Each week after every Bucs game, we’ll take a closer look at the snap count distribution for the Tampa Bay offense and defense. We’ll assess what we can learn from who played the most and least from the game.

Here is a closer view of of which players received the most and least amount of snaps in the Bucs’ 20-10 win on Sunday over the Saints in Week 2.

Bucs Offense

The Bucs had to make a lot of changes to their offense due to injuries and an ejection to Mike Evans. Once Evans was thrown out of the game, the rest of the backup wide receivers needed to make up for it, especially since Julio Jones and Chris Godwin were unavailable.

Breshad Perriman, who wasn’t even a lock to make the roster out of training camp, ended up with the most snaps at receiver with 50 out of 67. It paid off, as he made the biggest offensive play of the game when he caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady.

Although Russell Gage was expected to be the No. 1 receiver without their other three wideouts, he had eight fewer snaps than Perriman, accounting for 66% of the plays. In his first game of the year, Scotty Miller received significant playing time with 29 snaps. He was utilized even before Evans was ejected, so that’s a good sign for him.

Bucs RB Leonard Fournette and Saints DB Justin Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Tampa Bay relied very heavily on Leonard Fournette, as he was involved 87% of the time. The Bucs planned on running the ball often, but the next closest number of snaps by a running back was Rachaad White with nine. Giovani Bernard got hurt on the opening kickoff in the second half and Ke’Shawn Vaughn was inactive, so the Bucs were down to two backs. The Bucs need Fournette for the long haul. I just hope he can stay healthy the whole season if he’s going to be utilized this much. Look for Vaughn to be activated next week against the Packers.

Cade Otton has cut into the amount of snaps that Cam Brate had at tight end. Last week, Brate had 12 more snaps than Otton, but this time around, he only led him by five. Sooner rather than later, Otton may become the starter. He also made his first career NFL reception on Sunday.

Ko Kieft played 24 snaps, which was a little more of an increase this week as the Bucs continued to be run heavy. On the offensive line, Brandon Walton played 44 snaps after Josh Wells left the game early and did a very solid job. The Bucs were down to their third-string offensive tackle and still did enough to win the game.

Bucs Defense

Once again, the Bucs stuck to their usual rotation for the majority of the game, especially in the secondary. Carlton Davis III, Jamel Dean, Mike Edwards and Antoine Winfield Jr. each played all 68 defensive snaps. It clearly was the right move, as Dean had two clutch interceptions and Edwards sealed the game with a pick-six.

Logan Ryan was involved often as well, accounting for 48 plays and 71% of the snaps. Ryan came up big too, forcing a fumble as the Saints got into Bucs territory.

This also meant that the Bucs didn’t rotate Sean Murphy-Bunting or Keanu Neal. Murphy-Bunting didn’t get any defensive snaps while Neal was given two. One of them was a controversial roughing the passer call after Lavonte David had sacked Jameis Winston early in the game.

Bucs S Logan Ryan – Photo by: USA Today

Speaking of David, both he and Devin White played every single snap. It was business as usual for them, with each player recording a sack.

The biggest changes we saw were on the defensive line because of a foot injury to Akiem Hicks, which caused him to exit the game. Vita Vea led the way with 43 snaps, and the Bucs used an even rotation of Rakeem Nunez-Roches, Will Gholston and rookie Logan Hall. Nacho actually received one more snap than the latter two, getting 30% of the snaps as opposed to 29% for Gholston and Hall.

At outside linebacker, they stuck to their typical rotation of using all four players with Shaq Barrett, Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, Anthony Nelson and Carl Nassib. It was interesting that Barrett had eight more snaps than Tryon-Shoyinka (85% to 74%) on the afternoon. I get that Barrett’s your lead pass rusher, but Tryon-Shoyinka is wildly athletic and only in his second year, he shouldn’t be out-snapped by anyone at his position.

Regardless, it was a big day for the group as Barrett recorded two sacks and a forced fumble, JTS had a half-sack and Nassib recovered a key fumble on the punchout by Ryan when the game was tied up. For the second game in a row, the defense was the reason that the Bucs won and are 2-0 to start.