Each week following every Bucs game, Pewter Report will take a close look at the snap count distribution for Tampa Bay on offense and defense. We’ll assess what we can learn from who played the most and least in the game.

Let’s get a closer look at the Bucs players who received the highest and lowest number of snaps in the Bucs’ 26-19 loss to the Steelers in overtime, which puts Tampa Bay at 1-5 on the season and 0-4 at home.

Bucs Offense

There was a significant drop in the playing time of backup running back Kenny Gainwell, who played 11 snaps against his old team and only 15% of the total snaps on offense. It’s no secret that Gainwell hasn’t been very productive thus far in his Bucs career despite all the money he’s making, but with no Sean Tucker available, that made Bucky Irving the bell cow of the group at a whopping 85%.

That was the fewest amount of snaps for Gainwell this season and the highest amount for Irving, too. The problem is that while the running game was spectacular on Thursday night in Dallas, it was a nightmare on Sunday against Pittsburgh as the Bucs continued to spam first down runs in shotgun up the middle that would go for a negative gain. Irving ended up with 19 carries for 46 yards and an alarming 2.4 yards per attempt.

Bucs RB Kenny Gainwell – Photo by IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

Meanwhile, Gainwell had just two rushes but for 17 yards, including a 14-yard run that was the longest by any running back int he game. The biggest culprit in all of this was offensive coordinator Zac Robinson. He wore down Irving without even the benefit of a productive game, and continued to keep running the same play that wasn’t working, rather than try something different or more creative such as a run to the outside or counters.

I’m not advocating to see a 50-50 split between Irving and Gainwell, but points were at a premium in the second half, so why not mix it up and give Gainwell some more chances?

It was evident that the Bucs were going to use more two tight end sets again just like they did last week. Cade Otton played every single snap, while Payne Durham was at 32%. Funny enough it was Bauer Sharp, who had played four snaps, that was the most productive tight end for Tampa Bay making a 21-yard reception.

Tampa Bay just doesn’t have a lot of talented tight ends on this roster. They can’t block as well as the coaching staff thinks, and they’re not too much of a threat in the passing game. Maybe Sharp can unlocking something, but less is more when it comes to this group. Tampa Bay should stick with more 11 personnel usage.

Bucs TE Bauer Sharp – Photo by: Cliff Welch P/R

Chris Godwin Jr. actually led the wide receivers in snaps just slightly above Emeka Egbuka. Ted Hurst III is starting to distance himself more and more away from Tez Johnson in terms of snap numbers. In Week 4, it was Johnson that out-snapped Hurst 56%-40%. Then in Week 5 it was Hurst over Johnson 46%-39%. This time around for Week 6 it was Hurst getting 50% of the snaps to Johnson’s 34%.

That should be the case moving forward as the Bucs need to figure out what they have in Hurst. Also, maybe let’s not see Johnson blocking at the line of scrimmage.

Bucs Defense

Hey look at that, David Walker played more snaps this week! To the surprise of no one, except for maybe the Bucs defensive coaching staff, Walker was even more productive with a higher volume of participation. Walker led the team with two sacks while also making seven tackles and two tackles for loss in 35% of the snaps. He was third in the rotation amongst the outside linebackers after Yaya Diaby and Rueben Bain Jr., playing more than Al-Quadin Muhammad and Anthony Nelson.

The good news too is that Walker’s 35% wasn’t that far behind Bain at 38%, although Diaby was far ahead of everyone else at 59%. It was a great outing for the OLBs overall with Walker’s two sacks, Bain recording the first sack of his NFL career and Muhammad also recording his initial sack as a Buccaneer. Diaby, however, has yet to get in the sack column through six games.

Bucs OLB David Walker – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

It was cool to see inside linebacker Josiah Trotter play 100% of the snaps on the defense for the first time in his career. He joined fellow inside linebacker Alex Anzalone and cornerback Zyon McCollum as the players to be in for the entire game. What was interesting is that another inside linebacker in Christian Rozeboom playing 32%, meaning that the defense had more three inside linebacker sets than it typically does, implementing some of a 4-3 defense instead of their usual 3-4 look.

When they’re not in base defense the Bucs are typically playing in nickel, which puts Keionte Scott in the game. He played slightly less than a week before, but had a huge impact recording a sack in the game in addition to eight tackles.

The defensive line rotation was relatively similar to what it’s been this year. Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey played a lot more. As long as they keep stopping the run, there’s no reason to alter that much, although playing A’Shawn Robinson more often would be better as he’s been more impactful. Robinson had his second interception of the season on Sunday on a deflected pass.