Falcons snap counts from a big win over the Packers

The Falcons won again, which I will never tire of typing. They did so on a day where Cordarrelle Patterson and Jeff Okudah were still missing in action, and Troy Andersen was sitting out with a concussion.

Who stepped up to help in the winning effort with those players out? How did the team divvy up playing time this week? Let’s answer those with the snap counts for the week.

Offense

Desmond Ridder: 82 (100%)

Jake Matthews: 82

Matthew Bergeron: 82

Drew Dalman: 82

Chris Lindstrom: 82

Kaleb McGary: 82

Drake London: 67

Bijan Robinson: 59

Mack Hollins: 58

Kyle Pitts: 57

Jonnu Smith: 55

MyCole Pruitt: 38

Tyler Allgeier: 36

Keith Smith: 17

KhaDarel Hodge: 11

Scotty Miller: 10

Godwin Igwebuike: 1

John FitzPatrick: 1

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The Falcons have all but said they’ll ride the hot hand at running back, and this game reflected that philosophy. Allgeier wasn’t breaking off the huge runs he managed against Carolina and Robinson was absolutely electric, so the rookie handily outsnapped the second-year back. That will happen several times this season, even if I think the split in snaps (and touches) will continue to be fairly even most weeks. It’s going to be interesting to see how Cordarrelle Patterson is

This team’s love for and commitment to heavy tight end usage is very evident. With Jonnu Smith continuing to show well as a blocker, Pruitt continuing to be excellent in that regard, and both Smith and Pitts looking like potential core pieces of the passing game, Atlanta is happy to put their burly lads on the field as often as possible to help out the run game and provide options for Ridder. The result of that is that the team is effectively only using two receivers 75% of the time, and with London and Hollins producing, they’ll likely continue to do so.

You’re unlikely to see major swings in usage outside of the Bijan/Allgeier/Patterson splits and matchup-specific shifts all season unless someone gets hurt, because the Falcons seem to have a good handle on how they’d like to deploy their personnel. The key for lifting this offense further will just be getting options like Pitts more involved and getting the offensive line settled in earlier in efforts.

Defense

Richie Grant: 50 (100%)

A.J. Terrell: 50

Kaden Elliss: 50

Jessie Bates: 50

Tre Flowers: 49

Nate Landman: 49

Grady Jarrett: 36

Bud Dupree: 32

David Onyemata: 31

Arnold Ebiketie: 31

Calais Campbell: 28

Dee Alford: 24

Lorenzo Carter: 18

Zach Harrison: 17

Ta’Quon Graham: 14

Albert Huggins: 14

Jaylinn Hawkins: 5

Tae Davis: 1

Mike Hughes: 1

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If the offense figures to be relatively stable in terms of how playing time is divvied up, the defense figures to swing a bit more wildly. That was certainly the case this week, with injury forcing a shakeup to the starting lineup and the team electing to give Ebiketie much more playing time at the expense of Carter. It currently looks like Bud Dupree is the one matchup-proof outside linebacker, but even that may change given that we’re only two weeks in. The one non-factor in that rotation thus far has been DeAngelo Malone, who has yet to play a snap on defense despite some promising moments in 2022.

The Falcons did wisely adjust Campbell’s snaps downward, and he, Onyemata, and Jarrett will likely need breathers at times this season. Graham, Harrison, and Huggins have not really played well enough in relief that the Falcons can feel comfortable cutting heavily into the starters’ snaps, however, and that will have to change for this line to really impactful on a consistent basis.

The team will be glad to see Jeff Okudah back, as Flowers once again gamely stepped in as a starter but was not able to repeat his fairly solid Week 1 effort. Pro Football Focus credits Flowers with four catches for 56 yards, or over a third of Jordan Love’s yardage for the game, and at one point Green Bay was clearly going after him. I give credit to Flowers for going from afterthought signing to fill-in starter, but the Falcons will hope not to have to rely on him in that expanded role much longer.

Finally, Landman played all but one snap in relief of an injured Troy Andersen and looked pretty solid. I don’t think we should take for granted that the Falcons had a 2022 undrafted free agent sitting there as their third inside linebacker, a player who had never made an NFL start, and had the confidence in their evaluation to stick with him and roll with him. Landman looks like quality depth, which is one less thing we have to worry about now.

Special teams

Jaylinn Hawkins: 21 (78%)

Tae Davis: 21

DeAngelo Malone: 20

KhaDarel Hodge: 17

Keith Smith: 16

Bradley Pinion: 14

DeMarcco Hellams: 13

Andre Smith Jr.: 13

MyCole Pruitt: 11

Clark Phillips: 11

Calais Campbell: 10

Richie Grant: 9

Zach Harrison: 9

Mike Hughes: 9

Tre Flowers: 8

Lorenzo Carter: 7

Liam McCullough: 7

Kaleb McGary: 6

Jake Matthews: 6

Matthew Bergeron; 6

Isaiah Prince: 6

Ryan Neuzil: 6

Kyle Hinton: 6

Younghoe Koo: 6

Scotty Miller: 6

Godwin Igwebuike: 6

Nate Landman: 5

Grady Jarrett: 4

David Onyemata: 4

Dee Alford: 4

Ta’Quon Graham: 4

Arnold Ebiketie: 3

Bud Dupree: 1

Mack Hollins: 1

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Your core guys remain your core guys here, with the notable addition of Mike Hughes.

Hughes returned to action on Sunday and handled both kick returns and punt returns, a bit of a surprising outcome given that Dee Alford seemed to have punt return duties locked up. My guess is that Hughes will continue to hold down punt returns in the future—he’s a proven returner and Alford has a major role on defense, after all—and Cordarrelle Patterson will take over kick returns as soon as he’s back in action.