http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/
One aspect of the Patriots' season-opening victory that stood out was rookie Jerod Mayo never leaving the field. He was the only defender to go wire to wire.
From time to time, we'll break down the participation numbers of defensive players in games. Those numbers can sometimes provide a greater understanding of how certain players are being employed.
Here was how it looked against the Chiefs:
ILB Jerod Mayo -- 63 of 63 snaps
OLB Mike Vrabel -- 61 of 63
OLB Adalius Thomas -- 58 of 63
S Rodney Harrison -- 57 of 63
CB Ellis Hobbs -- 54 of 63
S James Sanders -- 53 of 63
DE Richard Seymour -- 51 of 63
NT Vince Wilfork -- 48 of 63
DE Ty Warren -- 46 of 63
CB Lewis Sanders -- 42 of 63
ILB Tedy Bruschi -- 41 of 63
S Brandon Meriweather -- 36 of 63
CB Deltha O'Neal -- 34 of 63
DE Jarvis Green -- 29 of 63
NT Mike Wright -- 11 of 63
OLB Pierre Woods -- 7 of 63
ILB Gary Guyton -- 3 of 63
(snaps include one Chiefs holding penalty)
ANALYSIS: For all the chatter about how difficult it is for a rookie to learn the Bill Belichick scheme, Mayo topped the play-time charts, as he was part of every package. ... The Patriots utilized a few different sub packages, but most often ILB Tedy Bruschi/DE Ty Warren would come off, with S Brandon Meriweather/DE Jarvis Green coming on. ... Notable was that rookie cornerbacks Terrence Wheatley and Jonathan Wilhite did not play, with more experienced players Ellis Hobbs/Lewis Sanders/Deltha O'Neal rotating as the top three options.