49ers snap count vs. Cowboys: Gerald Hodges, Chris Davis lose considerable snaps

The San Francisco 49ers lost their third straight game, blowing a 14-point lead en route to a 24-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The big news in the 49ers loss was NaVorro Bowman’s injury. He suffered a lower left leg injury that is feared to be a torn Achilles. We’ll get official word after his MRI on Monday.

Bowman’s departure shakes up the inside linebacker depth chart. What was looking like a deep group has lost arguably the second best on the roster to injured reserve (Ray-Ray Armstrong), and could lose the best to IR. However, we were already seeing a shake-up before Bowman got hurt. After Armstrong went down, Michael Wilhoite started seeing defensive snaps, after playing exclusively on special teams the first two weeks. He started next to Bowman on Sunday, with Gerald Hodges playing an exclusive special teams role. After Bowman went down, Nick Bellore came into the game, with Chip Kelly saying after that he is "always" the backup Mike linebacker. We might be seeing a lot more of Bellore in the coming weeks.

In the secondary, Chris Davis was effectively benched against the Cowboys. He played three snaps at cornerback. Rashard Robinson got the start in place of Jimmie Ward, playing 67 of 76 snaps. Keith Reaser got work outside and inside, playing 24 snaps on the day. Both the cornerback and ILB position seem to be more prone to shake-up due to practice performance than anything else.

On offense, the 49ers went almost entirely with three and four receiver sets. Torrey Smith and Quinton Patton played 96 percent of the offensive snaps, and Jeremy Kerley played 89 percent of the snaps. Tight end Garrett Celek played 74 percent of snaps, with Blake Bell getting five offensive snaps total.

Here’s the full snap count, and you can view the gamebook PDF here.