The prevailing storylines from the Las Vegas Raiders' lopsided loss to the Los Angeles Rams surround the quarterback spot, and understandably so. This was the team's fourth straight defeat, and with the No. 1 pick waiting in the wings, it is hard to argue that he couldn't provide a spark.
But plenty else transpired during the Raiders' setback on Sunday against a short-staffed Rams team. Specifically, a handful of interesting trends emerged when it came to how Las Vegas is allocating its snaps on both offense and defense.
From the mysterious fall of Connor Heyward to a jumble at defensive tackle to a lack of rotation on one side of the ball, let's dive into what stood out from the official snap counts in the Silver and Black's Week 7 loss to Los Angeles.
3 interesting snap count trends emerged in Las Vegas Raiders' loss to Rams
1. Where has Connor Heyward gone?
Heyward was such a big part of the game plan early in the season, especially in Week 1, but his snap count has been quietly dwindling over the last few contests and reached a new low on Sunday. Against the Rams, he played just eight offensive snaps.
After being out there for 32 plays in the opener, Heyward played 19 snaps in each game from Weeks 2-4 before that number dropped to 13 in each of Weeks 5 and 6. This slow, downward cascade is a bit precarious, and it seems like Las Vegas was running the ball better with him on the field.
Granted, Heyward is typically out there to help lead-block in the run game, and with the Raiders trailing so often over the last four weeks, the game script has tilted away from having a fullback and more toward having another eligible receiver. But he should be out there more to help the run game.
2. Raiders jumbled up the snaps in the DT room
Las Vegas' defensive tackle group hasn't been stellar this year, but the return of Tonka Hemingway was supposed to help them in Week 7. Except the Raiders only had him out there for 21 snaps, compared to 51 and 34 for Adam Butler and Foley Fatukasi.
Not that those players shouldn't be getting reps, but Hemingway should be playing more than just a quarter of the snaps. He was in the same ballpark as Tim Keenan III (19) and JJ Pegues (16) when it came to snap counts, and Hemingway has earned more than that.
That said, both Keenan III and Pegues had their moments in an increased role with Thomas Booker IV and Jonah Laulu both healthy scratches. Hemingway needs more playing time, but perhaps those two youngsters do as well...
3. Las Vegas is not rotating personnel on offense very much anymore
One of the things that I loved about Kubiak's offense early in the year was the personnel diversity, which kept opposing defenses on their toes. Everyone was involved, and it helped keep the whole team fresh and in a rhythm. But things have been less diverse, with Sunday being a good example.
The Raiders ran 68 offensive plays in Week 7, and Brock Bowers, Michael Mayer and Tre Tucker were on the field for 57, 56 and 56 of them, respectively. Of course, that's the holy trinity of pass-catchers in Las Vegas, but it's more about the fact that there isn't much of a rotation alongside them.
Jalen Nailor also played 51 snaps, so those four were on the field for roughly 80% of the snaps. Cody White was bumped down to just 17, which was fewer than Ian Thomas' 18. Heyward, as we mentioned, had just eight, and Dareke Young and Malik Benson had four and three, respectively.
Not everyone deserves equal playing time, but the personnel groupings could be mixed up a bit more, and perhaps rotating players more frequently would help highlight certain matchups or catch defenses off guard and keep guys fresh. The game script was weird against LA, but still.
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