It’s snap count time!
Offense
Michael Penix: 65
Jake Matthews: 65
Matthew Bergeron: 65
Ryan Neuzil: 65
Chris Lindstrom: 65
Elijah Wilkinson: 65
Drake London: 55
Kyle Pitts: 48
Bijan Robinson: 45
Charlie Woerner: 44
Casey
Washington: 34
Darnell Mooney: 29
Ray-Ray McCloud: 23
Tyler Allgeier: 21
Teagan Quitoriano: 8
Feleipe Franks: 3
The personnel groupings continue to be tight here, with the only notable thing being that the Falcons are plenty willing to use all four tight ends on offense. That’s a credit to the blocking Quitoriano and Franks bring to the table, which allows the Falcons to put extra blockers on the field and occasionally spell Charlie Woerner and Kyle Pitts on run downs.
Otherwise, the major note here is that McCloud’s role on offense just isn’t as robust as it was a year ago, partly a product of personnel groupings and partly McCloud’s own early season struggles with drops. Washington will continue to play outside if Mooney is injured, and Penix has a high level of trust in him, even if he still isn’t being targeted all that frequently.
Defense
Jessie Bates: 57
Dee Alford: 57
Mike Hughes: 57
Divine Deablo: 57
Kaden Elliss: 57
Xavier Watts: 55
Billy Bowman Jr.: 49
Brandon Dorlus: 35
Ruke Orhorhoro: 31
Leonard Floyd: 30
Zach Harrison: 29
David Onyemata: 28
Jalon Walker: 24
James Pearce Jr.: 23
Arnold Ebiketie: 21
LaCale London: 14
DeMarcco Hellams: 2
DeAngelo Malone: 1
No great surprises here, though there was a heavier split this week on EDGE snaps. Floyd was the beneficiary and had a fine week, but nobody really dropped out of the rotation; Pearce and Ebiketie just got a bit less than Walker and Floyd. Dorlus and Orhorhoro also pulled down more snaps on the interior, and we saw plenty of Harrison, who had a good day.
The only other note of note is that as expected, Hellams stepped in for Watts when he was briefly out of the game. The Falcons secondary was a bit strained in this one despite Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin missing Week 4, so it’ll be a big relief to get A.J. Terrell back out there.
Special teams
Feleipe Franks: 25
DeMarcco Hellams: 24
Mike Ford: 24
Josh Woods; 24
DeAngelo Malone: 23
JD Bertrand: 23
Tyler Allgeier: 17
Bradley Pinion: 15
Charlier Woerner: 14
Jamal Agnew: 10
Teagan Quitoriano: 9
Clark Phillips: 9
Jessie Bates: 8
Liam McCullough: 8
Dee Alford: 7
Zach Harrison: 7
Jalon Walker: 7
Xavier Watts: 6
Jake Matthews: 6
Matthew Bergeron: 6
Chris Lindstrom: 6
Elijah Wilkinson: 6
Ray-Ray McCloud: 6
Parker Romo: 6
Kyle Hinton: 6
Jovaughn Gwyn: 6
Brandon Dorlus: 5
Ruke Orhorhoro: 5
David Onyemata: 5
Natrone Brooks: 3
David Sills: 2
Kyle Pitts: 1
Drake London: 1
Injuries piled up on special teams in this one. Natrone Brooks suffered a nasty-looking concussion, Feleipe Franks, Mike Ford, and Xavier Watts all briefly left the game, and there were big hits on both sides besides those injuries. As usual, Franks led the way from a tackling perspective, including a touchdown-saving one against Luke McCaffrey, but did have a penalty. Coverage continues to be an adventure for this team, unfortunately.
One note: I know people get freaked out whenever a starter is hurt on special teams, as Xavier Watts briefly was, but that’s the nature of the game. Starters play there too, and if you want special teams to be better than what we’ve seen thus far for Atlanta, that has to continue.
