Miami Dolphins Week 2 offensive snap counts

The Miami Dolphins beat the Los Angeles Chargers 19-17 this past Sunday, opening their regular season campaign with a 1-0 record. The game featured highs and lows on both sides of the ball, with the offense starting the game extremely conservatively, but opening it up more in the second half. Looking back at the game through the offensive snap counts, we can make some observations about the team.

For the offensive line, four of the five positions saw players play all 68 snaps, with tackles Laremy Tunsil and Ja’Wuan James, guard Jermon Bushrod, and center Mike Pouncey all in that group. The left guard position saw Anthony Steen start and play 46 snaps, 68 percent of the game, while Jesse Davis played 22 snaps, or 32 percent of the offensive plays. It seemed like Davis was playing a lot in the game, and it was noticed and remarked several times throughout the game by reporters at the stadium, that Davis may have been replacing Steen. It does seem, however, that the two were rotating. On Monday, head coach Adam Gase explained, “We were going to play them both.” He then added, “I thought both of them did well. They’re not making it real easy on us to make any kind of decision long term so that’s good. I think having competition like that and two guys that really want to be out there, I think that’s a good thing.”

For the running back position, the team clearly is looking to Jay Ajayi to be the feature back - with him on the field for 94 percent of the offensive plays. The four snaps he did not play saw Damien Williams take three plays and Kenyan Drake on the field once.

Wide receiver was a little surprising. DeVante Parker (63 of 68 plays), Jarvis Landry (62 of 68), and Kenny Stills (60 of 68), was not unexpected as the three starters should see the bulk of the playing time. The surprise was the lack of playing time for Leonte Carroo (2 of 68) and Jakeem Grant (1 of 68), who both are expected to factor more into the offense this season. Maybe the game plan just never turned to where they were going to be featured, maybe the coaching staff just did not want to show too much too early in the season, but three snaps combined for Carroo and Grant seems low.

Quarterback obviously was 100 percent Jay Cutler for the game, while the tight end position was not a surprise with Julius Thomas on the field to 65 snaps, Anthony Fasano picking up 16 plays, and MarQueis Gray adding three snaps.

The full snap counts, as well as the start of the season long running totals are below.

Week 2 Snap Counts