Deuce Vaughn, Cowboys Who Must Play More Snaps in Week 2 vs. Jets
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Deuce VaughnMitchell Leff/Getty Images
The Dallas Cowboys made a statement to the rest of the league with a 40-0 win over the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football to kick off the regular season.
It was a dominant performance all around, but the defense was particularly impressive. They sacked Daniel Jones seven times and surrendered just 171 total yards.
The 40 points was a little misleading from an offensive perspective. Dak Prescott and Co. had a good night, but two of the touchdowns came from the defense and special teams.
It was as good a start as the Cowboys could have hoped for. But there’s always room for improvement and it will be interesting to see how the snap distribution looks if their Week 2 matchup against the New York Jets.
Here’s a look at Deuce Vaughn and two other players who should see increased work in a closer game against the other New York team.
Snap count info from Football Guys.
Deuce Vaughn
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AP Photo/Rusty Jones
After an electric preseason that saw him earn a spot on the 53-man roster, Deuce Vaughn’s regular season debut was lackluster.
The rookie back saw just eight offensive snaps and had six carries for eight yards. On one hand, if Vaughn wants to get on the field more, he has to make things happen. Averaging 1.3 yards per carry isn’t going to earn more touches. On the other, he carried it on six of his eight snaps and that’s a pretty easy trend for the defense to key on.
Getting Vaughn involved is going to require not just putting him on the field more but getting creative in his usage.
Vaughn’s greatest strength is his ability to make people miss in space. When Ezekiel Elliott was on the roster, the Cowboys did a good job of finding ways to get Tony Pollard in space where he could do the most damage.
Mike McCarthy has to do the same things with Vaughn. Getting him involved in the passing game or simply using him as a decoy more often would open up his role on the offense.
That means giving him more than the eight snaps he saw on Sunday night.
Jalen Tolbert
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AP Photo/Sam Hodde
This one is less about more snaps for Jalen Tolbert and more about what Tolbert is doing when he’s on the field. According to PFF, Tolbert ran just three routes on his 15 offensive snaps.
The snap count mostly makes sense. Tolbert is not going to beat out CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks or Michael Gallup for playing time.
However, the Cowboys choosing to sub in Tolbert almost exclusively on run plays is something that is easy for defenses to key on. It’s also a bad way to develop Tolbert. While the Cowboys can lean on their top three receivers right now, this is a team that should have Super Bowl aspirations.
That means using the regular season to develop some depth so they are more resilient to injuries and the wear and tear of a long year.
By getting Tolbert on the field a bit more and running more routes, they prepare him for the possibility of having to step into that WR3 role in the event of an injury.
Mazi Smith
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Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
Even when Mazi Smith reaches his potential he’s not likely to be a player that plays more than about 60 percent of the snaps. Bleacher Report’s Matt Holder compared him to DJ Reader as a prospect and that number is right around his average snap percentage every year.
In Week 1, Smith played 17 snaps, which accounted for 24 percent of the defensive snaps. Jonathan Hankins, the team’s other nose tackle, played 18.
Smith was effective in his small sample size. He earned a respectable 69.7 grade from PFF and registered one fo the team’s 10 tackles for loss.
The Cowboys are going to take a patient approach with their rookies. Tolbert hardly saw the field as a first-year player. Luke Schoonmaker was third among the tight ends in snaps.
Considering this was a blowout, it would have been nice to see Smith get a few more reps to show what he can do and test his conditioning.
It’s a minor gripe, but it would be good to see Smith get more work when the game is out of hand. His workload is going to be interesting to track all season long to see how much of a role he has by the end of the season.
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