Week 2 Snap Count Analysis: Bucs At Texans

The Bucs controlled the time of possession on offense this time around compared to last week, going up from 58 snaps against Atlanta to 80 against Houston. The hero of the game for several reasons was running back Rachaad White, who also increased he playing percentage to 31% of the offensive snaps. It was far less than lead back Bucky Irving at 71%, but the snaps were at least split a little bit more than previously done.

It sure felt like White played more than 25 snaps when recalling how important it was that he jumped on a Baker Mayfield fumble, and was efficient running the ball with 65 yards on 10 attempts – also scoring the game-winning touchdown. His presence was felt, and that's exactly what Tampa Bay is looking for with White. It also kept Irving that much more fresh in the waning moments of the game and it paid off when Irving's 22-yard catch-and-run on the final drive set the Bucs up at the Texans' 22-yard line with enough time left to get into scoring range.

Wide receiver Emeka Egabuka was still the leader in snaps among skill position players at 915 of the snaps, just two percent fewer than his NFL debut last week. The camera showed at one point that Egbuka was getting his quad wrapped up by trainers, which slowed him down in the second half, but he was still available to play.

Although it might be the last homecoming for Mike Evans in Houston, which is the closest NFL stadium to his hometown of Galveston, Texas, Evans actually played slightly less at 79% while Sterling Shepard had a big leap up to 76%.

The increase for Shepard likely had to do with Tampa Bay's plans to run the ball more, especially when Charlie Heck came in at right tackle for Luke Goedeke. Shepard is never afraid to do the dirty work as a blocking receiver and will get physical with defenders. He also pitched in with four catches for 34 yards with two of those receptions keeping drives going on third down.

Increasing the run game also likely explains why Ryan Miller saw a big jump as well from 16% last week to 22% on Monday night. Formerly a tight end in college, Miller is here to play special teams and fit in anyway he can on the offensive side.

He made an important impact scoring Tampa Bay's first touchdown of the game while also contributing as a blocker in the run game. The Bucs ran for 169 yards, so it clearly worked, and the team elected to make Tez Johnson a game day inactive, leaning into the receivers who were better blockers. Kameron Johnson got in for nine snaps, which is significant considering he had just one a week ago.

Tampa Bay decided to lean more on starting tight end Cade Otton than rely on known blocking tight end Payne Durham. Otton's percentage went up from 86% to 91% while Durham's dropped from 26% to 21%. It appears the Bucs wanted to spread out the Texans and get lighter boxes. There were several times where Otton would split out wide with the receivers and sometimes Irving or White, giving a look of four or five wide outs before a back would motion back into the backfield.

This forced the Texans to matchup with them that way instead of lining up two tight ends on the line scrimmage, bringing more defenders into the picture. With the way the Bucs ran it, it's hard to argue with the results. Otton was also often used to help chip Will Anderson when he was going against Heck during the game.

Bucs Defense

There was a lot of shuffling of the deck once defensive tackle Calijah Kancey went out in the second quarter. Kancey is a cornerstone piece of this team that played 71% of the snaps last week, so the Bucs had to continuously fill out those snap numbers after he was in for just 31% on Monday night in the first half before his pectoral injury.

A big shout-out needs to go to Greg Gaines and Elijah Roberts for picking up the slack. The snaps for Gaines increased from 28% to 35% and he came up big with a sack on C.J. Stroud. Then Roberts, just playing in second career game, went all the way up to 27 percent while recording a half sack with Lavonte David. A lot is going to fall on these two players if Kancey is out long term and they filled in well. Vita Vea's numbers also went up to 81% as the Bucs reshaped their defensive look.

David along with Zyon McCollum, Tykee Smith and Antoine Winfield Jr. played all 49 snaps, which was 100% of the snaps. Smith was without question the best of that group by far, as he recorded six tackles, a sack and two tackles for loss. A player that did not have a good game was SirVocea Dennis, who missed some assignments, especially in coverage. He wasn't in late in the game either, and instead it was Deion Jones, who sacked Stroud on the 2-point conversion attempt late in the game.

There was a slight shakeup in the secondary as well. Todd Bowles had mentioned wanting to get rookie Benjamin Morrison's "feet wet" in the first NFL game of his career and he wound up with 27% of the snaps coming in for Jamel Dean, who played 73%. Given Dean's injury history, I like the idea of keeping him fresh with this rotation. Nickel cornerback Jacob Parrish played 61%, a slight drop off from the previous week, but he still played plenty of snaps.

It's quite evident at this point that the Bucs just don't have a lot of trust in their outside linebackers besides the starters. The Bucs went with heavy usage once again with Haason Reddick at 84% and Yaya Diaby at 82%. Anthony Nelson and Chris Braswell were barely seen as they played 18% and 16% respectively, not even playing double-digit snaps.

I'm all for the Bucs relying more on their best players at edge rusher with Reddick and Diaby, although neither player made much of an impact in the game. What's concerning is that Todd Bowles likes to rotate his backup outside linebackers for a couple of series, so his unwillingness to do so with Nelson and Braswell speaks to that reluctance. Maybe Bowles is just relying on his best guys knowing it's early in the season and there will be more snaps for the backups with more wear and tear as the season goes along, but Tampa Bay is all boom-or-bust with its starters.

Neither starting outside linebacker looked good in Houston, although Reddick dropped back in coverage a lot. Tampa Bay continued to struggle getting home with a four-man pass rush, but at least the blitzes were on point in primetime.