Bengals vs. Titans snap count takeaways: Samaje Perine, Carl Lawson see increased workloads

As the Cincinnati Bengals enter their bye week with now two wins to their name, they can use the time off to get healthy at some important positions.

Their latest victory over the Tennessee Titans saw a few players stepping up to replace and compensate for key injuries. Look no further than the offensive line; it was compromised entirely of backups!

Here are the key takeaways from the Bengals’ snap counts vs. the Titans:

• After the offense’s first drive, Shaq Calhoun (11) was pulled at left guard and Quinton Spain (62) finished the game at that spot. Calhoun only started the game because Michael Jordan was declared out with an illness and Calhoun had been with the team for much longer than the recently-signed Spain had. The coaching staff wanted to see what Spain could do after an unimpressive drive from Calhoun and Spain proved worthy of being on the field. Left guard has always been Spain’s natural position, but if he wants to stay on the field going forward, he may have to move to right guard for when Jordan returns.
• Giovani Bernard (47) had a solid two-touchdown performance despite yielding Samaje Perine (24) a third of the offensive snaps. Perine hasn’t played over 20 offensive snaps in a single game since Week 16 of his rookie year back in 2017. Joe Mixon could very well be back after the bye week and that should return Perine to the bench, but he did well taking the load off of Bernard.
• With Auden Tate (33) making plays throughout the game, Mike Thomas (6) saw his lowest snap count of the season. Before his shoulder injury that kept him out of Week 6, Tate had been averaging 22 snaps a game and only appeared in six snaps in Week 7. Thomas found some success every now and then with Tate out or limited, but Sunday saw Tate showcase his peak form, so there was little need for Thomas to be involved.
• Carl Lawson (55) played 89% of the defense’s snaps, which is the second-highest defensive snap % he’s had in his entire career. The defense needed to feature Lawson as much as possible after trading away Carlos Dunlap last week and the fourth-year pass rusher led the team in pressures with three.
• LeShaun Sims (51) had a revenge game opportunity when Darius Phillips (10) was carted off of the field with a leg injury. Sims had a rough outing off of the bench against his former team and maybe counted on to play for Phillips if he’s not going to be available in the near future. The sooner Trae Waynes gets healthy, the better.