Offensive and defensive snap counts for Cardinals vs. Cowboys

The NFL released its snap counts for Week 9 and we can look at the game for the Arizona Cardinals against the Dallas Cowboys.

Let's see where the playing time went

Offense:

On offense, there were 67 snaps. As you would hope, starting quarterback Carson Palmer and the starting offensive linemen (Jared Veldheer, Ted Larsen, Lyle Sendlein, Paul Fanaika, Bobby Massie) were in the game for every snap. That means no one got hurt. Yay!

Running backs: Andre Ellington, 45; Robert Hughes, 17; Marion Grice, 9

Ellington continues to be the bell cow -- 45 snaps, 21 carries and four catches. Hughes was used more as there were a few more two-back sets (I haven't charted formations quite yet, but it appeared that way). Grice got some snaps, which was great to see.

Wide receivers: Larry Fitzgerald, 62; Michael Floyd, 56; John Brown, 36; Jaron Brown, 11; Ted Ginn, 11

The one thing here you will notice is that Jaron Brown and Ginn had the same number of snaps. For the past couple of weeks, the Cardinals have used more four-wide sets, some with no running back. I even saw a couple of five-wide sets as well.

Tight ends: John Carlson, 58; Rob Housler, 26; Troy Niklas, 4

Niklas was scarcely used. Housler was barely noticed. The position has been a disappointment so far. Some wish Carlson were invisible too after the three drops he had.

Defense:

There were 64 snaps for the Cardinals on defense. Larry Foote and Rashad Johnson were the only ones to play every snap, while Patrick Peterson played one less than the max.

Defensive backs: Rashad Johnson, 64; Patrick Peterson, 63; Antonio Cromartie, 60; Jerraud Powers, 40; Deone Bucannon, 39; Tyrann Mathieu, 34; Tony Jefferson, 19

I'll have to look at the game again for my charting, but it would appear that the Cardinals went a few plays with three DBs, as Cromartie was off the field three times and Peterson was not. Jefferson's playing time went down, but I noticed early on that Bucannon was actually at safety. It would appear that Jefferson was limited after having missed practice time during the week and because of the concern the team had about his concussion.

LInebackers: Larry Foote, 64; Alex Okafor, 53; Sam Acho, 50; Kevin Minter, 12; Lorenzo Alexander, 5; Marcus Benard, 3

The interesting thing about playing time here is that Minter played very little against a team who runs well. They decided to go with four linemen instead of the run-stuffing Minter. At OLB, it continues to be the Longhorn show of Acho and Okafor.

Defensive linemen: Calais Campbell, 57; Tommy Kelly, 40; Frostee Rucker, 35; Ed Stinson, 33; Dan Williams, 30; Kareem Martin, 3

Martin has apparently fallen out of the rotation and appears only in goalline jumbo sets. The way the playing time went after Campbell's is probably ideal -- all the guys getting about the same amount of time. That is especially ideal with Rucker and Kelly both on the wrong side of 30.