps, which is another week of over 90% participation. In his second season, Mitchell still doesn’t have a single target in the throwing game.
That might have something to do with the fact that the Lions put John Cominsky (46) and Josh Paschal (43) inside more often as part of a lighter front.
Heavy DTs Benito Jones (30), Isaiah Buggs (23), Levi Onwuzurike (14), as well as rookie Brodric Martin (11), did more reps with the lighter linemen than normal.
Romeo Okwara (18) and Bruce Irvin (11), who are both 18, didn’t play much. In the 33 snaps that rookie LB Jack Campbell played, he was used as the SAM a few times.
When Derrick Barnes hurt his shoulder and had to leave the game for a short time, his snap count was held to 35.
Jalen Reeves-Maybin played 10 minutes, and Malcolm Rodriguez, who came back to play defense, played 5 minutes. Anthony Pittman played defense over the first time in 2023. He was on the field for four snaps.
Aidan Hutchinson almost never left the field again. 61 of the 69 snaps were played by the DE. It looked like Josh Paschal’s best game during the season, as he scored 43 points.
Bruce Irvin played 11 snaps to his first game with Detroit. Romeo Okwara had nine snaps and a sack, while Charles Harris only played three.
The most important thing to learn about the system was that Amon-Ra St. Brown only played 79% of the snaps. He doesn’t usually exit the field, yet he didn’t seem to be hurt badly.
Josh Reynolds almost beat him, with 44 to St. Brown’s 46. Jameson Williams scored 33 points, Kalif Raymond scored 13, and Donovan Peoples-Jones scored 12.
At running back, David Montgomery had 36 yards, 10 over Jahmyr Gibbs. They played three plays together on the field. As the third back, Craig Reynolds only played two snaps.
It was five times that Dan Skipper played as an extra tackle, which is two more than third-string tight end James Mitchell played.
Franck Ragnow, the center, left after 21 snaps. Colby Sorsdal filled in at RG for the rest of the game, and Graham Glasgow kicked inside to take the place of Ragnow in the middle.
It was not always good. But the defensive group for the Detroit Lions played better, which helped them beat the Denver Broncos 42–17 in prime time.
Cam Sutton got his best grade from Pro Football Focus since Week 6 and his second-best score of the season.
On the other side, Kindle Vildor stayed in a rotation and was the team’s best defensive in Week 15. Khalil Dorsey did 44 reps on defense. He started for Sutton and showed both good and bad skills.
And security No matter what PFF says—the site ranks Ifeatu Melifonwu 10th on the defense, which doesn’t seem to match up with reality—he had a big game.
Melifonwu put pressure on the quarterback three times and made eight stops, one sack, one forced fumble, two quarterback hits, and two pass deflections.
On Saturday night, he really showed how much better he was at timing in coverage, being tough toward the run, and using his speed to close out on blitzes.