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The Miami Dolphins defense was on the field for 77 snaps on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Only player, safety Reshad Jones, played all 77 snaps, meaning he is now the only defensive player to have played every snap this season. Fellow safety, Chris Clemons, missed his first two snaps of the year, completing 75 of the 77 this week, and knocking him down to 99% of the season snaps.
Cornerback Brent Grimes saw 74 of the snaps, with his 96% of the plays actually being below his season percentage of 98% of the snaps played. Nolan Carroll, who was once again in the starting lineup for the injured Dimitri Patterson, played 60 snaps, while Jimmy Wilson was in for 29 plays. Rookie Jamar Taylor had to fill in for Carroll when the veteran got injured, playing 15 snaps in just his second NFL game.
When it came to the linebackers, the Dolphins were forced to throw anyone with "LB" as their position onto the field at some point on Sunday, with Philip Wheeler leading the way with 75 snaps. Koa Misi played 47, while Jason Trusnik added 43 of his own. Rookie Jelani Jenkins played 18 snaps. while starter Dannell Ellerbe, who left the game with a shoulder injury, only took 16 snaps. Jonathan Freeny added nine snaps, while the newly re-signed Austin Spitler made his season debut with one defensive snap.
Along the defensive line, the starting lineup consisted of Cameron Wake, Paul Soliai, Randy Starks, and Olivier Vernon. However, it didn't take long for that to change. Wake only played three snaps on the day, giving way to Derrick Shelby, who played 55 snaps. Paul Soliai (50) and Randy Starks (46) continued their three man rotation with Jared Odrick, who played the most of the three, with 54 snaps. On the other side, Olivier Vernon again paced the line, playing 69 of the 77 snaps, or 90% pf the plays. The team also saw rookie Dion Jordan (21) and Marvin Austin (10) on the field.
The Dolphins have the bye this week before facing the Buffalo Bills in Week 7. While the offense has to use the bye to try to fix some of the weaknesses that have been exposed, the defense really needs this bye week to get healthy. Hopefully that will happen.
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