The Panthers defeated the Packers 31-24 to create a much sadder ending to the fairy tale that was Aaron Rodgers return from injured reserve with a broken collarbone; the Packers are now all but eliminated from the playoff hunt as the Panthers keep pace with the Saints for the best record in the stacked NFC South. While there were some stalwarts that played every snap, it should come as no surprise to see the entire offensive line play 100% of the snaps, or to see Bradberry, Kuechly, Coleman and Davis for every down; the latter even more expected with Shaq Thompson missing his second straight game with plantar fascitis. One surprise at the top of the counts is Daryl Worley, who after spending the past two months in a rotation with Kevon Seymour, was on the field for every snap and notched his second consecutive game with an interception.
Damiere Byrd appears to continue his hold on the second wide receiver position, catching two touchdowns and picking up 68% of the snaps, while the Panthers seemed to use less heavy packages yesterday as Ed Dickson only had 34 snaps, his lowest percentage-wise of the season, even of the games when Greg Olsen was healthy. This trickled down to Chris Manhertz, who also played his fewest snaps since Week 1, aside from the Atlanta game in which he was concussed in the first quarter. Cameron Artis-Payne has had only one offensive snap in the past four games combined but continues to make contributions on special teams to add to his value. Kaelin Clay played limited snaps as well; last week he was shut down in the third quarter due to his shoulder injury flaring up, was this week’s a coaches decision?
Ron Rivera and Steve Wilks basically split the snaps usually taken by Shaq Thompson and Captain Munnerlyn, who was a healthy scratch, between Kevon Seymour and Colin Jones; Jones picked off Aaron Rodgers and played well for the second week in a row while Seymour may have been responsible for Randall Cobb on the wide receiver’s second quarter touchdown. Jairus Byrd also pitched in to cover for Thompson and Munnerlyn; the coaches like the way he uses his physicality and gets sent blitzing on multiple occasions. Linebacker Spencer Paysinger, signed two weeks ago, appears to be a direct Jared Norris replacement, playing the second-most special teams snaps as Norris misses the rest of the season on injured reserve.
The following table is sortable, so play around with the numbers and form your own conclusions.
| Player | Position | Offensive Snaps | Percentage | Defensive Snaps | Percentage | Special Teams | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M Kalil | T | 75 | 100% | 5 | 19% | ||
| A Silatolu | T | 75 | 100% | 5 | 19% | ||
| A Norwell | G | 75 | 100% | 5 | 19% | ||
| D Williams | T | 75 | 100% | 5 | 19% | ||
| C Newton | QB | 75 | 100% | ||||
| R Kalil | C | 75 | 100% | ||||
| G Olsen | TE | 73 | 97% | 1 | 4% | ||
| D Funchess | WR | 64 | 85% | 1 | 4% | ||
| C McCaffrey | RB | 53 | 71% | 1 | 4% | ||
| D Byrd | WR | 51 | 68% | 5 | 19% | ||
| E Dickson | TE | 34 | 45% | 14 | 52% | ||
| J Stewart | RB | 30 | 40% | ||||
| R Shepard | WR | 23 | 31% | 1 | 4% | ||
| B Bersin | WR | 17 | 23% | 5 | 19% | ||
| C Manhertz | TE | 15 | 20% | 9 | 33% | ||
| F Whittaker | RB | 7 | 9% | 14 | 52% | ||
| K Clay | WR | 5 | 7% | 5 | 19% | ||
| T Moton | T | 3 | 4% | 5 | 19% | ||
| J Bradberry | CB | 70 | 100% | 7 | 26% | ||
| D Worley | CB | 70 | 100% | 7 | 26% | ||
| K Coleman | FS | 70 | 100% | 7 | 26% | ||
| L Kuechly | LB | 70 | 100% | 6 | 22% | ||
| T Davis | LB | 70 | 100% | 4 | 15% | ||
| M Adams | SS | 64 | 91% | 5 | 19% | ||
| K Short | DT | 49 | 70% | 6 | 22% | ||
| M Addison | DE | 48 | 69% | 2 | 7% | ||
| S Lotulelei | DT | 44 | 63% | 6 | 22% | ||
| J Peppers | DE | 38 | 54% | 6 | 22% | ||
| K Seymour | CB | 37 | 53% | 8 | 30% | ||
| W Horton | DE | 30 | 43% | ||||
| C Jones | FS | 28 | 40% | 6 | 22% | ||
| B Cox | DE | 24 | 34% | 11 | 41% | ||
| V Butler | DT | 24 | 34% | 4 | 15% | ||
| K Love | DT | 22 | 31% | ||||
| J Byrd | FS | 12 | 17% | 7 | 26% | ||
| D Mayo | LB | 22 | 81% | ||||
| S Paysinger | LB | 16 | 59% | ||||
| B Jacobs | LB | 16 | 59% | ||||
| A Gachkar | LB | 15 | 56% | ||||
| C Artis-Payne | RB | 14 | 52% | ||||
| G Gano | K | 11 | 41% | ||||
| J Jansen | LS | 9 | 33% | ||||
| M Palardy | P | 9 | 33% | ||||
| L Gunter | CB | 7 | 26% | ||||
| G Van Roten | G | 5 | 19% |
