Dolphins Week 6 review: Offensive snap counts from Jets shutout

Earlier this week, I tried to put together the snap count charts to review the Miami Dolphins’ shutout win over the New York Jets. I had some technical difficulties, leading to me not being able to post them. I wanted to make sure we kept up with everything, however, so today we will take a look back at the game through the playing time for each player.

The biggest news of the game was obviously the NFL debut for rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Miami, with the game well in hand, replaced starter Ryan Fitzpatrick with Tagovailoa for the final two minutes in what seemed like a chance to get the rookie a few game-experience snaps. Those five snaps, however, were the first five snaps of Tagovailoa becoming the Dolphins’ starting quarterback. Since the end of the game, Miami has made the move to replace Fitzpatrick, who had not missed a snap this season, including the first 51 of this game, until those final five plays.

At running back, Jordan Howard was again inactive, the second-straight week the free agent acquisition was a healthy scratch from Miami’s roster. He has played 29 snaps of a possible 392 this year, giving him just seven percent of the playing time. It continues to be a bad showing from a player who was expected to give the Dolphins’ rushing game a much-needed boost.

That boost, instead, has come from Myles Gaskin, who played 39 snaps on Sunday, taking 70 percent of the playing time. Matt Breida picked up 16 snaps, or 29 percent of the plays, while Patrick Laird was in for six snaps (11 percent). Fullback Chandler Cox saw his snap count drop from Week 5’s season-high 23 back to 12 (21 percent).

The tight ends were odd this week. While the playing time made sense, Mike Gesicki playing 37 snaps (66 percent), Durham Smythe playing 19 snaps (34 percent), and Adam Shaheen appearing on 16 plays (29 percent), the game stats are, essentially, backwards. Shaheen caught three passes for a team-high 51 yards with a touchdown. Smythe caught one pass for four yards with a touchdown. And Gesicki was held without a catch on two targets. It seemed odd that Gesicki was just shutdown by the Jets, to the point that it did not seem like he was even on the field, despite being out there for two of every three plays.

Nothing was overly surprising for the offensive line. Left tackle Jesse Davis, left guard Ereck Flowers, center Ted Karras, and right tackle Robert Hunt each played all 56 snaps for the game. Right guard Solomon Kindley missed one snap, the first snap he has not played this season. Adam Pankey filled in for Kindley on that snap, plus played three more as the team’s sixth offensive lineman.

The wide receivers continue to be led by DeVante Parker, who played 46 snaps (82 percent), and Preston Williams, 40 snaps (71 percent). Behind them, Jakeem Grant played 20 snaps (36 percent), Isaiah Ford made 18 appearances (32 percent), Lynn Bowden, Jr., played five snaps (nine percent), and Mack Hollins was on the field for three plays (five percent).