Falcons vs. Giants complete snap counts and analysis for Week 2

Offense

Matt Ryan: 72
Andy Levitre: 72
Jake Matthews: 72
Chris Chester: 72
Mike Person: 72
Ryan Schraeder: 72
Julio Jones: 59
Roddy White: 57
Jacob Tamme: 56
Devonta Freeman: 49
Leonard Hankerson: 48
Levine Toilolo: 35
Tevin Coleman: 19
Patrick DiMarco: 18
Nick Williams: 8
Terron Ward: 7
Tyler Polumbus: 3
Eric Weems: 1

Everyone wanted to know what happened with Roddy White, with some suggesting injury, or even that he only came out in the second half. As you can see, though, Roddy played about 75% of the offensive snaps, suggesting there was nothing sinister or injury-related going on. The Giants just have an underrated secondary, and while I need to re-watch the game to confirm, it looks like they simply took Roddy out of the game. Perhaps this week was a mirage, perhaps last week was, but it's simply too early to stick a fork in White. He'll hope to rebound against the Dallas secondary next time out.

Tevin Coleman's injury obviously accounts for both his low snap count and Freeman's high count. If Coleman is healthy he'll continue to operate as the lead back, because while Freeman runs hard and has good hands, he had a fairly anemic line on the ground for the second straight week, and he also dropped two catchable passes. Terron Ward will only get snaps intermittently, either way.

For the second straight week, the starting offensive line played every single snap. This week, with the Giants aggressively pressuring Ryan, sending plenty of players at the quarterback, and generally being nuisances, the pass protection didn't look as good as it did against the Eagles. The Cowboys can also bring the heat, so it'll be interesting to see how well the line bounces back in Week 3.

Finally, Nick Williams is essentially functioning as the team's fourth wide receiver right now. That should change once Devin Hester gets back, but it's interesting that he's out-snapping Weems and relegating Justin Hardy to thne inactives list.

Defense

Desmond Trufant: 71
Robert Alford: 71
William Moore: 68
Ricardo Allen: 61
Justin Durant: 60
Paul Worrilow: 54
Phillip Adams: 48
Adrian Clayborn: 44
Vic Beasley: 44
Jonathan Babineaux: 44
O'Brien Schofield: 39
Ra'Shede Hageman: 28
Kroy Biermann: 27
Nate Stupar: 22
Paul Soliai: 22
Tyson Jackson: 22
Allen Bradford: 17
Grady Jarrett: 14
Joplo Bartu: 11
Robenson Therezie: 10
Kemal Ishmael: 3
Jalen Collins: 1

Anyone who wasn't aware that Dan Quinn and his staff prefer to keep cornerbacks on their respective sides of the field certainly knows it now, after watching Eli Manning studiously avoid throwing to Trufant all day. The Giants mostly lined Odell Beckham Jr. up against Robert Alford and Phillip Adams, and he repeatedly torched the duo (and safety help) en route to a big day. I'll go on record stating that I'm not a big fan of using your top cover guy in this fashion, especially against a team like the Giants that has one receiving threat that is light years better than anything else they possess. Alford is getting a ton of crap for his day against Beckham, and once Jalen Collins gets up to speed he'll likely be the #3 cornerback, but he didn't stand much of a chance against ODB and the coaching staff probably should've adjusted to that.

Kroy Biermann had a nice game. It also helps that the Giants aren't as talented on offense as the Eagles, but still, kudos to Biermann.

Nate Stupar and Allen Bradford primarily got in the game thanks to Paul Worrilow's injury, with Stupar doing some good things in run support. Therezie got into the game ahead of Kemal Ishmael when Ricardo Allen needed a breather and played fine, which tells you the staff feels better about him at FS than Ishmael.

As anticipated, the Falcons got the Giants away from the run early, and once again we saw Tyson Jackson, Paul Soliai, and Ra'Shede Hageman less in favor of the team's nickel packages. That may finally change in Dallas, where the ground game is solid and Brandon Weeden is going to be starting at quarterback this week.

Special Teams

Kemal Ishmael: 25
Allen Bradford: 24
Nate Stupar: 23
Eric Weems: 20
Patrick DiMarco: 20
Matt Bosher: 15
Robert Alford: 14
Levine Toilolo: 13
Desmond Trufant: 11
Josh Harris: 10
Matt Bryant: 5

If Ishmael isn't getting in on defense, he continues to be an integral part of the special teams unit. He, Bradford, Stupar, Weems and DiMarco will get the most snaps on the unit week in and week out, and they're doing fine work.

It's interesting to see Trufant and Alford, who got every snap on defense Sunday, getting double digit special teams snaps as well. The Falcons may want to change that down the line to keep both fresh, especially since the team's kick and punt coverage units were only so-so with them running on Sunday.

Thoughts regarding these snap counts?

And an appreciative tip of the cap to Matt Bosher, who has to be in the conversation for best punter in the NFL. He nailed a personal best 67 yard punt, he's frequently pinning other teams deep, and he's a willing tackler.