Atlanta won last night in an absolute triumph, but I know your day isn’t complete and your elation unmaximized until you see the snap counts. Fortunately, I’m here to fix that.
Offense
Michael Penix Jr.: 66
Jake Matthews: 66
Matthew Bergeron: 66
Ryan Neuzil: 66
Chris Lindstrom: 66
Elijah Wilkinson: 66
Darnell Mooney: 57
Drake London: 56
Charlie Woerner: 56
Kyle Pitts: 53
Bijan Robinson: 43
Tyler Allgeier: 22
Teagan Quitoriano: 15
Ray-Ray McCloud: 15
KhaDarel Hodge: 9
David Sill V: 3
Nate Carter: 1
The Falcons came into this
game with a clear plan, as reader Hawes suggested this morning. Zac Robinson wanted to take advantage of a decimated Vikings linebacker group and re-establish the run after the Falcons fizzled on the ground against the Buccaneers, and their personnel usage is reflective of that desire.
They used their tight ends much more heavily, with a major workload for Charlie Woerner and a guest appearance from Teagan Quitoriano, who is clearly TE3 when the Falcons need blocking help. They lightly used a third receiver, with McCloud getting limited work in that capacity. And they ran the hell out of the ball, predictability be damned, and dared Minnesota to stop them, with Tyler Allgeier getting 16 carries on 22 snaps. It wasn’t always pretty and the predictability sometimes allowed Minnesota to key on the run, but the Falcons got the job done in this one to the tune of a lot of rushing yards and one touchdown.
All we can really take away from this is that playing time will vary by opponent as the Falcons try to seek a competitive edge, which is as it should be.
Defense
Jessie Bates: 47
Mike Hughes: 47
Xavier Watts: 47
Divine Deablo: 47
Kaden Elliss: 47
Billy Bowman Jr.: 44
Zach Harrison: 27
A.J. Terrell: 27
David Onyemata: 25
Jalon Walker: 22
Brandon Dorlus: 22
Leonard Floyd: 21
Dee Alford: 20
Ruke Orhorhoro: 20
Arnold Ebiketie: 20
James Pearce Jr.: 17
LaCale London: 15
DeAngelo Malone: 1
The Falcons don’t always live up to their promises, but when Natie Ollie said this group would attack and rotate frequently up front, he was not joking. Atlanta’s rotation is pretty evenly split and it’s leading to great outcomes, with Atlanta piling up six sacks on the night and once again getting enough pressure to rattle a quarterback. This being a young one in J.J. McCarthy, it led to turnovers, too.
The secondary is more stable, with the Falcons already trusting Billy Bowman and Xavier Watts with huge workloads and reaping the benefits of doing so. Ditto linebacker, where Divine Deablo and Kaden Elliss are playing well and playing every snap so far.
The only interesting note beyond that? Dee Alford was the first man up when A.J. Terrell went down; I wonder if that will hold when Clark Phillips returns from injury or if Alford is now envisioned as the team’s top sub across the board.
Special teams
Feleipe Franks: 22
DeAngelo Malone: 18
Mike Ford: 18
JD Bertrand: 18
Josh Woods: 18
KhaDarel Hodge: 16
Bradley Pinion: 16
DeMarcco Hellams: 16
Tyler Allgeier: 12
Charlie Woerner: 11
Dee Alford: 9
Liam McCullough: 9
Jalon Walker: 7
Natrone Brooks: 7
Zach Harrison: 6
Matthew Bergeron: 6
Jake Matthew: 6
Elijah Wilkinson: 6
Chris Lindstrom: 6
Kyle Hinton: 6
Parker Romo: 6
Jovaughn Gwyn: 6
Brandon Dorlus: 4
Billy Bowman Jr.: 3
Jessie Bates: 2
David Onyemata: 2
Ruke Orhorhoro: 2
Teagan Quitoriano: 2
Nate Carter: 2
Mike Hughes: 1
David Sills V: 1
Dee Alford had to step into a substantial role on special teams this week, and he came through with a pair of tackles and a couple of returns, though one of them he terrifyingly muffed before picking it back up and managing to make hay with it. Otherwise, your core group is pretty well set here, and they’re mostly guys that are exclusively special teams players at this point. They looked awfully good on Sunday night.
That includes Parker Romo, who had a couple of shaky kicks but managed to nail all five field goal attempts, and Mike Ford, who had three special teams tackles and forced and recovered a muffed punt to snuff out the last little bit of Vikings hope in this one. The Falcons are carrying a lot of guys who are here to play special teams and only fill in on offense or defense in a pinch, so they had better be excellent at what they do. On Sunday night, they undeniably were.
