Each week I’ll take a closer look at the snap count distribution for the Bucs offense and defense, assessing what we can learn from who played the most and who played the least on game day.

Here’s a look at which Bucs played the most – and the least – in the team’s 9-0 loss to the Saints in Week 15.

Bucs Offensive Snap Counts

Losing Mike Evans and Chris Godwin for the game against one of the best defenses in the NFL is never going to be ideal. The Bucs top receivers didn’t last long, playing just 17 and 16 snaps, respectively. Tyler Johnson jumped up to a career-high 70 snaps with the Bucs down four of their top five receivers. As the only other active wide receivers, Scotty Miller and Jaelon Darden weren’t far behind.

Instead of increasing the usage of tight ends, the Bucs actually relied on them less. Cam Brate played a snap less than he did last week, while O.J. Howard managed just 10 reps. In a game in which the Bucs had just three wide receivers, Howard still only got 10 opportunities. Let that sink in.

With Leonard Fournette playing hurt and eventually bowing out due to injury, Ronald Jones played 22 snaps. That’s the second-highest snap count total for Jones all season, and the most since Week 2. Of course, it took injuries to Leonard Fournette and Giovani Bernard to make it happen. Ke’Shawn Vaughn saw a season-high 19 snaps, which were mostly a disaster.

Defensive Snap Counts

The Bucs played just five defensive backs in this game, which is about all they have left at this point. In nickel packages, Pierre Desir entered the game, moving Sean Murphy-Bunting to the slot. Tampa Bay played base defense with five defensive linemen on the field for most of the game.

Lavonte David bowed out with a foot injury with five plays left in the game. Kevin Minter stepped in for those snaps, and will do the same again next week if David can’t play.

Elsewhere, there was not much change defensively. Will Gholston saw an increase in snaps compared to his recent workload, but that was to be expected given the Saints offensive personnel. Shaq Barrett led the edge rushers in snaps with 43, but played just 70 percent of the defensive snaps. With the Bucs playing in base defense so often, Steve McLendon earned 18 snaps as well.

It remains a complete mystery why the Bucs coaching staff continues to play Jason Pierre-Paul. He looks completely cooked out there, failing to even move at NFL speeds. Pierre-Paul’s shoulder injury seems to have completely zapped the physical edge that made him such a strong player in the past.

Meanwhile, one of the Bucs best defensive players in this game, Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, received just 26 snaps. The fact that JTS is getting less reps than Pierre-Paul is nothing short of coaching malpractice at this point. They aren’t even in the same realm of existence as football players right now. We have double-digit games of Pierre-Paul clearly not being able to compete, while Tryon-Shoyinka is a terror. There is just no defense for that personnel decision.