The Cleveland Browns defense was on the field for 69 snaps against the Buffalo Bills in the team’s nice 19-16 win in Week 10. The primary 11 played together in those 69 snaps a lot more than usual.
Cornerback T.J. Carrie did not start the game. Juston Burris did instead. But Carrie qualified as one of the primary 11, playing 51 of the 69 reps to Burris’ 11. Every other defensive starter played at least 53 snaps, or at least 75 percent of the game. That includes Chad Thomas, who filled in for the injured Olivier Vernon at defensive end. Thomas played a career-high 54 reps in his first career start.
Also of note on defense: rookie Sione Takitaki took over the No. 3 LB role from Adarius Taylor. The third-rounder played 11 reps, while Taylor was seen exclusively on special teams.
On offense, Kareem Hunt’s return was a prominent one. The running back played 38 of the 74 offensive snaps. Hunt joined Nick Chubb (58 reps) on 28 of those for a 2-back look. To put that into perspective, the Browns did not have more than one RB on the field for a single snap in Week 9.
Rashard Higgins played 33 of the 74 snaps and caught his only passing target for the game-winning TD. KhaDarel Hodge played seven, and the Browns ran on six of those reps.
Backup OL Justin McCray played four snaps as an extra blocker in the short-yardage package. Damion Ratley and D’Ernest Johnson each saw exactly one rep on offense.
