The Falcoholic
Will the snap counts illuminate this week, or only deepen our confusion and frustration? Let’s find out!
Michael Penix Jr.: 63
Jake Matthews: 63
Kyle Hinton: 63
Ryan Neuzil: 63
Elijah Wilkinson: 63
Drake London: 62
Chris Lindstrom: 62
Kyle Pitts: 58
Darnell Mooney: 57
Bijan Robinson: 54
David Sills: 31
Charlie Woerner: 25
Tyler Allgeier: 23
KhaDarel Hodge: 2
Teagan Quitoriano: 2
Jovaughn Gwyn: 1
Casey Washington: 1
Sills was wide open late when Penix missed him badly, so he was in the position to make a splash play in this one. I still don’t understand why over half this team’s snaps went to a wide receiver who is not a high-end blocker when the Falcons were A) running well and B) getting pass catching production out of their backs and even Charlie Woerner. This was probably Sills’ best game overall this season, but I’m still baffled by the personnel usage, particularly when WR2 is struggling so much. Interestingly, Mooney made his only catch on eight targets working against Sauce Gardner.
Kyle Hinton, meanwhile, filled in extremely well. He was one of two starting offensive linemen Pro Football Focus did not tally a pressure for, the other being Chris Lindstrom, and he was good enough in run blocking that the Falcons really didn’t miss Matthew Bergeron that much for one week. If Bergeron misses more time, Hinton should be a solid fill-in at worst.
The splits and usage for Bijan and Allgeier, meanwhile, were some of the most logical we’ve seen this year. That clears a low bar, given that the Falcons put together multiple drives where they mysteriously forgot to run despite being able to do so all day, but Allgeier got his red zone work and finished drives while Bijan cut through the tangle largely on early downs for big pickups.
Kaden Elliss: 77
Jessie Bates: 77
A.J. Terrell: 77
Xavier Watts: 77
Keith Taylor: 65
Ruke Orhorhoro: 62
Billy Bowman Jr.: 58
David Onyemata: 54
Jalon Walker: 50
Zach Harrison: 47
James Pearce Jr.: 45
Arnold Ebiketie: 38
Ronnie Harrison: 35
JD Bertrand: 28
Brandon Dorlus: 28
Josh Woods: 13
Dee Alford: 12
Sam Roberts: 4
The Falcons rotated Bertrand with Harrison and Woods this time, with Harrison still getting the bulk of snaps. Aside from one really nice run stop I’ll give him a ton of credit for, especially given that it came on fourth down, Bertrand was once again the weakest link in that chain, consistently arriving late, struggling to make tackles, and “enjoying” misadventures in coverage on the rare occasions he was asked to handle that. Harrison, meanwhile, was flying to the ball and making tackles, and was credited with four run stops on a tough day for this run defense; Woods missed one tackle but made a habit of throwing himself at the ball as well. Until Divine Deablo returns, a Harrison 60%, Woods 25%, and Bertrand 15% or less split probably makes a lot of...
