Snap observations: Despite depth, Lions lean on LBs
Green Bay, Wis. — Given the Packers' passing strength and the Lions' depth issues at linebacker, it's curious how often the Lions were in a base 4-3 defense and not their nickel sub-package during Sunday's 34-27 loss. Primary nickel corner Quandre Diggs actually played two fewer snaps than Zaviar Gooden, who came into the game as a performance replacement for Thurston Armbrister during the first quarter.
It might have had a lot to do with Green Bay jumping out to a big lead in the first half and leaning on run game personnel through much of the final two quarters. Detroit's defensive strategy still came up short as Green Bay running back Eddie Lacy ran for 61 yards on 11 second-half carries.
This was the second straight week Diggs played fewer than 50 percent of the defensive snaps. That had happened just one in the eight previous games.
Here are some additional observations from Sunday's snap counts.
• Linebacker Kyle Van Noy, who was questionable coming into the contest, played 48 of the 54 defensive snaps.
• Tight end Khari Lee, who was on the field for 20 offensive plays last week, only worked on special teams against the Packers. Rookie Cole Wick returned to action after a one-week injury absence and filled the backup tight end role, playing 16 snaps.
• Running back Zach Zenner also didn't take a snap with the offense in his season debut. He was limited to special teams work.
• In his professional debut, defensive end Anthony Zettel played seven defensive snaps.
• One week after playing a career-high 35 snaps as an emergency linebacker, defensive end Brandon Copeland was limited to one defensive rep in Green Bay.
Offense | Position | Offense | % | Defense | % | Special Teams | % |
Taylor Decker | T | 68 | 100% | 6 | 21% | ||
Laken Tomlinson | G | 68 | 100% | 6 | 21% | ||
Travis Swanson | C | 68 | 100% | 6 | 21% | ||
Larry Warford | G | 68 | 100% | 6 | 21% | ||
Riley Reiff | T | 68 | 100% | 6 | 21% | ||
Matthew Stafford | QB | 68 | 100% | ||||
Marvin Jones | WR | 65 | 96% | ||||
Golden Tate | WR | 59 | 87% | ||||
Eric Ebron | TE | 58 | 85% | ||||
Anquan Boldin | WR | 53 | 78% | ||||
Theo Riddick | RB | 45 | 66% | ||||
Dwayne Washington | RB | 25 | 37% | 9 | 31% | ||
Cole Wick | TE | 16 | 24% | 4 | 14% | ||
Andre Roberts | WR | 10 | 15% | 8 | 28% | ||
Michael Burton | FB | 8 | 12% | 7 | 24% | ||
Corey Robinson | T | 1 | 1% | 6 | 21% | ||
Nevin Lawson | CB | 54 | 100% | 12 | 41% | ||
Darius Slay | CB | 54 | 100% | 6 | 21% | ||
Glover Quin | FS | 54 | 100% | 6 | 21% | ||
Tahir Whitehead | LB | 54 | 100% | 6 | 21% | ||
Kyle Van Noy | LB | 48 | 89% | 8 | 28% | ||
Rafael Bush | SS | 46 | 85% | 8 | 28% | ||
Devin Taylor | DE | 42 | 78% | 3 | 10% | ||
Haloti Ngata | DT | 36 | 67% | 4 | 14% | ||
Kerry Hyder | DE | 34 | 63% | 11 | 38% | ||
Zaviar Gooden | LB | 27 | 50% | 21 | 72% | ||
Quandre Diggs | CB | 25 | 46% | 8 | 28% | ||
Wallace Gilberry | DE | 23 | 43% | 3 | 10% | ||
A'Shawn Robinson | DT | 22 | 41% | 2 | 7% | ||
Tyrunn Walker | DT | 20 | 37% | 3 | 10% | ||
Khyri Thornton | DT | 17 | 31% | 2 | 7% | ||
Stefan Charles | DT | 14 | 26% | 1 | 3% | ||
Tavon Wilson | SS | 12 | 22% | ||||
Anthony Zettel | DE | 7 | 13% | 1 | 3% | ||
Thurston Armbrister | LB | 4 | 7% | 19 | 66% | ||
Brandon Copeland | DE | 1 | 2% | 18 | 62% | ||
Don Carey | FS | 23 | 79% | ||||
Johnson Bademosi | CB | 17 | 59% | ||||
Miles Killebrew | SS | 17 | 59% | ||||
Sam Martin | P | 14 | 48% | ||||
Graham Glasgow | C | 13 | 45% | ||||
Zach Zenner | RB | 9 | 31% | ||||
Don Muhlbach | LS | 8 | 28% | ||||
Matt Prater | K | 6 | 21% | ||||
Khari Lee | TE | 6 | 21% |