As always, we’ll start by telling you that Christian McCaffrey (68) still played 100% of the snaps – the Panthers have shown for the past two seasons that unless Carolina has a big lead late in the fourth quarter, which was the only time in the first quarter of the season the bellcow back has given way to backup Reggie Bonnafon.

After a season-high 17 snaps for Chris Hogan (8) last week, he was back to less than half of that as the team relied on Curtis Samuel (61), DJ Moore (60) and Jarius Wright (47) for most of the wide receiver snaps in Houston – Wright was the most productive with five catches for 59 yards in fewer snaps, although Samuel was responsible for a 36-yard pass interference penalty in the first quarter.

With Chris Manhertz entering the concussion protocol, both Ian Thomas and Alex Armah got 10 snaps, likely splitting the 30 that would have gone to the Panthers blocking tight end had he played the entire game. Greg Olsen (66) only sat out two snaps and Taylor Moton left for one play after being poked in the eye.

Bruce Irvin (27) made his season debut and was behind Brian Burns (38) and Mario Addison (53) in the edge rusher rotation as the Panthers also utilized Christian Miller (19) and Marquis Haynes (12) on the outside, especially after Burns exited briefly in the first half with a bruised wrist. While Vernon Butler (11) made the start with Kawann Short missing another game, he played the fewest snaps of any defensive lineman – but his forced fumble helped salt the game away in the fourth quarter.

With Eric Reid (66) injuring his ankle, Colin Jones (3) subbed in for a few snaps and the Panthers turned to special teamer Natrell Jamerson (2) for a couple of snaps on the outside while Ross Cockrell (69), who played 100% of the snaps, moved to the inside corner position. With Cockrell starting for Donte Jackson on the outside, Javien Elliott (42) saw the field for over 60% of the snaps after not playing at all last week in Arizona.

Shaq Thompson led the team with 12 tackles and a sack on 97% of the defensive snaps.

Check out the full snap counts here:

PlayerPositionOffensive SnapsPercentageDefensive SnapsPercentageSpecial TeamsPercentage
G LittleT68100%416%
D WilliamsT68100%416%
M ParadisC68100%416%
G Van RotenG68100%416%
C McCaffreyRB68100%
K AllenQB68100%
T MotonT6799%416%
G OlsenTE6697%
C SamuelWR6190%
D MooreWR6088%
J WrightWR4769%
A ArmahFB1015%1352%
C ManhertzTE1015%416%
I ThomasTE1015%
C HoganWR812%1040%
D DaleyG11%
J BradberryCB69100%312%
L KuechlyLB69100%312%
R CockrellCB69100%28%
T BostonFS69100%
S ThompsonLB6797%312%
E ReidSS6696%312%
M AddisonLB5377%
G McCoyDT4667%312%
J ElliottCB4261%728%
B BurnsLB3855%728%
D PoeNT3855%312%
J CarterLB2739%1144%
B IrvinLB2739%14%
C MillerLB1928%
K LoveNT1928%
E ObadaDE1319%1248%
M HaynesLB1217%1976%
V ButlerDE1116%312%
C JonesFS34%2184%
N JamersonCB23%2080%
R GauldenSS1872%
A SmithLB1872%
R BonnafonRB1768%
R McCloudWR1352%
J ScarlettRB1040%
J SlyeK936%
J JansenLS936%
M PalardyP936%
T LarsenC416%

 

Josh Klein on Twitter
Josh Klein
Editor-In-Chief at The Riot Report
Josh Klein is Editor-In-Chief of The Riot Report. His favorite Panther of all time is Chad Cota and he once AIM chatted with Kevin Greene. Follow Josh on Twitter @joshkleinrules.