Leading up to Thursday’s game in Chicago, New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel spoke about the challenge the Bears’ ability to control the flow of games presents. They entered Week 7 having run the second-most offensive plays in the league, while simultaneously also ranking second in fewest plays to defend.
“They just haven’t had a lot of plays against them,” said Vrabel on the eve of the game. “So, that’s the challenge, being able to flip the script a little bit, not let them run 73 plays and only have to defend 50.”
The split wasn’t quite that drastic in the actual game, but not too far off either: the Patriots offense was on the field for a season-low 54 snaps after averaging 63.8 over the first six weeks of the season. Likewise, their defensive workload jumped from a season-long average of 57.2 to 69.
That split, which also is reflected in the time of possession numbers from the game, contributed to the eventual outcome. New England’s offense, after all, was fairly efficient moving the football but after going only 3-for-8 on combined third and fourth downs simply didn’t have enough opportunities to hang with the Bears; one more possession in a one-score game could have been all that was needed for the result to change.
Alas, that didn’t happen. Here is our full snap count report from the Patriots’ 30-24 loss.
Total snaps: 54 | Time on the field: 26:24 | * denotes starter
QB Drake Maye* (54; 100%), LT Will Campbell* (54; 100%), LG Walter Rouse* (54; 100%), C Jared Wilson* (54; 100%), RG Matt Pryor* (54; 100%), RT Morgan Moses* (54; 100%), WR A.J. Brown* (49; 91%), TE Hunter Henry* (41; 76%), RB Rhamondre Stevenson* (37; 69%), WR DeMario Douglas* (35; 65%), WR Efton Chism III (34; 63%), TE Eli Raridon (29; 54%), WR Kyle Williams* (21; 39%), RB TreVeyon Henderson (13; 24%), RB Corey Kiner (6; 11%), TE Cameron Latu (4; 7%), OT/TE Caleb Lomu (1; 2%)
Let’s start with one of the game’s silver linings: for the first time since Week 4, the Patriots offensive line was able to go wire-to-wire. Granted, the unit is currently relying on backups at both left and right guard, but they at least managed to come out of the game unscathed. With three guards already on injured reserve (Alijah Vera-Tucker, Mike Onwenu, Greg Van Roten) and another also nursing an injury (Ben Brown) that is a positive development.
At wide receiver, A.J. Brown played a high number of snaps in just his second game back from a high ankle sprain that had sidelined him for four weeks. His production doesn’t look the part yet, but his conditioning seems to be at the appropriate level after his time missed. DeMario Douglas and Efton Chism were the primary wideouts used alongside him, with Kyle Williams still little more than a package option.
Even though the Patriots operated out of 11-personnel quite bit on Thursday, their wide receivers were relatively quiet in terms of production. Of Drake Maye’s 24 pass completions, 17 went to either a tight end or running back. The former spot saw no surprises from a playing time perspective, with Hunter Henry the top option and rookie Eli Raridon as TE2. At running back, meanwhile, Rhamondre Stevenson carried the bulk of the load while TreVeyon Henderson — 11 days removed from spraining his ankle — played only 13 snaps while effectively sharing RB2 duties with Corey Kiner.
Total snaps: 69 | Time on the field: 31:23 | * denotes starter
LB Robert Spillane* (69; 100%), LB Christian Elliss* (69; 100%), CB Christian Gonzalez* (69; 100%), S Craig Woodson* (69; 100%), CB Marcus Jones* (67; 97%), S Kevin Byard III *(65; 94%), ED Elijah Ponder* (57; 83%), ED Dre’Mont Jones* (44; 64%), DT Cory Durden* (43; 62%), DT Milton Williams* (41; 59%), CB Charles Woods* (38; 55%), ED Gabe Jacas (36; 52%), DT Christian Barmore (35; 51%), DT DaQuan Jones (28; 41%), DT Leonard Taylor III (18; 26%), S Jaylen Reed (5; 7%), S Mike Brown (4; 6%), LB Darius Muasau (1; 1%), S Brenden Schooler (1; 1%)
Even though he was a late addition to the injury report due to an illness, Christian Gonzalez ended up playing all 69 defensive snaps against the Bears — one of four players to do so. Not among that group was usual 100-percenter Kevin Byard, who briefly exited with an apparent shoulder injury in the second quarter but stayed out for only four plays before his return.
