It's time to look at the playing time for the Arizona Cardinals in their Week 16 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. You will see a couple of interesting things.
There were 69 offensive snaps for Arizona and 67 defensive snaps.
Offense
Quarterback: Ryan Lindley, 68; Logan Thomas, 1
There was a package of plays for Thomas, but he only got the one play. On Monday when Bruce Arians spoke with eth media, he told reporters Thomas didn't play more because "part of his package was out of the game plan once we went down two scores."
Offensive line: Paul Fanaika, 69; Jared Veldheer, 69; Lyle Sendlein, 69; Bobby Massie, 69; Ted Larsen, 62; Earl Watford, 7
Watford came in for a few plays when Larsen left with an injury.
Running backs: Stepfan Taylor, 34; Marion Grice, 21; Kerwynn Williams, 6; Robert Hughes, 4
One of the biggest questions people had during the game was why Williams didn't play more. Arians said on Sunday it was because of pass blocking. Once they were down enough, they had to pass the ball. Taylor and Grice are much better in pass protection.
Wide receivers: Michael Floyd, 68; Larry Fitzgerald, 65; John Brown, 54; Jaron Brown, 8; Ted Ginn, 5
This is pretty typical, but with the lack of snaps for Jaron Brown and Ginn tells us the offense used more plays with tight ends.
Tight ends: Darren Fells, 32; John Carlson, 28; Rob Housler, 20
Once again it is Fells getting more time. Carlson got more time late as they tried to throw the ball more. That meant more Carlson.
Defense:
Defensive backs: Rashad Johnson, 67; Patrick Peterson, 67; Antonio Cromartie, 65; Deone Bucannon, 35; Jerraud Powers, 35; Justin Bethel, 7
Johnson and Peterson getting all the snaps is not surprising. I don't think Johnson has missed a snap all season. I missed the two plays Cromartie was out. He does come out in goalline formations, but I do not recall one. With Bethel's playing time, you can see that the defense went with seven defensive backs a few times.
Linebackers: Larry Foote, 67; Alex Okafor, 65; Matt Shaughnessy, 43; Kevin Minter, 19; Glenn Carson, 9; Marcus Benard, 6; Sam Acho, 5; Lorenzo Alexander, 1; Kenny Demens, 1
The general distribution of snaps is not surprising, but the fact that Glenn Carson got snaps again is telling. When he originally made the team, the coaches spoke very highly of him, but then he was inactive for almost every week. Now he is getting playing time. Does this mean the staff isn't completely thrilled with Kevin Minter? Carson was getting Minter's reps in base formations.
We might see more of him. "I like the way (Carson) plays football," head coach Bruce Arians told reporters on Monday. "He's tough, he's smart, he's made an impression on us all year and we'll continue to work him in there."
I don't recall when Demens got on the field on defense.
Defensive linemen: Calais Campbell, 59; Frostee Rucker, 41; Tommy Kelly, 38; Dan Williams, 36; Josh Mauro, 11
This was pretty typical. Williams got more time because the defense played more base. Mauro got playing time again after not seeing much since the first Seattle game.