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The NFL has added one new source of information to their repertoire: the snap counts for every player in the game books. Now that's useful: we finally get to see who played on which downs, how many times, and how much they contributed on special teams. Without further ado, here are some of my observations based on these snap counts:
- Linebacker Quincy Black is being phased out of the defense, and he should not expect to be back next year. He only played in the base defense, and the Bucs played base on just 12 snaps - giving Black just 12 snaps on defense, one less than his nominal backup Dekoda Watson, who is on the field in some nickel and dime subpackages. Impressively, the Bucs managed to have a stifling run defense despite playing in nickel and dime for most of the game.
- The flip side of that coin is Lavonte David, who participated in all the team's defensive snaps, was the only linebacker to be on the field for every defensive snap. That should continue going forward, as he's easily the team's best coverage linebacker. The other players to participate in every defensive snap: Mark Barron, Aqib Talib, Eric Wright and Ronde Barber.
- Core special team players include Adam Hayward (64% of snpecial teams snaps), Cody Grimm (64%), Dekoda Watson (76%), Ahmad Black (68%) and Quincy Black (60%). Interestingly, Lavonte David and Mark Barron both participated in 40% of special teams snaps.
- The Bucs were in nickel or dime 75% of the time, as evidenced by nickel corner Brandon McDonald getting exactly 75% of the snaps. They were in dime on 25% of the snaps, as Watson got 25% of the snaps.Ahmad Black got one more snap than that, because the Bucs messed around on the first snap of the game to give Ronde Barber his 200th start at cornerback.
- Doug Martin took a whopping 52 of 67 offensive snaps (78%). That's a very hefty workload, and he's now on pace to get 448 touches on the season. That should go down over the next weeks.
- Luke Stocker is the number one tight end, despite not being targeted on offense He took 73% of the snaps, while Clark took 48%. Clearly Stocker is a blocker first, while Clark is a receiver first and plays mostly on passing downs.
- The Bucs had a fullback on the field for 61% of all snaps. That's probably the highest percentage in the entire NFL.
You can find the full snap count in the game book, but I've replicated them here for your perusal.
| Player | Offense | Defense | Special Teams |
|---|---|---|---|
| C Nicks G | 67 100% | 4 16% | |
| D Penn T | 67 100% | 4 16% | |
| J Trueblood T | 67 100% | 4 16% | |
| J Zuttah C | 67 100% | 4 16% | |
| T Larsen G | 67 100% | 4 16% | |
| J Freeman QB | 67 100% | ||
| V Jackson WR | 65 97% | ||
| M Williams WR | 54 81% | ||
| D Martin RB | 52 78% | ||
| L Stocker TE | 49 73% | 7 28% | |
| E Lorig FB | 41 61% | 19 76% | |
| D Clark TE | 32 48% | ||
| P Parker WR | 20 30% | 5 20% | |
| D Ware RB | 10 15% | ||
| L Blount RB | 6 9% | ||
| D Noble TE | 4 6% | 3 12% | |
| D Dotson T | 2 3% | 4 16% | |
| L David LB | 52 100% | 10 40% | |
| M Barron DB | 52 100% | 10 40% | |
| A Talib CB | 52 100% | 7 28% | |
| E Wright CB | 52 100% | 7 28% | |
| R Barber CB | 52 100% | 5 20% | |
| A Clayborn DE | 49 94% | 5 20% | |
| G McCoy DT | 49 94% | 5 20% | |
| M Bennett DE | 47 90% | 4 16% | |
| M Foster LB | 39 75% | 10 40% | |
| B McDonald CB | 39 75% | 5 20% | |
| R Miller DT | 30 58% | ||
| A Black DB | 14 27% | 17 68% | |
| D Watson LB | 13 25% | 19 76% | |
| Q Black LB | 12 23% | 15 60% | |
| G Gibson DT | 9 17% | 2 8% | |
| G Johnson DE | 8 15% | 2 8% | |
| C Irvin DT | 3 6% | ||
| A Hayward LB | 16 64% | ||
| C Grimm FS | 16 64% | ||
| M Koenen P | 14 56% | ||
| L Johnson DB | 11 44% | ||
| A Economos LS | 9 36% | ||
| S Stroughter WR | 9 36% | ||
| K Tandy DB | 8 32% | ||
| C Barth K | 4 16% | ||
| D Te'o-Nesheim DE | 3 12% | ||
| M Smith RB | 3 12% |