I hope you had a numerical roster handy when the Bengals played the Raiders.
The Cincinnati Bengals got a win, and that is what is most important. Injuries and a lopsided game led to some interesting developments in the participation report. Most notable was the wide receiver position where injuries to Tee Higgins and Charlie Jones as well as a skipped walk-through from Jermaine Burton led to only four players being active at the position.
At receiver, Andrei Iosivas led the way with 67 snaps, and Ja’Marr Chase was just behind him with 65. Trent Irwin and Kendric Pryor also got significant usage, with 22 and 18 snaps, respectively. Notably, Pryor had one catch for nine yards on a single target, while Iosivas had one catch for 10 yards and a touchdown on four targets.
Despite it being Mike Gesicki’s breakout day (five catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns), Drew Sample actually led the tight end position with a whopping 56 snaps compared to 27 for Gesicki. Tanner Hudson took nearly as many with 20. Both the heavy usage of Sample and the uptick for Hudson may be due to the unfortunate loss of promising rookie Erick All to a torn ACL after only 15 snaps.
With Zack Moss injured as well, Chase Brown dominated the running back snaps and touches. Brown played 59 snaps, ran the ball 27 times for 120 yards, and added five receptions for 27 yards and a touchdown. No other running back touched the ball, though Trayveon Williams (seven snaps) and Kendall Milton (five snaps) did see some action.
Shockingly, Jordan Battle only played 31 defensive snaps, splitting the strong safety reps with Vonn Bell, who took just one less. I say shockingly because it felt like he was always around the ball. In fact, Battle was third on the team in tackles with six, had a quarterback hit, and a notable pass broken up against Brock Bowers.
Game flow played a role in the overall snap counts, which led to more usage for rookies Josh Newton and Cedric Johnson, as well as DJ Ivey, Joe Bachie, and Maema Njongmeta, than usual.
Bengals Snap Counts vs. Raiders
