At the bottom of this post you’ll find full numbers, but first a few things that stand out when looking at the playing time percentages for the Seahawks in Sunday’s game.
Offense
—Because of Russell Okung’s injury, backup Alvin Bailey played 48 percent of the snaps at left tackle. Other than those two, all of the linemen, as well as quarterback Russell Wilson, played all 65 offensive snaps.
—In addition to playing 17 snaps at fullback, Will Tukuafu also did spot duty on the defensive line, playing four snaps.
—Jermaine Kearse (83 percent) Doug Baldwin (82 percent) and Paul Richardson (55 percent) saw the bulk of the action at receiver, with Ricardo Lockette, Chris Matthews and Bryan Walters playing just 15 snaps between the three of them.
—Running back playing time broke down about as you might expect, with Marshawn Lynch playing 74 percent of the snaps, Robert Turbin playing 22 percent and Christine Michael playing 8 percent.
—The tight end breakdown was 69 percent for Luke Willson, 51 percent for Tony Moeaki.
Defense
—Pete Carroll was vague about what he would do at cornerback now that everyone is healthy, but in this game at least, Jeremy Lane was the odd man out, going from Seattle’s regular nickel back before his glute injury to a special-teams-only contributor against San Francisco. Byron Maxwell played every snap, while Tharold Simon came in when the Seahawks went nickel, playing 38 percent of the snaps.
—As has been the case since the Seahawks got healthy at linebacker, Super Bowl MVP Malcolm Smith was the odd man out, no playing a down on defense.
—Once again, Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Byron Maxwell, Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright were on the field for every play on defense. Bruce Irvin played all but two of Seattle’s 58 defensive snaps.
—As usual, Michael Bennett (90 percent) and Cliff Avril (78 percent) played the most of the defensive lineman, though Kevin Williams and Tony McDaniel both had busy days as well, playing 66 percent of the snaps, quite a bit more than their usual work load.
—Jordan Hill’s big two-sack game is made all the more impressive when you consider he played just one third of Seattle’s defensive snaps.
Special teams
—Brock Coyle, DeShawn Shead, Mike Morgan, Malcolm Smith and Jeron Johnson all played 84 percent of the special teams plays, while Jeremy Lane played 63 percent. This continues a trend for the Seahawks of having the biggest special teams contributors being players who don’t play on offense or defense, something they couldn’t do when injuries were piling up earlier this season.
—Recently-signed receiver Chris Matthews played 58 percent of the special teams snaps, and that, not his play at receiver, is why he was active over Kevin Norwood.
#Seahawks snap counts on offense: pic.twitter.com/ar7UOpL7GB
— John Boyle (@johnpboyle) December 15, 2014
… and #Seahawks snap counts on defense/special teams; pic.twitter.com/7FfqRnkDnV
— John Boyle (@johnpboyle) December 15, 2014
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.