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For the fifth game in a row, the Cowboys defense was on the field for more snaps than the offense. This is a little worrying, as part of the early-season success of the Cowboys was based on low defensive snap counts.
| Cowboys Snap Count by Week | |||||||||||
| 49ers |
Titans | Rams | Saints | Texans | Seahawks | Giants | Redskins | Cardinals | Jaguars | Giants | |
| Offense | 69 | 80 | 56 | 66 | 76 | 75 | 62 | 65 | 64 | 60 | 54 |
| Defense | 58 | 49 | 76 | 61 | 59 | 49 | 63 | 67 | 67 | 71 | 73 |
The offense was on the field for a season-low 54 snaps, but that didn't stop Tony Romo and his teammates from scoring 31 points, or 0.57 points per snap, a highly efficient value. For comparison, the Eagles scored the most points on Sunday, putting up 41 points against the defensively challenged Titans. 34 of those points were scored by their offense, which was on the field for 87 snaps. That gives the Eagles 0.39 points per snap, slightly above the league average of 0.33 points per snap (excluding defensive and special teams scores). Here's an overview of the scoring efficiency of the five team that scored more than 30 points yesterday:
| Scoring efficiency Week 12 |
|||||||||||
| Cowboys | Dolphins | Broncos | Patriots | Eagles | |||||||
| Snaps | 54 |
62 |
75 |
78 |
87 |
||||||
| Points on offense | 31 |
36 |
39 |
34 |
34 |
||||||
| Points per Snap |
0.57 |
0.58 |
0.52 |
0.44 |
0.39 |
||||||
The defense was on the field for the second highest snap count of the season, in large part due to an inability to get off the field on third downs. The Giants were 11-of-16 for a 69% third down conversion rate, the highest rate the Cowboys defense has allowed all season.
| 3rd down conversions allowed |
|||||||||||
| SF |
TEN | STL | NO | HOU | SEA | NYG | WAS | ARI | JAC | NYG | |
| 3rd down percentage |
48% | 20% | 62% | 40% | 31% | 38% | 38% | 43% | 60% | 29% | 69% |
The high snap count did end up putting a strain in the defense, at least in terms of snaps played, as only one player, J.J. Wilcox, managed to play every single defensive snap.
| Cowboys' Defensive Snap counts vs Giants |
|||||||||||
| Defensive Tackles | Defensive Ends | Linebackers | Cornerbacks | Safeties | |||||||
| Player | Snaps | Player | Snaps | Player | Snaps | Player | Snaps | Player | Snaps | ||
| Hayden | 51 | Mincey | 50 | Hitchens | 69 | Carr |
73 | Wilcox |
75 | ||
| T. Crawford | 48 | Selvie | 41 | R. McClain |
59 | Scandrick | 70 | Church | 60 | ||
| Melton | 31 | Spencer | 31 | Carter | 36 | Moore | 57 | Heath |
10 | ||
| J. Crawford | 23 | D. Lawrence |
26 | Wilber | 6 | Spillman |
9 | ||||
On offense, the Cowboys kept their 'A' personnel on the field for almost the entire game. Over the course of the season, the Cowboys have shown a tendency to give DeMarco Murray, Dez Bryant and Terrance Williams the occasional breather. Against the Jaguars for example, Bryant (73%), Williams (68%), and Murray (60%) all played less than three quarters of the total snaps. Yesterday they all has a much higher percentage as Murray (94%), Bryant (93%), and Williams (89%) hardly took a breather.
| Cowboys' Offensive Snap counts vs Giants |
|||||||||
| QB | O-Line | RB | TE | WR | |||||
| Player | Snaps | Player | Snaps | Player | Snaps | Player | Snaps | Player | Snaps |
| Romo | 54 |
Smith | 54 | Murray | 51 | Witten | 54 | Bryant | 50 |
| Leary | 54 | Clutts | 10 | Hanna | 12 | Williams | 48 | ||
| Frederick | 54 | Dunbar | 2 | Escobar | 11 | Beasley | 22 | ||
| Martin | 54 | Randle | Street | 5 | |||||
| Free | 54 | Harris | 3 | ||||||
| Parnell | 1 | ||||||||
| Wilcox: one snap as the deep cover back on the final kneel down | |||||||||
And finally, on to special teams:
| Special Teams Aces | |||
| Player | Snaps | Player | Snaps |
| Wilber |
23 | J. Crawford |
17 |
| Spillman | 19 | Church |
14 |
| Harris | 19 | Wilcox | 14 |
| Lawrence | 19 | Hanna |
13 |
J.J. Wilcox gets the nod for this week's ironman award, with 75 defensive snaps, 14 special teams snaps, and one offensive snap for exactly 90 snaps played yesterday, the most of any player on the team.