Sunday’s 38-6 loss in Baltimore was one of the low points of the Dan Campbell era in Detroit. The Lions got whipped on both sides of the ball by a sharp Ravens squad.
The snap counts from the game are an interesting reflection of the Lions loss. Detroit racked up 75 snaps on offense to just 60 on defense, but the splits from the halves were wild; Baltimore ran 37 offensive plays in the first half to Detroit’s 25, en route to a 28-0 halftime lead. A lot of the Lions offensive snaps and production came in garbage time.
The entire starting offensive line and QB Jared Goff played all 75 snaps, with WR Amon-Ra St. Brown playing all but two. Jahmyr Gibbs dominated the RB snaps with David Montgomery out. The rookie played 65, with backup Craig Reynolds only notching seven reps. Devine Ozigbo and Mo Ibrahim only played on special teams.
There was one other player in the backfield: Malcolm Rodriguez. The backup linebacker took two snaps at fullback. Rodriguez hadn’t played on defense since Week 4, though he did get on the field for one snap at his regular position.
Behind St. Brown, Josh Reynolds was the clear No. 2 at wide receiver:
- Reynolds – 55
- Antoine Green – 33
- Jameson Williams – 33
- Kalif Raymond – 27
Maybe it was the early blowout status impacting the snaps and usage. That’s certainly possible. However, it’s interesting that Raymond was out-snapped by young players who contributed nothing (zero catches on seven combined targets) in the game.
On defense, the biggest eyebrow raise comes from Benito Jones getting the most reps of the DT rotation. Jones played 40 reps, with Alim McNeill at 38 and Isaiah Buggs at 33. John Cominsky played 37 snaps and at least a handful of those were inside the 5T alignment, though we don’t have the exact breakdown yet.
In his return from I.R., Josh Paschal logged 17 snaps. That’s more than both Romeo and Julian Okwara, who played 10 and eight, respectively.
In the second half, Khalil Dorsey came in and repped 10 plays at cornerback. Those were the only 10 plays where Will Harris was off the field. Steven Gilmore played two reps at CB, while Ifeatu Melifonwu saw four reps — all in a safety role. Chase Lucas did not play on defense once again.
