There was always a chance Jordan Hicks was going to get a big chunk of playing time against the Titans -- a team that leans on running back Derrick Henry. (Which likely points to a lot of Hicks this week against the Vikings and Dalvin Cook too.) But when it was over, Hicks had played 61 defensive snaps -- 95 percent -- and tied safety Budda Baker for the most defensive snaps by a Cardinal in the game.
Rookie Zaven Collins was in just 22 snaps, or 34 percent. Maybe things change week to week, but Hicks as captain feels a lot more on topic now. Isaiah Simmons was in for 58 snaps (91 percent).
The Cardinals indeed managed J.J. Watt's snaps, although his final number might've been influenced by the blowout that meant he didn't need to be on the field a lot late. Watt played 46 snaps, or 72 percent. The other notable defensive snap counts -- rookie cornerback Marco Wilson tied fellow corner Byron Murphy with 91 percent of the snaps. Robert Alford was at 77 percent (49, compared to the others' 58.)
On offense, Chase Edmonds was in for 40 snaps, James Conner 34 (out of 69 total.) And A.J. Green is unquestionably WR2, with 55 snaps to Christian Kirk's 39 to Rondale Moore's (very impactful) 20.
As for the grades handed out by Pro Football Focus, not surprisingly there were a handful of good grades, but none better than Chandler Jones -- whose overall mark of 93.8 was one of the best in the league. Others grading over 75 were linebacker Devon Kennard (90.0, albeit with 13 snaps), Baker (85.4), Murphy (76.3 in an excellent performance) and Alford (76.1 in his first regular-season game since 2018.)
It was Jones' highest graded PFF game since he had a 93.6 during a four-sack game in Seattle in 2019.
Offensively, five players were that highly graded: Kirk (85.9), Kyler Murray (84.5), Hopkins (81.8), Moore (80.9) and left tackle D.J. Humphries (78.7). The only game PFF has graded higher for Kirk in his career was an 88.0 against Miami last year.
