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Offense through 6
Six games of the regular season are in the books and some clear offensive trends have emerged with the Patriots.
Perhaps the most striking is how WR Randy Moss has played in 83 percent of the team's offensive snaps, which leads all skill-position players (not including quarterbacks). For a player who came to New England with questions on how he would fit in -- and how hard he would work -- it's a telling number.
Also, the unsung contributions of TE Kyle Brady are reflected in him being on the field for 72 percent of the snaps.
Here is a look at the total snaps played by offensive skill position players (not including special teams) through the six games:
WR Randy Moss -- 338 of 407 snaps (83 percent)
TE Kyle Brady -- 295 of 407 (72 percent)
TE Benjamin Watson -- 265 of 407 (65 percent)
WR Wes Welker -- 231 of 407 (56 percent)
WR Donte' Stallworth -- 224 of 407 (55 percent)
RB Sammy Morris -- 161 of 407 (39 percent)
RB Kevin Faulk -- 127 of 407 (31 percent)
WR Jabar Gaffney -- 102 of 407 (25 percent)
RB Laurence Maroney -- 90 of 407 (22 percent)
RB/FB Heath Evans -- 77 of 407 (19 percent)
TE Marcellus Rivers -- 28 of 407 (6 percent)
OT/TE Ryan O'Callaghan -- 27 of 407 (6 percent)
WR Kelley Washington -- 17 of 407 (4 percent)
RB Kyle Eckel -- 14 of 107 (3 percent)
LB/TE Mike Vrabel -- 13 of 407 (3 percent)
TE David Thomas -- 8 of 407 (2 percent)
LB/FB Junior Seau -- 7 of 407 (2 percent)
QB kneeldowns not included; snaps in which penalties resulted in positive gains included
Your comments
(3)Mike - I love the info. Do you also have the breakdown by offensive set?
Mike - Great stuff. A more interesting stat might be the number of offensive plays out of the total plays the player has been active for. I'm thinking of Maroney. He's played in 22 percent of the snaps, but he's probably been in 50 percent of the snaps for which he's been on the active roster.
Just an idea. Rob.
Anytime Moss is on the field, the defense needs to pay attention to him. Bellichick is playing Moss so often because he knows that even on running plays Moss takes at least one defender completely out of the play and forces at least one more defender to play much more cautiously than he might in the absence of Moss. Moss makes a huge difference in the offense even when he's not catching anything.