Week 8 Snap Count Analysis: Bucs At Saints

There was talk all week about getting more of a rotation involved with the running backs while also committing to the run, and the Bucs certainly stuck to it. Tampa Bay did a great job splitting up the snaps for Rachaad White and Sean Tucker with White at 55% and Tucker at 34%. Even rookie Josh Williams got involved with 10%!

This should be the way the Bucs go about their running back usage to keep everyone fresh. Even whenever Bucky Irving comes back, the leader in snaps doesn’t need more than 70% at most. White got shaken up a little earlier in the game after getting tackled, which may have played a factor, but Tucker seemed to bring more energy in the game having the most rushing yards (42) and punching in Tampa Bay’s only offensive touchdown.

Wide receiver Emeka Egbuka played his highest amount of snaps at 88% since Week 4. He seems to be better from his hamstring injury suffered a couple of weeks ago, but doesn’t look fully healthy. Egbuka had a relatively quiet game with just three catches for 35 yards, although Baker Mayfield underthrew him on a deep shot in the end zone. He’s back to playing at a high volume, and Egbuka will get a week to rest with the bye coming up.

It’s evident that Tez Johnson has already surpassed Sterling Shepard as WR2 with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin Jr. out. Johnson was second among Bucs receivers with snaps at 71%, which is also tied for the most he’s played in the game, while Shepard played 41%. It was Johnson that led Tampa Bay with five catches for 43 yards compared to Shepard that made one catch for eight yards on a manufactured screen. I’m still confused why Kameron Johnson can only get in on 10% of the snaps after leading the team in catches and yards two weeks ago, but that’s what the team wants to do with its personnel.

The tight ends had the same exact rotation as a week ago with Cade Otton at 97% and Payne Durham at 55%. That’s not going to change too much for the rest of the season. Devin Culp clocked in at 3% and I’m curious if he’ll eventually got more opportunities with the Bucs struggling to put up touchdowns on offense. Offensive lineman Dan Feeney got the start at right guard, so that was a different adjustment for Tampa Bay. And quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was able to get in for two snaps to close the game out.

Bucs Defense

It was an all-time game for outside linebacker Anthony Nelson as he recorded four tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble, an interception and a touchdown on a pick-six. Nelson got the start for an injured Haason Reddick and certainly made the most of his opportunity playing 62% of the snaps. There are some players in this league where moments just present themselves year in and year out. Anthony Nelson is definitely in that category.

Yaya Diaby had the most snaps at the position of outside linebacker with 71%. Chris Braswell got more playing time and had a season high of 42% but some of that came late in the game with Tampa Bay up by 20 points. Practice squad player Mo Kamara got elevated for this game and got in towards the end. Markees Watts also split a sack with his limited playing time.

Logan Hall’s snaps continue to dwindle more and more each week as he was in for 39% of the time. That’s a significant drop off from last week when he played 63%. The emergence of rookie Elijah Roberts is part of that, as he played 67%, and Hall played just one more snap that Greg Gaines did.

It’s kind of a crazy to see a game where Lavonte David’s snap count was 81% and it was in fact SirVocea Dennis that played all 100%. This gave a higher number for Deion Jones at 17%. That’s what a blowout game will do with mixing up who goes in late.

Tampa Bay continues its rotation at corner with Benjamin Morrison coming in for Jamel Dean at certain points in the game. Dean is having a career year and forced a fumble in this game, so if giving him a couple of snaps off is doing the trick – stick with it. There was a moment where Jacob Parrish exited the game due to an oblique injury and the Bucs put Zyon McCollum in the slot with Dean and Morrison at outside corner. An interesting wrinkle based on personnel matchups.

Only McCollum, Dennis and Antoine Winfield Jr. played 100% of the snaps. Winfield certainly made his presence felt despite having two touchdowns called back on his fumble recovery and his interception. It was an ultimate defensive performance by Todd Bowles’ unit.