Evaluating Cardinals Week 1 Snap Counts

The Arizona Cardinals fell to the Washington Commanders in 20-16 fashion yesterday, though there's generally a good feeling the Cardinals took a step in the right direction.

Arizona arrived as the second-largest underdogs in Week 1 and held a lead for the entire third quarter before seeing it slip away. The Cardinals fought much harder than most expected, though moral victories don't count in the NFL.

Snap counts from yesterday via Pro Football Reference:

Offense

Every Cardinals OL played 100% of the snaps, a good sign for building continuity moving forward. Rookie Paris Johnson debuted at right tackle and managed to hold his own.

Josh Dobbs started for Arizona and led the Cardinals to just 210 net yards of offense. His 4.4 yards per attempt was nowhere near good enough to lead his team to victory, and the two fumbles (one coming under center) proved to be costly. They'll need him to take the next step in Week 2.

Rookie WR Michael Wilson made his NFL debut and paced all receivers with 56 snaps on the day. TE Zach Ertz reeled in a massive ten targets while WR Rondale Moore led the Cardinals in receiving yards (33) despite only playing 42 snaps. He caught all three of his targets.

Jesse Luketa playing fullback wasn't just a joke in the preseason. He registered four snaps on offense.

James Conner - expected to be the workhorse back in Arizona - heavily out-snapped his backups with 52 plays (83.8% of snaps). RB2 Keaontay Ingram played just seven downs while Emari Demercado had just three.

Defense

Four players played every single snap for Arizona's defense: Budda Baker, Kyzir White, Kei'Trel Clark and Marco Wilson. Jalen Thompson was one snap away from doing the same.

Arizona did a good job of rotating their defensive front, as 14 different players registered 12 snaps or more on the day. Zaven Collins (59%) and Dennis Gardeck (39.4%) were both impactful when on the field as starters.

Cameron Thomas scored the lone touchdown of the day on a scoop-and-score towards the end of the first half. He played 26 snaps.

The Cardinals utilized K'Von Wallace frequently as a third safety, and he impressed in the 50 snaps he played. We weren't sure how Arizona would move forward without Isaiah Simmons in the mix, but they like what they had behind him.