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Houston Texans Snap Count Report, Week 4: Brian Cushing Efficient, Darryl Morris Shines, Ryan Pickett Plugged In Right Away

Plenty of players not named J.J. Watt played for the Texans against the Buffalo Bills yesterday-- 45 to be exact. Let's discuss how they were used in the Texans' third win of the season.

By David Corzo
Arian Foster watched about half of the offense's snaps from the sidelines.
Arian Foster watched about half of the offense's snaps from the sidelines.
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

As far as ugly wins go, this wasn't the ugliest, but it wasn't exactly Scarlett Johannson out there. The Texans are still struggling to convert third downs, converting only 5 of 14 (36%) yesterday against the Buffalo Bills. For the season, Houston is ranked 19th in the league with 42% of third downs converted. Naturally, this means more punts and has led to a near perfect split of total snaps for the offense (265) and defense (263) through four weeks. Ideally, you want the offense out on the field for more than 50.189393939% of the snaps-- even with mercurial Ryan Fitzpatrick at QB.

Blue = Offense / Red = Defense / Yellow = Special Teams

Offense

Name POS Snaps PCT% Season Snaps Season % Snaps PCT%
Duane Brown T 67 99 263 99 5 15
Derek Newton T 68 100 265 100 5 15
Tyson Clabo T 1 1 5 2 5 15
Brandon Brooks G 68 100 265 100 5 15
Ben Jones G 68 100 261 98
Xavier Su'a-Filo G 9 3 5 15
Chris Myers C 68 100 265 100
Ryan Fitzpatrick QB 68 100 262 99
Ryan Mallett QB 4 1
Andre Johnson WR 52 76 237 89
DeAndre Hopkins WR 63 93 252 95
Damaris Johnson WR 20 29 91 34 3 9
Keshawn Martin WR 21 31 65 24 6 18
Arian Foster RB 36 53 145 55
Jonathan Grimes RB 40 15 10 30
Ronnie Brown RB 9 3 10 30
Alfred Blue RB 32 47 80 30 12 36
Garrett Graham TE 52 76 159 57
C.J. Fiedorowicz TE 51 75 143 54 9 27
Ryan Griffin TE 2 3 55 21 8 24
J.J. Watt TE 3 1 5 15
Jay Prosch FB 11 16 51 19 4 12

Arian Foster and Alfred Blue rotated almost evenly, but neither could establish themselves at all on the ground. Foster was deadly in the passing game, converting seven catches into 55 yards on 10 targets. The only two converted third downs on the ground were via Ryan Fitzpatrick scrambles. Fitzpatrick was also the leading rusher with 14 yards.

According to Pro Football Focus, Ben Jones and Chris Myers were particularly bad in run-blocking, posting a -3.7 and -1.7 score, respectively. Tight ends Garrett Graham (-1.6) and C.J. Fiedorowicz (-2.0) weren't very helpful either.

Sarcasm font: I only use PFF grades when they fit my narrative.

The not-so thrilling battle between Keshawn Martin and Damaris Johnson continues, with Martin gaining some ground this week on offense and special teams. Martin fielded three punts to Johnson's two. The duo also split three passing targets, with Johnson catching one of them for 10 yards.  Who will be king of S*** Mountain by season's end? Stay tuned.

Defense & Special Teams

Name POS Snaps PCT% Season Snaps Season % Snaps PCT%
D.J. Swearinger FS 70 100 241 91 3 9
Kendrick Lewis FS 70 100 253 96 4 12
Danieal Manning S 27 39 154 58 19 58
Kareem Jackson CB 70 100 240 91 4 12
Johnathan Joseph CB 67 96 203 77
J.J. Watt DE 68 97 249 94 5 15
Tim Jamison DE 39 56 151 57 11 33
Jared Crick DE 41 59 157 59 9 27
Brooks Reed LB 54 77 222 84 12 36
Brian Cushing LB 45 64 180 68 4 12
A.J. Bouye CB 125 47
Whitney Mercilus LB 55 89 205 77 18 55
Mike Mohamed LB 52 74 119 45 17 52
Jadeveon Clowney LB 23 8
Jerrell Powe NT 11 16 94 35 4 12
Ryan Pickett DT 20 29 20 7
Justin Tuggle LB 16 23 90 34 14 42
Andre Hal DB 2 3 32 12 18 55
Darryl Morris CB 54 77 100 38 19 58
Jeoffery Pagan DE 3 4 33 12 1 3
Jeff Tarpinian LB 18 6 22 67
Ricky Sapp LB 6 9 10 3 13 39
Eddie Pleasant SS 13 4
Elbert Mack CB
Akeem Dent LB 22 67

Brian Cushing is being rotated in and out pretty heavily for a player of his caliber. Despite this, Cushing led the team with nine tackles, registered a QB hit and defensed one pass. Not bad for taking just 64% of the snaps.

Darryl Morris saw a significant jump in playing time after fellow undrafted cornerback A.J. Bouye was ruled out with a groin injury. Morris was targeted seven times, allowing three receptions for nine yards-- one of them a touchdown to Robert Woods. For comparison's sake, Johnathan Joseph was targeted 10 times, allowing four catches (plus three drops) and 27 yards. I think I saw that Brett wanted to do a film study piece on him, so feel free to bombard his e-mail if he doesn't follow through with it.

Is the Texans' nose tackle situation so bad that street free agent Ryan Pickett was able to be plugged in right away? After giving up 176 yards to Rashad Jennings, the Texans held C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson tandem to 93 yards rushing. Pickett played 20 snaps to Jerell Powe's 11, but how much difference could he have made? Hard to say, but the Bills only running the ball 22 times is clearly the bigger factor. They hung E.J. Manuel out to dry with his 44 pass attempts.

These are just a few of my observations... curious to hear yours as always, dear readers. Happy Monday!

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