Gerald Everett missed three straight games due to a knee injury, but on Saturday night, he was back on the field and healthy once again. He wasn’t utilized very much, however, with Tyler Higbee rolling to three straight 100-yard games.
Higbee extended that streak to four games in a row against the 49ers, while Everett saw his role on offense completely evaporate. Watching the game, it seemed like he was hardly out there. And after looking at the snap counts, that observation held true.
Here’s a look at how much each player was on the field in the Rams’ 34-31 loss, which eliminated them from playoff contention.
Offense
Everett played just four snaps and was targeted once. He was a complete non-factor in the loss, playing less than Josh Reynolds, Johnny Mundt and Malcolm Brown – something that would’ve been hard to fathom at the beginning of the season. Higbee played 89% of the snaps and Mundt 44%.
Cooper Kupp and Brandin Cooks continue to get their playing time reduced by the Rams’ frequency of using 12 personnel. Kupp played just 61% of the snaps, while Cooks was out there for 59%. They were targeted 10 times combined, which is less than Higbee and Woods were targeted each (11). Woods never came off the field.
Bobby Evans missed 10 snaps with a hip injury, being replaced by Chandler Brewer on those plays. Darrell Henderson only played two snaps before exiting with ankle injury.
Defense
Darious Williams made his first NFL start on Saturday night and he didn’t come off the field once. The Rams were thin at cornerback to begin with as Troy Hill was out, so getting a complete game from Williams was huge. Jalen Ramsey also didn’t miss a snap despite leaving the game with a knee injury and being designated doubtful to return.
Troy Reeder played 46% of the defensive snaps, which comes as somewhat of a surprise. He seemed to be overtaken by Travin Howard on the depth chart, but that was apparently for only one game in Week 14. Cory Littleton played 100% of the snaps again, unsurprisingly.
Morgan Fox had one sack on 20 snaps played, working in the rotation at defensive end with Michael Brockers. Sebastian Joseph-Day and Greg Gaines split the snaps at nose tackle 30-12, while Tanzel Smart played six snaps at defensive tackle in place of Aaron Donald.
Ogbonnia Okoronkwo didn’t get any playing time this week, while Samson Ebukam only played 16 snaps behind Clay Matthews and Dante Fowler Jr. Fowler had 2.5 sacks, but Matthews didn’t make a single tackle in the game. He did have a QB hit and pass breakup, though.
