New York Giants Snap Chat: What the Week 12 Snap Counts Reveal

There are quite a few nuggets about the subtle post-bye week changes the coaches appear to have put in place based on this week's snap counts.

Snap counts, much like statistics, don't tell us everything, but they can provide a good starting point into a team's strategy. 

So let's take a look at the Giants' snap counts from their 19-17 Week 12 over the Cincinnati Bengals. (I've also added a couple of notables from Pro Football Focus in this week's report as they correspond to the snap counts.)

Running back Wayne Gallman and fullback Eli Penny continue to see their respective roles on offense increase, as both logged season highs this week. Gallman, in particular, rewarded the coaches for the increased playing time by delivering a single-game career-high 94 yards on 24 carries and his fifth straight game with at least one rushing touchdown.

The Giants didn’t do a rotation at offensive tackle, which came as no surprise given that tackle Matt Peart is on the reserve/COVID-19 list. 

But there was a rotation among the guards, or more specifically at left guard where Shane Lemieux got the start and continues to get the bulk of the snaps over  Will Hernandez, who is still thought to be recovering from his bout with COVID-19.

As expected, rookie safety Xavier McKinney made his NFL debut, earning five snaps on defense, many of those in dime coverage, and nine of special teams. 

My guess is those numbers will increase the rest of the way so long as he doesn’t have any physical setbacks.

As for how he was deployed, most of his snaps came inside the box in run support against Gio Bernard, with only one snap played as the deep free safety.

Getting back to the tackles for a moment, I mentioned how running back Alfred Morris’ eight snaps were a season-low for him this year. I wonder how much of that had to do with Peart being missing from the lineup? 

Maybe this is a coincidence, but in reviewing the tape of the last two games and pairing those up with snap counts, Morris’s turn on offense seems to coincide with Peart’s.

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see how much the Giants quarterbacks were under pressure in this game. The answer, per PFF, is not a lot. 

Daniel Jones was pressured on just two of his 30 dropbacks despite being blitzed on seven of eight drops backs.

Colt McCoy was under pressure on four of his 12 dropbacks, all four times being blitzed. McCoy isn’t quite as mobile as Jones, but again, the pressure didn’t make a difference this week.

Outside linebacker Carter Coughlin recorded a season-high 19 snaps (out of 49), undoubtedly due to Kyler Fackrell having to leave the game early with a calf injury.

Five defenders—cornerbacks James Bradberry and Isaac Yiadom, safeties Logan Ryan and Jabrill Peppers, and inside linebacker Blake Martinez —took all 49 snaps on defense. 

OFFENSE (81)

RG Kevin Zeitler 81; LT Andrew Thomas 81; C Nick Gated 81, RT Cam Fleming 81; TE Evan Engram 78; WR Sterling Shepard 63; G Shane Lemieux 57; WR Darius Slayton 56; RB Wayne Gallman 51; QB Daniel Jones 51; WR Golden Tate 46; TE Levine Toilolo 39; QB Colt McCoy 30; G Will Hernandez 26; RB Dion Lewis 22; WR Austin Mack 17; FB Eli Penny 14; WR CJ Board 9; RB Alfred Morris 8.

DEFENSE (49)

SS Jabrill Peppers 49; CB Isaac Yiadom 49; FS Logan Ryan 49; CB James Bradberry 49; ILB Blake Martinez 49; DT Leonard Williams 35; SCB Darnay Holmes 35; FS Julian Love 34; DE Deter Lawrence 25; DE Jabaal Sheard 24; LB Kyler Fackrell 23; NY Dalvin Tomlinson 21; DT B.J. Hill 20; OLB Carter Coughlin 19; ILB Tae Crowder 13; OLB Cam Brown 10; ILB Devante Downs 8; DE Niko Lalos 8; ILB David Mayo 7; NT Austin Johnson 7; DB Xavier McKinney 5.

SPECIAL TEAMS

ILB David Mayo 24; OLB Cam Brown 23; S Julian Love 22; FB Eli Penny 20; ILB Devonte Downs 20; DB Madre Harper 15; TE Levine Toilolo 13; OLB Carter Coughlin 12; WR C.J. Board 11; DE Dexter Lawrence 11; K Graham Gano 11; P Riley Dixon 10; LS Casey Kreiter 10; SS Jabrill Peppers 9; DB Brandon Williams 9; CB Isaac Yiadom 9; S Xavier McKinney 9; DL Dalvin Tomlinson 8; DE Niko Lalos 8; LB Tae Crowder 7; FS Logan Ryan 7; DT Leonard Williams 6; RG Kevin Zeitler 5; LT Andrew Thomas 5; C Nick Gates 5; RT Cameron Fleming 5; G Shane Lemieux 5; RB Dion Lewis 4; CB James Bradberry 4; DT B.J. Hill 3; NY Austin Johnson 3; OLB Kyler Fackrell 1; TE Evan Engram 1; WR Sterling Shepard 1; WR Golden Tate 1; WR Darius Slayton 1; S Nate Ebner 1.

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