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 highest and lowest number of snaps in the Bucs’ 27-22 loss on Thursday night football against the Ravens in Week 8.

Bucs Offense 

At wide receiver, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin led the way with 94 and 90% of the snaps, respectively. The big change of course was that Julio Jones was actually available for the game and played in 39 out of a possible 68 snaps for 57%. Jones was the de facto number three receiver and didn’t bring much to the table. He made two catches for 21 yards and scored a garbage-time touchdown. Jones also had two drops, including a huge chunk play that would’ve gone for over 20-plus yards along with another 15-yards tacked on for a roughing the passer penalty.

Jones looks like a shell of himself at this point. He has a growing injury history and has only been able to play in three games this season because of a partially torn PCL. That made it even more mind boggling when you consider the Bucs attempted to run a jet sweep with him even though he’s essentially playing one one leg when the team has the much faster Scotty Miller and Breshad Perriman available.

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

Speaking of those two, Miller got in on 20 plays and Perriman had just five. Miller made two catches for 13 yards and Perriman made one reception for 11 yards that got the Bucs a first down. Not much usage there as the Bucs perferred to use their top receivers in three-wide looks. It’s pretty obvious the Bucs don’t really trust any other players at that position and they just don’t have a certified number three option at the moment.

My other big takeaway is the discrepancy in snaps between running backs Leonard Fournette and Rachaad White. The margin was 72% to Fournette and a lowly 26% for White, and yet once again White was the better back of the two. At this point, their playing time should be about 50-50. Will it happen? Probably not, but it’s another thing that’s just hurting Tampa Bay’s offense.

Bucs Defense

The Bucs’ defense looked burned out in the second half, leading to more breakdowns in assignment as the Ravens moved the ball up and down the field. Now some of that is because the Bucs’ couldn’t maintain long, sustaining drives, but maybe another factor is that the Bucs had six players that were on for all 76 snaps. Two of them included safety Keanu Neal and rookie Zyon McCollum, who both are only starting because other players are injured.

McCollum was attacked often by the Ravens and they took advantage of him in the open field. He whiffed on many tackles that led to big gains. On the other side of it, the Bucs have a ton of injuries in the secondary, so they didn’t have many other choices but to play McCollum and others the full time without any replacements coming.

Bucs OLB Shaquil Barrett – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

It was really upsetting to see  Shaq Barrett get injured in what looks to be a potentially season ending Achilles injury. He was playing so well on Thursday night, he recorded four tackles, three tackles for loss and one sack while chasing Lamar Jackson everywhere. It’s a huge loss for the Bucs as Barrett was just turning the corner.

This bumped up the snaps of the rest of the defensive line as they shuffled things around. They also implemented Pat O’Connor, who had a season high 20 snaps on defense, good for 26%. He also made a big play on special teams blocking a field goal on the last play of the second quarter.

Barrett is expected to be out for a long time, if not the rest of the regular season. Anthony Nelson will line up at starting outside linebacker opposite of of Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. We’ll see if the Bucs sign another backup to go with Carl Nassib or if they stick with Genard Avery as their next option.