We saw some different looks from the offense this week, so let’s dig into the snap counts.
Offense
Kirk Cousins: 56
Jake Matthews: 56
Ryan Neuzil: 56
Chris Lindstrom: 56
Elijah Wilkinson: 56
Matthew Bergeron: 54
Kyle
Pitts: 53
David Sills: 39
Bijan Robinson: 37
Darnell Mooney: 37
Teagan Quitoriano: 35
Charlie Woerner: 34
Tyler Allgeier: 22
Dylan Drummond: 15
KhaDarel Hodge: 5
Feleipe Franks: 3
Kyle Hinton: 2
An interesting game, personnel-wise. The Falcons went to three tight end sets frequently in this one, with Quitoriano being the clear TE3 and Franks working in as a gadget player and short yardage Taysom Hill Lite. Those tight ends were pretty involved in the passing game—Kyle Pitts had five targets, Woerner three—and helped handle
With the team leaning heavily on two receivers, it ended up being Mooney and Sills bearing the load. Sills continues to be infrequently targeted but is someone this coaching staff clearly trusts; Drummond playing ahead of guys actually on the roster tells you they trust him more as a receiving option. I thought both players looked solid on Sunday; if London misses more time the Mooney/Sills/Drummond trio will likely get a lot of run again.
The Bijan/Allgeier split was about where it should be, with Allgeier getting plenty of run but not at the expense of Bijan getting the touches he needs to bedevil defenders. Overall, a good day for the offense and a logical rollout of who this team has on hand, though I continue to be a little worried about Matthew Bergeron given the exits from these games.
Defense
Kaden Elliss: 80
Jessie Bates: 80
Divine Deablo: 79
Xavier Watts: 78
A.J. Terrell: 76
Mike Hughes: 75
Dee Alford: 62
Ruke Orhorhoro: 43
Brandon Dorlus: 42
Leonard Floyd: 42
Jalon Walker: 41
David Onyemata: 41
James Pearce Jr.: 39
Arnold Ebiketie: 32
Kentavius Street: 27
Ronnie Harrison: 18
LaCale London: 17
Cobee Bryant: 4
Jordan Fuller: 2
JD Bertrand: 1
Natrone Brooks: 1
With Divine Deablo back in action, order was restored for the Falcons defense. Deablo gave this side of the ball a noticeable boost, but Jeff Ulbrich didn’t forget about Ronnie Harrison, finding a way to get him on the field for 18 snaps. While Deablo and his club-handed cast wreaked havoc, Harrison had a critical fourth down, goal line pass deflection and was flying all over the field. Ulbrich has another chess piece, and you can tell he’s excited about it.
The rotation up front is down to Floyd, Onyemata, Street, and a bunch of young players, and that’s working quite well. All five sacks on Sunday came from first or second year players, while Floyd and Onyemata were among the team’s better run defenders against Taysom Hill and Devin Neal on Sunday. The future is finally bright up front, and a heavy, fairly even rotation is working quite well for them right now. Even though he didn’t get a sack, Arnold Ebiketie was also credited with a team-high five pressures; he probably won’t be back next year but should have no trouble finding a good contract somewhere.
Bertrand and Brooks, who both were pressed into fill-in duty in recent weeks with tough results, were limited to a snap each. Both will get their shots on special teams and can hope to learn from their mistakes and compete for larger roles next year; neither one should see substantial playing time again in 2025 unless the need is dire.
Finally, Alford continues to play well, with four stops yesterday, a fumble recovery, a pressure, a batted ball, and nine tackles. Teams are going to try to continue to pick on him in coverage—he and Mike Hughes saw a combined 19 targets, but Hughes allowed just four catches for 34 yards while Alford allowed nine on 10 targets for 65 yards—but he was playing his man well on most of those grabs and limited the post-catch damage. He’ll be in the nickel the rest of the year, so hopefully he can keep it up.
Special teams
Ronnie Harrison: 20
JD Bertrand: 20
Mike Ford: 20
KhaDarel Hodge: 19
DeMarcco Hellams: 17
Jammie Robinson: 15
Teagan Quitoriano: 14
Tyler Allgeier: 13
Feleipe Franks: 12
Bradley Pinion: 9
Liam McCullough: 9
Zane Gonzalez: 9
Jordan Fuller: 7
Charlie Woerner: 7
Kaden Elliss: 6
Natrone Brooks: 6
Jamal Agnew: 6
David Onyemata: 5
Arnold Ebiketie: 5
Ruke Orhorhoro: 4
LaCale London: 4
Elijah Wilkinson: 4
Jake Matthews: 4
Ryan Neuzil: 4
Matthew Bergeron:
Kyle Hinton: 4
Jack Nelson: 4
Jovaughn Gwyn: 4
Brandon Dorlus: 3
Cobee Bryant: 3
Dylan Drummond: 3
Brooks is mired in a rough stretch; PFF gave him two missed tackles for Sunday’s game, one of which came on that big 75 yard return. Mike Ford had two while missing one, with Tyler Allgeier adding one and the always reliable Hellams getting two more.
Minus that nightmare return, it was actually a pretty good day for special teams. Gonzalez continuse to play well, Agnew seems to be settling in as a returner, and Pinion had a solid day punting. Kill those long returns and we’ve got something here.
