Game 3 Snap Counts: Our rotation is insane

Rechards is a good one. He showed great to awareness on Lee's catch near the sideline. Lee was like five feet away from the side line.

Alright...

- rotating 7 healthy OL as a game time strategy is something I've never heard of before

- although they didn't show it Week 3, the 4 TE set feels unprecedented

- BB seems ready and willing to feature 4 running backs, although any given week there only seems to be enough snaps for three of them

- with Keyshawn flashing and Dobson actually contributing, once Lafell comes back we're talking 5-deep at receiver with KT as a 6-option

- although not getting snaps against the Jags, Rufus Johnson played against the Bills as a 4th DE and Flowers is a legit 5th

- at LB, Collins and Hightower are incredible and the luxury of having an elite player like Mayo coming off the bench is astonishing

- Jordan Richards was a revelation to me in Week 3, especially that play when he lifted and carried (not pushed) Allen Robinson out of bounds to force the incompletion. Incredible physical and heady play from a rookie. Harmon got beat for a garbage time TD but I'm still high on him, putting us legit 4 deep at S

- that leaves only DT and CB...and here I can't be as profuse with my praise. With Easley heathy and disruptive, Siliga, Branch and Brown feel like terrific depth. Ceiling is high but I'm not sold in this unit quite yet. If Brown starts flashing Wilfork type playmaking, and Easley actually plays each week, my hopes are fulfilled.

- and at CB, we are still famously thin beyond our #1 guy. Brown seems fine, Ryan inconsistent and Coleman a complete question mark

- we have the best Kicker in the league, a lefty punter with a huge leg that we rarely need, a rookie LS from Navy...and can I give a shout out for Slater stopping that fake punt to force a turnover on downs?

What other team in the history of the NFL is this strong and smart 53 players deep?

I just wish we had carried Brandon Browner for one more year, and that our two young first round DTs would display their true potential on game day. That's really all there is to be wished for.

Amazing team.

I am happy to see this, especially when it comes to Ninko, C. Jones, and the O-Line. Ninko and C. Jones have been playing so much the past few seasons, with Ninko logging something like 98 percent of the snaps each of the past two seasons. Chandler Jones should benefit by not breaking down as much at the end of games. I love the rotation.

Fencer said:

If those figures are correct, there were at least 11 snaps with 3 tackles. Also, adding Mason's, Jackson's and Kline's snaps together gives 1 less than 2X the total number of snaps.

Based on that, I conjecture that Mason's snaps at FB may have come in sets where 3 "tackles" played.

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Cannon played some guard. I don't think they trust him as a pass blocker inside, but he's part of the "you know we're running and still can't stop it" offense.

@MarkDanielsPJ: I didn't realize that Cannon played so much guard yesterday. He was at LG for Blount's first two runs of the 3rd & at RG for Blount's 1st TD

@MarkDanielsPJ: The o-line for all three of Blount's touchdowns: Solder-Kline-Andrews-Cannon-Vollmer + Mason as fullback and Williams as extra TE

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Pats-Phan said:

- Love seeing Fletcher inactive. We never should have signed him.
- the rotation at DE is great. I seriously wonder if we can afford to keep 3 high quality DE's moving forward but right now it's awesome to have talented depth
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Ninkovich will be 33 when his contract is up after the 2016 season. Don't expect him to be re-signed. I expect that Sheard will have been given a contract extension by then. And Jones as well. And one can only hope that Flowers, Grissom and Rufus Johnson have progressed by then to have one of them contributing to the rotation.. Though two of them stepping up could mean that Jones or Sheard aren't re-signed..

VrabelJr said:

I think Keshawn Martin is what we thought we were getting when we drafted Josh Boyce. So far Martin looks pretty promising. Great for a rookie to step in on a short week (for him) and grab three passes. So much for the "YOU HAVE TO EARN BRADY'S TRUST!!!" meme.

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Keyshawn Martin isn't a rookie and he was with the team for 10+ days prior to yesterday's game.. He was inactive for game 2 against the Bills.

Pats-Phan said:

- Love seeing Fletcher inactive. We never should have signed him.
- the rotation at DE is great. I seriously wonder if we can afford to keep 3 high quality DE's moving forward but right now it's awesome to have talented depth
- at LB I would like to see Mayo get a little more PT in sub packages just to keep him fresh, especially in blowouts like this one, but this is picking nits.
- DT: good to see Easley out there and props to Branch and Silinga for shutting down the running game of Jax

- it's nice to see Blount back to form. We will need him as the season moves along.
- Keshawn Martin looks good and got a lot of snaps. I'm sure he knew some of the offensive schemes since he played for BOB. Hopefully Bill did Bill a solid and sent us a good player as a thank you.
- props to the OL who continue to excel

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BB in turn, sent BOB a QB who could turn into a better than average guy with more experience. Mallett may yet turn out to be a solution to the Texans QB problems...

Jeff Howe @jeffphowe
The Patriots didn't use the same offensive line combination for back-to-back series a single time yesterday.

Wowza

VrabelJr said:

I think Keshawn Martin is what we thought we were getting when we drafted Josh Boyce. So far Martin looks pretty promising. Great for a rookie to step in on a short week (for him) and grab three passes. So much for the "YOU HAVE TO EARN BRADY'S TRUST!!!" meme.

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He's not a rookie. He's in his fourth season for god's sake! He's played in 49 NFL games!

rochrist said:

He's not a rookie. He's in his fourth season for god's sake! He's played in 49 NFL games!

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That's my bad! Thank you and @DaBruinz for setting me straight.

I'm guessing the rotation might not have been as diverse in a close game. The bottom half of the roster got a lot more time than usual I would think in the last quarter of the blow out.

hambone1818 said:

Incredible to me that not only are the coaches scheming for their opponent and game situation but also rotating across all positions. It really is unprecedented to have the O-line rotate through like this, to have the entire defense subbing in and out the way they have been. And I'm sure as time goes on the coaches will get more and more comfortable with their subs and who works best with who etc.

I'm hoping they're just easing Mayo back in and his low snap counts aren't a product of a dip in his talent/production. Would be great if he's just getting back into game form ala Gronk last season and he'll be ready to be the steadying force in the middle of the field he was a few years ago. Couple that with the secondary getting settled a bit more, and the D-line rotation keeping players fresh, and this defense could be very good when the calendar rolls to December and January.

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What's the dislike for, @edzo44? God I hate when someone does that without any kind of response...

VrabelJr said:

That's my bad! Thank you and @DaBruinz for setting me straight.

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Come on, you should be more informed about all the Texans reserve wide receivers.