Hollywood Brown isn't putting up gaudy numbers, but he's putting up some important ones, not only hauling in the final key touchdown against the Cowboys on Sunday but also bringing in a 23-yard catch on third-and-8 from the Arizona 7 that got the Cardinals out of some third-quarter troubles.
While the coaching staff has long talked about being adaptive to whatever matchup you have, Brown (a team-best five catches for 61 yards) played 95 of the snaps on Sunday, missing only three of the 61 offensive snaps. He was also the guy who drew all the defense in order for Michael Wilson to get wide-open on his 69-yard catch.
For the first time, the Cardinals worked a sixth offensive lineman into the mix; newcomer Trystan Colon played 14 snaps at left guard in some relief of starter Elijah Wilkinson (47 snaps). Wilkinson was still the closer at the end of the game, but Colon provided a big block on Rondale Moore's 45-yard TD run.
The Cardinals also made sure to ease up on James Conner's load; he played 39 snaps, rookie Emari Demercado at 11 for the second-most running back snaps and Keaontay Ingram at 9. Tight end was balanced (if not used in the passing game with only three total targets this week) as Zach Ertz was at 36, Geoff Swaim at 32 and Trey McBride at 30.
At receiver, Michael Wilson was at 41 behind Brown, and Moore 33 -- although one of those snaps was definitely as a running back.
The difference in snaps on either side of the ball was noticeable; the Cardinals defense had 81 total snaps it was on the field. Four players were at 100 percent -- Kyzir White, Marco Wilson, Kei'Trel Clark and K'Von Wallace -- and Jalen Thompson was out just one snap after he got banged up at the end of the game. Safety Andre Chachere was at 49.
Zaven Collins only played 24 snaps after being poked in the eye, offsetting the outside linebacker snap count. Victor Dimukeje was at 45 (and had another sack), Cameron Thomas and Dennis Gardeck were each at 35, and BJ Ojulari was at 15.
The hand injury to inside linebacker Krys Barnes limited him to 58 snaps, with Zeke Turner playing 12 as the Cardinals adjusted late in the game.
On the defensive line, the rotation went Jonathan Ledbetter (50), Kevin Strong (43), Leki Fotu (42), Dante Stills (33) and Ben Stille (27).
