Falcons snap counts from Week 5’s loss to the Buccaneers

The Falcons lost a bitterly contested one to the Buccaneers, obviously, but once again they managed to pull a near-win out of their rucksack. Who contributed to that effort?

The snap counts from this game don’t tell us that by themselves, but let’s take a look at interesting trends from this week’s playing time, as is custom.

Offense

Marcus Mariota: 66

Jake Matthews: 66

Elijah Wilkinson: 66

Drew Dalman: 66

Chris Lindstrom: 66

Kaleb McGary: 66

Olamide Zaccheaus: 44

Drake London: 44

Parker Hesse: 41

Tyler Allgeier: 39

Feleipe Franks: 30

Damiere Byrd: 21

KhaDarel Hodge: 20

Avery Williams: 17

Keith Smith: 17

Caleb Huntley: 16

Anthony Firkser: 15

Bryan Edwards: 14

MyCole Pruitt: 12

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The most fascinating thing about Sunday may have been how the tight end snaps were distributed. Hesse led all players at the position in terms of snaps, which is hardly a surprise given his prowess as a blocker, but then Feleipe Franks wound up doubling Firkser’s snaps. Arthur Smith and company seem determined to make Franks happen, but Firkser had one grab for 11 yards on his 15 snaps, and Franks had two targets and zero catches with an ugly drop on his 30 snaps. The promise may be there as a receiving option, but the results aren’t, and the blocking is solid but not spectacular. The team clearly likes his blocking ability over Firkser, but it’s fair to wonder if Franks offers more for an offense in need right now than a combination of an established pass catching option in Firkser and capable blocker in Pruitt.

It’ll be worth watching to see if Franks gets this kind of run next week if Pitts can’t go, but more than that, it’s fascinating to see how invested the Falcons are in making Franks a success. If he’s able to be a major contributor at the position by 2023, this whole buildup will end up making a lot of sense. If not, well, we’ll be bemoaning the fact that Franks was often active over other players who might’ve made more of a difference.

Edwards seemed like a lock to be one of the team’s top receivers, but instead it has been Olamide Zaccheaus running with Drake London much of the time, and even Hodge out-snapped him on Sunday. We may see more from Edwards down the line—he’s too talented to be a non-factor all season—but thus far his lack of playing time and usage ranks as one of the surprises of the young season.

Finally, expect this running back rotation going forward, with the potential return of Damien Williams adding wrinkles we’ll have to see play out. Allgeier is the lead back owing to his well-rounded game and particularly pass protection skills, while Huntley will get real run because he’s a very capable rusher.

Defense

A.J. Terrell: 79

Rashaan Evans: 79

Richie Grant: 75

Casey Hayward: 74

Jaylinn Hawkins: 67

Grady Jarrett: 58

Lorenzo Carter: 55

Dee Alford: 53

Ta’Quon Graham: 52

Mykal Walker: 45

Arnold Ebiketie: 40

Adetokunbo Ogundeji: 38

Troy Andersen: 30

Quinton Bell: 23

Abdullah Anderson: 23

Timothy Horne: 22

Dean Marlowe: 16

Matt Dickerson: 14

Mike Ford: 10

Nate Landman: 10

Darren Hall: 5

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Plenty of interesting notes here. Troy Andersen got more run than he had up to this point in relief of a struggling and then injured Walker. The latter figures to be back in action next week and Andersen will probably play fewer snaps again, but the rookie looked good in his extended action and may start stealing a few more snaps.

Once again, Marlowe relieved Hawkins at times and played fairly well in his limited action, and it’s clear the Falcons won’t be shy about getting him a little playing time if they feel the matchup is right and/or Hawkins is struggling.

Alford also played a career high number of snaps in this one, and over the last two weeks he has decisively out-snapped Mike Ford. Things will get complicated when Isaiah Oliver is ready to return, but for the moment, the team seems comfortable with Alford as their more or less full-time nickel, a role he’s doing very solid work in.

The defensive line rotation may change this coming week if Atlanta decides to bring up Derrick Tangelo or Jaleel Johnson, but it played out more or less as you would have expected without Anthony Rush. The Falcons leaned heavily on Jarrett and Graham and rotated Anderson, Horne, and to a lesser extent Dickerson throughout the day. That will suffice for now, but the defensive line is obviously going to be a major offseason priority for this team.

Special Teams

Dean Marlowe: 20

Mike Ford: 20

Erik Harris: 20

Avery Williams: 19

Troy Andersen: 17

Keith Smith: 17

Quinton Bell: 16

Parker Hesse: 12

Bradley Pinion: 11

KhaDarel Hodge: 8

Liam McCullough: 8

Richie Grant: 7

Adetokunbo Ogundeji: 7

Feleipe Franks: 7

Nate Landman: 7

Jaylinn Hawkins: 5

Darren Hall: 5

Olamide Zaccheaus: 4

Lorenzo Carter: 3

Ta’Quon Graham: 3

Abdullah Anderson: 3

Timothy Horne: 3

Dee Alford: 2

Elijah Wilkinson: 2

Kaleb McGary: 2

Jake Matthews: 2

Chris Lindstrom: 2

Colby Gossett: 2

Germain Ifedi: 2

Younghoe Koo: 2

Matt Hennessy: 2

Arnold Ebiketie: 1

Tyler Allgeier: 1

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Pretty standard snap counts here, with a quick note for Bell, who had a couple of standout special teams plays in preseason and got a ton of special teams run and some defensive run for the second straight week. The Falcons seem likely to keep utilizing him.

Also another round of applause for Avery Williams, who has some of the best per-punt numbers in the NFL right now on returns, and is filling in capably on kickoffs with Cordarrelle Patterson out. He’s proving to be hugely valuable to this special teams group, and he’s getting quality work on offense, as well.