**Thomas Howard and Brandon Johnson were the nickel backers in Cincinnati before the bye. If Howard can't play this week, the second nickel backer will be either Dan Skuta or Manny Lawson. I'd handicap that narrowly in Skuta's favor, but it could go either way.**With Scott Fujita out, Chris Gocong played every down. Sounds like Fujita will be back this week, but keep that nugget in your memory bank if Fujita is injured again later in the year.**Von Miller quietly back taking the bulk of the base defensive SLB snaps this week.**Ernie Sims is still the nickel OLB in Indianapolis, but the time is ticking on his poor coverage skills and good health.**Rolando McClain continues to fight through multiple injuries, but when he's on the training table, it's been Darryl Blackstock taking his every-down snaps. It's fair to wonder if that happens with two weeks to coach up Aaron Curry to play MLB in the dime package (should McClain be unable to go in Week 9), and I'd be a little wary of Blackstock.**Na'il Diggs...child, please.**Lots more on this in our columns and on the podcast this week, but there was more 3-4 from Carolina last week, with a rotation of ILB and OLB. For now, consider James Anderson the lone every-down LB. Omar Gaither (who briefly played every down before his knee injury) will be back, but won't likely be considered ready for full time duty over Thomas Williams (and it's possible he might rotate with Jason Phillips in the base D).**Got a few questions wondering if Sean Lee is rotating again based on the box score results last week. He's not. It's status quo in Dallas.**Whether it was a setback with the knee or the knowledge that he'd have a major challenge against the GB spread, the Vikings held EJ Henderson out of most subpackages and Erin Henderson played every down. **Seeing less and less dime from St. Louis with every passing week. Chris Chamberlain deserves asterisk consideration now and can be considered a reasonably safe OLB play since Spagnuolo has used him in that role in the past, though things could change in any given week.**More Malcolm Smith over Leroy Hill again this week. I'm leaving Hill on the list one more week with an asterisk, but he's getting closer and closer to a platoon player.**Still some spare dime snaps in Tampa Bay, with Quincy Black the lone linebacker. Probably only a concern against true spread offenses if you're starting Geno Hayes.**Keyaron Fox replaced London Fletcher late last week and stayed in nickel packages. It's possible things are different after a week of game planning and practice, but if Fletcher doesn't play, that's the likely scenario.
Daryl Washington played only in 47 out of 77 possible defensive snaps this week. Probably a situation to monitor.
Thanks for noting this. I make an effort to watch nearly every snap of every game each week, but there are some weeks that I've got to triage my time. This week, I didn't get through the full PIT-ARI game.I would've noted above that the Cardinals came out of their bye week with a dime package against a four wide receiver set and kept Lenon on the field over Washington. They also brought Bradley in as a roving pass rusher and used Richard Marshall as a safety at times. Washington is still playing in all other subpackages. But I didn't see the fourth quarter. I don't think there's anything to it, but Bradley and Walker took a full series from Lenon and Washington early in the fourth. Lenon returned for a later series, but Washington didn't play at all in the fourth. Washington didn't appear injured and isn't on the injury report. There's also nothing to be found in the local news this week about his absence that I've seen. The only questionable issue was a third quarter play in which Washington got lost badly on a choice route by Heath Miller. Otherwise, I thought he played well.I'll see what I can dig up by tomorrow morning.
