One of the more impressive and encouraging things from the Seattle Seahawks’ 30-24 win over the Tennessee Titans was the mere fact that Grey Zabel even played. What looked to be a significant knee injury
against the Los Angeles Rams turned out to be something minor, yet something that could’ve reasonably been construed as causing him to miss at least one game. After all, Zabel was limited in practice all week for the Titans game and listed as questionable.
Zabel played all 48 snaps without issue.
The first-round rookie left guard didn’t have to rotate with Christian Haynes or come out of the game for any reason, although I’m sure an actual blowout win could’ve resulted in some rest had the Seahawks been up by more in the fourth quarter. Nevertheless, the starting offensive line played every snap together, continuing what’s mostly been season-long in-game continuity.
Looking at other snap count notes on offense, Cody White is clearly preferred to Jake Bobo as the WR4. White outsnapped Bobo 11 to 5, a week removed from Bobo being a healthy scratch versus the Los Angeles Rams. It’s very possible that Bobo’s roster spot is in jeopardy if/when Tory Horton and Dareke Young return late in the season. Bobo doesn’t return kicks, his offensive involvement has been reduced from previous seasons, and there are other options for additional blocking that he otherwise would be providing in the run game.
There was also a clear shift in Kenneth Walker III having snaps like a lead running back instead of the season-long 1a/1b strategy with Zach Charbonnet. Walker doubled Charbonnet in snaps played, which is a sign that Mike Macdonald wasn’t kidding about more opportunities for K9.
As for the defense, Drake Thomas and Coby Bryant didn’t leave the field one time. Nick Emmanwori played 74 of 76 snaps, while Devon Witherspoon was also north of 70. Riq Woolen may not be a starter anymore, but it’s not like he’s playing way fewer snaps than Josh Jobe at this point. The injury to Ty Okada meant extended playing time for D’Anthony Bell at safety. Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy II led the way on the defensive line in terms of game time.
Patrick O’Connell played 42 snaps in his first NFL start, so obviously the Seahawks didn’t just pair him and Thomas for the whole game, and indeed Seattle played 25 snaps of Dime (6+ DBs) and had a lot of Nickel (5 DBs) looks in which they also had five defensive linemen/outside linebackers and thus only Thomas played as a middle linebacker.
