While Cowboys fans may have needed a program to keep track of who was on the field defensively in Week 1's loss to the Giants, the offense went with the usual suspects for the majority of the night.
The Cowboys of course didn't have the ball often, but when they did, it was behind the same five offensive linemen and quarterback Dak Prescott, all of whom played every one of the unit's 58 snaps. Each of the other offensive starters logged over 70% of the reps during the 28-20 loss, with other role players being sprinkled in selectively.
Ryan Flournoy has obviously fully cemented his spot as WR3, playing on 71% of the offensive snaps. That left KaVontae Turpin with just eight snaps as a receiver, after several seasons of the team actively trying
to use him more on offense. Perhaps that's just how this game played out; perhaps that's the start of a trend.
Also of note on this side of the ball, running back Emari Demercado, who has only been in Dallas for two weeks and was listed as the team's RB3 as recently as Friday afternoon, found himself on the field for just five snaps as the now-primary backup to Javonte Williams. One has to wonder how much of the gameplan changed when Malik Davis was lost for the season in the final practice leading up to the game.
Christian Parker's unit saw heavy rotation throughout the night, with just four players seeing over three-quarters of the defensive snaps and another 16 players receiving double-digit snaps. Top draft pick Caleb Downs was thrown into the fire with a hefty 88% of the action; fellow rookies Malachi Lawrence and Jaishawn Barham each played on under half the unit's reps.
Safety Jalen Thompson- in his first season wearing the star- was on the field for every defensive snap of the game, demonstrating the trust Parker clearly has in the eighth-year man. The late-summer addition of Von Miller grabbed plenty of headlines, but the eight-time Pro Bowler took just 11 defensive snaps as he continues to get himself up to speed in Dallas.
On special teams, it's obvious who the Cowboys will lean on now that the tryouts of preseason are over. Shemar James, Markquese Bell, Alijah Clark, Ameer Speed, P.J. Locke, James Houston, Brevyn Spannn-Ford, and Luke Schoonmaker all played on over half the snaps in the third phase.
Here's a full look at the Cowboys' snap counts in Week 1. These figures were distributed to the media shortly following the game and are subject to change after further film review.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Snap Counts: Cowboys rookie Caleb Downs sees nearly full defensive workload in Week 1 loss
