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’ 21-15 win on Sunday night afternoon against the Falcons in Week 5.

Bucs Offense

One of the initial things that stood out looking at the snap count in the Bucs’ 21-15 win over the Falcons was the availability of wide receiver Chris Godwin. After participating in 83% of the snaps last week in his return from injury, his numbers dropped significantly down to 52% – good for 41 out of 79 snaps on Sunday. This wasn’t by design, though, as Godwin missed a large portion of the second half as he was dealing with soreness and tightness in his hamstring. As a result, Russell Gage was second among wide receivers with 58 snaps (73%) and Scotty Miller nearly had the same amount as Godwin, trailing him by five plays.

Bucs RB Leonard Fournette – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Talk about taking advantage of his starting opportunity, rookie tight end Cade Otton delivered. The fourth-round pick had the most snaps out of any skill position player, coming in at 74. Otton was on the field 94% of the time. He broke out with his best game as a receiver with six receptions for 43 yards and a key third down reception. The Bucs don’t need him to break records, but the team could use another option when throwing the ball and that’s exactly what he gave Tampa Bay. Ko Kieft played 18% of the time and Kyle Rudolph disappointed playing a small role.

The Bucs continued to balance out the usage of Leonard Fournette and Rachaad White. They played 62% and 39%, respectively, with both players having their imprint on the game. Fournette in particular was a huge factor in the passing game, making 10 catches for 83 yards and a receiving touchdown. He also ran it into the end zone for a touchdown as well.

On the Pewter Report Podcast, we have talked about the possibility of the Bucs using a backup offensive lineman as an extra tight end to help open up the run game. They didn’t do that, but Fred Johnson did get on the field for one snap. Our guess would’ve been that it would be Brandon Walton, who played significant time in Week 2 and started in Week 3. We’ll see if the Bucs mix that up the following week.

Bucs Defense

Bucs CB Zyon McCollum – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs had to shuffle the deck going into the game with safety Logan Ryan and defensive tackle Akiem Hicks out, and they had to shuffle it even more with injuries in the second half. Tampa Bay typically has six players that play 98 to 100 percent of the snaps on defense.  They had five of the usual with defensive back Antoine Winfield Jr, linebackers Devin White and Lavonte David and safety Mike Edwards. Normally cornerback Carlton Davis III is in there too, but for the second week in a row he got hurt in-game, forcing him to exit early. This time it was a hip injury.

When Davis was hurt last week, it was Sean Murphy-Bunting that came in and played in 22 snaps. This week he played in 20, but could’ve played a lot more if not for his own quad injury that is going to require an MRI. That put rookie Zyon McCollum, who was playing in his first career game, in an opportunity where he was lining up as an outside corner opposite Dean in the fourth quarter of a close game. He held his own on 13 snaps.

Another player who made the most of his time was reserve defensive tackle Deadrin Senat. In only 17 plays, which was second lowest of the defense, Senat recorded four tackles and a sack. This could evolve into more playing time next week. The rest of the defensive line played around the same amount of percentages that they’ve been accustomed to so far.