In those four plays, Mike Brown took the field as the second safety next to Craig Woodson. Brown, who opened the season on the practice squad, was one of three backup safeties seeing the field on defense. Jaylen Reed played five snaps as a slot and box defender, while Brenden Schooler played one third-down snap as a quarterback spy against Caleb Williams.
Also heavily involved in the secondary was Charles Woods, who started his third straight game as an injury replacement on the defensive perimeter. He filled Carlton Davis’ spot in the lineup, but entered the field in nickel packages with Marcus Jones typically bumping inside into the slot in that case.
Up front, Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss again manned the linebacker spot even though Darius Muasau also entered for one snap. The edge rotation also looked as it normally does, with second-year man Elijah Ponder continuing to play a high-volume role. On the interior, Cory Durden played a season-high 43 snaps — eight more than Christian Barmore, who was used primarily on passing downs and had what could have been a game-changing sack in the late fourth quarter (if not for Bears kicker Cairo Santos making a 58-yard field goal afterwards).
Total snaps: 28 | Time on the field: 2:13
S Brenden Schooler (24; 86%), S Jaylen Reed (24; 86%), S/PP Mike Brown (24; 86%), LB Namdi Obiazor (23; 82%), TE Cameron Latu (21; 75%), LB Erick Hunter (18; 64%), LB Darius Muasau (17; 61%), ED Benton Whitley (13; 46%), DT Cory Durden (11; 39%), ED Elijah Ponder (11; 39%), ED Gabe Jacas (11; 39%), P/H Mitch Wishnowsky (9; 32%), LS Julian Ashby (8; 29%), RB/KR Corey Kiner (7; 25%), WR/KR Kyle Williams (7; 25%), DT Milton Williams (7; 25%), DT DaQuan Jones (7; 25%), K Andy Borregales (7; 25%), CB Kindle Vildor (6; 21%), DT Christian Barmore (5; 18%), DT Leonard Taylor III (5; 18%), OT Will Campbell (4; 14%), OT Caleb Lomu (4; 14%), OL Walter Rouse (4; 14%), OL Matt Pryor (4; 14%), OL Xavier Newman-Johnson (4; 14%), CB/PR Marcus Jones (2; 7%)
The Patriots used seven players in a core-four role on Thursday. Brenden Schooler, Jaylen Reed, Mike Brown, Namdi Obiazor, Cameron Latu, Erick Hunter and Darius Muasau were on the field as part of the kickoff return, kickoff coverage, punt return and punt coverage units. Two recent roster additions, Elliott Davison and practice squad elevatee Benton Whitley, played on three units.
New England also attempted its first onside kick this season, and it was punter Mitch Wishnowsky taking it rather than typical kickoff specialist/place kicker Andy Borregales. The kick was recovered by Chicago to seal the game.
QB Tommy DeVito, TE Tanner Arkin, OT Dametrious Crownover
A close, competitive game can only mean one thing: Tommy DeVito not seeing the field. For a sixth time in seven games this year, the Patriots’ backup quarterback spent all 60 minutes on the sidelines. This time, however, he had company. Rookies Tanner Arkin and Dametrious Crownover, who have mostly resided on the inactives list this year, dressed for the game but were emergency options only.
QB3 Behren Morton, RG Ben Brown, DT Joshua Farmer, CB Carlton Davis III, CB Channing Canada, CB Karon Prunty
After placing Alijah Vera-Tucker on injured reserve, the Patriots were left with four players ruled out for Thursday: Ben Brown (knee) as well as cornerbacks Carlton Davis (neck), Karon Prunty (hamstring) and Channing Canada (hamstring). This meant that there were two open spots on the inactives list entering Thursday. They filled them with third-string quarterback Behren Morton and, maybe. more surprisingly, sophomore defensive tackle Joshua Farmer.
Farmer had missed two of three days leading up to the game for personal reasons, and despite not carrying a game designation into Thursday was ruled out.
