NFL Week 7: Bengals snap counts shift in big win over Browns

The Bengals beat the Browns by 14 points on Sunday in a win that should have been even bigger if not for two missed field goals from Mike Nugent. The game saw the return of Tyler Eifert from injury, but also saw starting left tackle Andrew Whitworth leave the game due to a head injury. It was later revealed that he’s in the NFL’s concussion protocol, which he’ll need to clear quickly to make the trip to London with the Bengals this weekend. Jeremy Hill played more than he has in recent weeks, but Giovani Bernard still handled the majority of running back snaps. Here are our takeaways from the snap counts as well as the full breakdown.

• Darqueze Dennard has officially lost his duties as the slot cornerback to second year player Josh Shaw. Shaw saw 40 defensive snaps while Dennard played 8 on Sunday.
• George Iloka was the only defensive player to stay on the field for 100% of snaps on Sunday. The amounted to 64 snaps, or 3 more snaps than the offense played.
• Cedric Ogbuehi was benched for parts of Sunday's game against the Browns but he did end up returning and finishing out the game, only missing 16% of the action.
• Eric Winston and Jake Fisher both saw a share of snaps due to Ogbuehi's benching and Whitworth's injury. It would be interesting to see which of the two were to start, if Whitworth couldn't play next Sunday.
• Tyler Eifert played exactly one-quarter of football on Sunday in his return and first game since January's Pro Bowl. He should see increased playing time next week and hopefully haul in more than one catch.
• Will Clarke has taken a backseat to Margus Hunt for most of the season, but it was Clarke who saw more playing time on Sunday with 22 snaps compared to Hunt's 16.
• Rex Burkhead had four rushes and one catch on one target, getting his hand on the ball all but two times he stepped on the field.
• James Wright played nine offensive snaps and was targeted twice; he didn't make either catch.
• Vinny Rey hadn't played much on defense since Vontaze Burfict's return in Week 4, but he did see 21 defensive snaps on Sunday as the workload at linebacker was split along with Karlos Dansby (44 snaps) and Rey Maualuga (24 snaps). Burfict played 98% of snaps (63) and even Nick Vigil saw the field for one defensive play. Rey has proven he needs to find a way onto the field and snatched the game-sealing interception.