Snap Reactions: Tight Ends are a big difference in Week 1 snap count

Official snap counts are officially out, meaning we can get to the business of dissecting the matchups and coaching decisions each week.

Let’s start with the offense, and the new-look Shane Waldron superpower (is he in the Ring of Honor yet?)

Seattle Seahawks offensive snap counts

Eight rows of standard stuff, until BOOM – two tight ends back-to-back at 70% each. Seattle has played the Los Angeles Rams enough to have guessed that tight ends would feature more under Shane Waldron.

They guessed correctly. In fact, compare this to Week 1 of 2020.

Greg Olsen, 41, 66%
Will Dissly, 25, 40%

It appears that this is not only here to stay, but a beautiful fit with Russell Wilson, who hit them for five completions, totaling 57 yards and a TD.

Dee Eskridge at only 12 snaps before his injury is surprising simply because he had already made an impact on the game. If you would have told me a rookie WR would have two fly sweeps for 22 yards and a catch for 6 in just 12 snaps in his debut I’m not sure I’d have believed it.

Yet here we are, drafting well and using players within their skill set and none of it makes any sense.

Defensive snap counts

What’s interesting here is the secondary. Pete Carroll has talked about his cornerback competition since seemingly May. And yet, the two corners playing all 100 are the only two guys returning, while Marquise Blair and Ugo Amadi are the ones splitting all the nickel reps. Suppose it’s just me, but I was not expecting Amadi to see the field more than Blair in Week 1, even if it was just six snaps.

The defensive line rotation should be encouraging. Seattle’s most disruptive DE of the game played 70% of the snaps, while nobody else pushed past the low 50s. This is very sustainable. Ken Norton has such a deep pool to pull from that you’ll see a dozen different combinations over the course of a game, and fresh legs aplenty.

Again, if you’d told me Darrell Taylor would only be out there 26 snaps in his first game as a Seahawk, and find a way to blow up a very good right tackle, I’d have reported you to the fraud people.

Seattle still has playmakers all over the field, and they’ll need them in Week 2 against the Tennessee Titans at home.