Miami Dolphins Week 8 Snap Counts ... And What They Mean
What stands out when we examine the snap count for the Miami Dolphins in their victory against the Los Angeles Rams is the wide disparity between the offensive and defensive players.
That's due to the Rams having the ball on offense for 36:29. Los Angeles Rams ran an eye-opening 95 plays to only 49 for the Dolphins.
Two of the Dolphins' defensive players managed to play all 95 snaps, cornerback Xavien Howard and safety Bobby McCain.
Byron Jones missed seven defensive snaps when he had to leave with what fortunately turned out to be a minor injury.
Among defensive linemen, Emmanuel Ogbah led the way with 69 snaps followed by Zach Sieler with 65. It's safe to say by now that Sieler has become a full-fledged member of the defensive line rotation. He actually got the start along with rookie Raekwon Davis and Ogbah when the Dolphins opened with three defensive linemen.
Christian Wilkins didn't start for the second time this season but played 58 defensive snaps, which is a pretty large work load for a defensive lineman, and that was in addition to his one snap at fullback (on Myles Gaskin's touchdown run in the second quarter) and 10 snaps on special teams.
At linebacker, Kyle Van Noy played 90 snaps in his return to action after missing the Jets game because of groin/foot injuries.
On offense, Preston Williams was the skill position player who got the most snaps with 44 of the 49.
DeVante Parker did not start and played only 29 snaps, though one has to suspect his groin injury might have played a role in that. Remember that Parker was limited in practice until Friday because of that injury he sustained in the victory against the Jets on Oct. 18.
Myles Gaskin, as usual, easily led the way among running backs with 43 snaps followed by eight snaps for Matt Breida. In his NFL debut, Malcolm Perry started and played seven snaps, including two where he took the snap as a Wildcat quarterback. He carried once for a 5-yard loss after making his first NFL reception, good for a 10-yard gain.
The tight end snaps were split fairly evenly, with 32 for Durham Smythe, 28 for Mike Gesicki and 16 for Adam Shaheen, who was able to play after being listed questionable on the final injury report of the week. Smythe started alongside three wide receivers — Williams and Grant, plus Perry if you want to count him at that position even though he's really like an RB/WR.
On special teams, unit captain Clayton Fejedelem led the way with 27 snaps. He was one of seven players to get 20 or more snaps on special teams.
One of those was rookie Noah Igbinoghene, who played only seven snaps on defense (while Jones was out of the game) but 23 in the kicking game.
