Unlike usual snap counts summaries of the Panthers and Steelers, this one won’t be used to calibrate who has the inside track at some of the final roster spots; although the teams are used to playing the final game of the preseason – they’ve played each other for 16 straight seasons even though Thursday’s 52-21 win for the Steelers was only the seventh regular season meeting between them – this one actually counted toward the record books.
But like those preseason matchups, the backup quarterbacks still ended up getting some run.
The Steelers lifted Ben Roethlisberger after he threw his fifth touchdown of the game, but Panthers quarterback Cam Newton (54 snaps) played every drive of the fourth quarter save for one, even as his team was down 38 points in the fourth, before giving way to Taylor Heinicke for the final three plays of the game. Ron Rivera said he left Newton, along with other starters like Christian McCaffrey (54) in to find some momentum heading into next week’s game.
“We had a chance to drive the ball,” said Rivera. “We were going to be smart how we did it – we moved it very efficiently, we scored a touchdown and got him out. Going into next week, you want to be going in on a positive and that’s what my thought was going that way.”
DJ Moore (49) once again led the wide receivers in snaps as he had the same amount as Devin Funchess; Jarius Wright (29), Curtis Samuel (19) and Damiere Byrd (4) rounded out the receiving corps. The Panthers used a lot of two wide receiver sets, as opposed to the past few weeks when they’ve utilized trips seemingly as their base package – previous to this week, their most utilized lineup featured Funchess, Moore and Wright on the field at the same time.
It’s hard to take a lot away from the offensive snap counts this week, as the Panthers fell into such a deep hole and were in catchup mode for most of the game on offense. On defense, Shaq Thompson (30) again hovered around half the snaps – that’s been his workload since Thomas Davis returned – while Captain Munnerlyn (43) continued to see more of the field in the base nickel package; Pittsburgh slot receiver Ryan Switzer only had two catches on the day, both were third-down conversions.
Both of those drives ended in touchdowns for the Steelers.
As the starters were slowly removed as the game got out of hand, backups like David Mayo (6) and Jermaine Carter, Jr (4) got some late action, with Colin Jones (8) and Rashaan Gaulden (12) rotating at safety after Eric Reid (46) was ejected in the third quarter; on the defensive line, Carolina was unable to generate pass rush outside of a lone Julius Peppers (30) sack – they’ve been experimenting the past few weeks. After Bryan Cox, Jr was given almost a third of the snaps against the Ravens two weeks ago, he had four last week before being declared inactive Sunday. The Panthers will take this extra time off before the Detroit game to evaluate their rotations and personnel going forward for the final seven games of the season.
“I think we’ve just got to continue to rotate the guys in,” said Rivera. “I know offensively, they’re rolling the guys the way they see fit as far as personnel, situation [and] that type of thing. Defensively, we’ve got to find something that really clicks on the pass rush side.”
Check out the full snap counts below:
| Player | Position | Offensive Snaps | Percentage | Defensive Snaps | Percentage | Special Teams Snaps | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C Clark | T | 57 | 100% | 3 | 10% | ||
| G Van Roten | G | 57 | 100% | 3 | 10% | ||
| T Turner | G | 54 | 95% | 3 | 10% | ||
| T Moton | T | 54 | 95% | 3 | 10% | ||
| C McCaffrey | RB | 54 | 95% | ||||
| C Newton | QB | 54 | 95% | ||||
| D Moore | WR | 49 | 86% | ||||
| D Funchess | WR | 49 | 86% | ||||
| G Olsen | TE | 45 | 79% | ||||
| R Kalil | C | 40 | 70% | ||||
| J Wright | WR | 29 | 51% | ||||
| C Samuel | WR | 19 | 33% | 20 | 65% | ||
| T Larsen | G | 17 | 30% | 3 | 10% | ||
| C Manhertz | TE | 15 | 26% | 12 | 39% | ||
| I Thomas | TE | 9 | 16% | 13 | 42% | ||
| A Armah | RB | 6 | 11% | 20 | 65% | ||
| C Anderson | RB | 5 | 9% | 9 | 29% | ||
| D Byrd | WR | 4 | 7% | 11 | 35% | ||
| M Newhouse | T | 4 | 7% | ||||
| A Silatolu | G | 3 | 5% | 3 | 10% | ||
| T Heinicke | QB | 3 | 5% | ||||
| D Jackson | CB | 58 | 100% | 8 | 26% | ||
| J Bradberry | CB | 57 | 98% | 10 | 32% | ||
| M Adams | FS | 49 | 84% | 8 | 26% | ||
| L Kuechly | LB | 49 | 84% | 8 | 26% | ||
| E Reid | SS | 46 | 79% | 1 | 3% | ||
| C Munnerlyn | CB | 43 | 74% | ||||
| T Davis | LB | 41 | 71% | 7 | 23% | ||
| K Short | DT | 38 | 66% | 8 | 26% | ||
| M Addison | DE | 38 | 66% | ||||
| D Poe | NT | 32 | 55% | ||||
| S Thompson | LB | 30 | 52% | 24 | 77% | ||
| J Peppers | DE | 30 | 52% | 9 | 29% | ||
| W Horton | DE | 29 | 50% | 8 | 26% | ||
| K Love | NT | 25 | 43% | ||||
| E Obada | DE | 22 | 38% | 9 | 29% | ||
| V Butler | DT | 20 | 34% | 8 | 26% | ||
| R Gaulden | FS | 12 | 21% | 4 | 13% | ||
| C Jones | SS | 8 | 14% | 28 | 90% | ||
| D Mayo | LB | 6 | 10% | 20 | 65% | ||
| J Carter | LB | 4 | 7% | 21 | 68% | ||
| C Elder | CB | 1 | 2% | 15 | 48% | ||
| B Jacobs | LB | 19 | 61% | ||||
| M Palardy | P | 8 | 26% | ||||
| J Jansen | LS | 8 | 26% | ||||
| G Gano | K | 7 | 23% |
