Week 12 Snap Count Analysis: Bucs At Rams

Where to begin with this one? Quarterback hardly ever gets talked about on snap counts because they play the whole game. But that wasn’t the case on Sunday night because Baker Mayfield injured his left shoulder just before the end of the first half and didn’t return. He played 56% of the snaps and then Teddy Bridgewater came in for the second half and played 44%.

It’s probably not best to judge Bridgewater’s performance coming off the bench, especially with how the offensive line played. Bridgewater constantly had to run and get rid of the ball. Eventually he was just in there to hand the ball off as the Bucs waived the white flag.

Because of the blowout in the game, center Graham Barton was the only player on offense to play 100% of the snaps. Rookie undrafted free agent Ben Chukwuma was able to play late in the game at left tackle. Luke Haggard and Elijah Klein got in, too.

Tampa Bay was very careful when it came to the return of Chris Godwin Jr. for the first time since Week 5. Godwin played 36% and made two catches for nine years in the game. He played significantly less than Emeka Egbuka (90%), Tez Johnson (86%) and Sterling Shepard (59%), though it’s understandable given the severity of his injury.

Cade Otton played less than usual at 86%, but that’d likely had to do with the team playing backups in the second half. He had a terrible game bobbling a wide open pass that was ripped away by Cobie Durant and taken to the end zone for a pick-six. The Bucs went with more three and four receiver sets along with some pony package as there wasn’t any significant increase for Payne Durham or Devin Culp from it.

All of the talk leading up to this game was that running back Sean Tucker deserved more rushing attempts and should be a bigger part of the offense. He did have more rushing attempts than Rachaad White by a rate of 12 to 7, but it was White that was in the game more at 60% to 37%. I wouldn’t put too much stock into this. The game got out of hand and the Bucs needed to throw the ball more. And Tampa Bay gave some opportunities to Owen Wirght at the end just trying to run out the clock. Had the game been closer, Tucker would’ve been more involved.

Bucs Defense

With Jamel Dean out, the Bucs also ruled out Benjamin Morrison ahead of the game. It then begged the question of what Tampa Bay was going to do at the outside corner position. They could put Jacob Parrish outside and have someone play is slot position, or put Kindle Vildor back at the outside spot where he previously played. The Bucs split the difference with Parrish playing outside corner in base defense and then in the slot when in their nickel package and Vildor coming in. Parrish ended playing 13 snaps outside, another 13 in the box and 30 snaps at nickel, all while playing 100% of the snaps to Vildor’s 70%.

Another corner that played 100% of the snaps was Zyon McCollum and the Rams just demolished him. They consistently threw his way, including on two touchdowns for Davante Adams. A rough season continued for the corner who’s not playing up to his new contract extension.

There was much less playing time for Yaya Diaby and Anthony Nelson with each at 66%. The latter of the outside linebackers suffered an injury and missed some of the game. This gave an opportunity for Chris Braswell to play his most snaps of the season at 56%, but he didn’t do anything with it, making no tackles and one quarterback hit.

Tamp Bay was able to get some rest for Vita Vea in the lopsided game as it was actually Logan Hall that led the defensive tacklesat 79% followed by Vea at 71%. Elijah Roberts played 45%.

Since the game was out of hand, Lavonte David didn’t play a full game and settled for 91%. This gave undrafted free agent rookie John Bullock five snaps on defense at 9%. He made the team out of training camp for his work on special teams, but got some looks on defense late for some experience. Typically teams want new players in for blowouts where your team is winning, but Sunday night’s game wasn’t the case.