Falcons snap counts from the Week 16 loss to the Ravens

Atlanta’s latest loss features a couple small wrinkles in terms of playing time.

Fight that holiday hangover with some snap counts. That’s a remedy that’s guaranteed to ensure you start thinking about Tyler Allgeier’s playing time instead of your hangover and/or cleaning up all that wrapping paper.

For Falcons-Ravens, we didn’t see any huge changes from a week ago, but there are a few wrinkles worth calling out. Let’s do so to kick off Monday morning.

Offense

Desmond Ridder: 71

Jake Matthews: 71

Elijah Wilkinson: 71

Drew Dalman: 71

Chris Lindstrom: 71

Kaleb McGary: 71

Olamide Zaccheaus: 65

Drake London: 55

Parker Hesse: 44

Tyler Allgeier: 42

MyCole Pruitt: 36

Damiere Byrd: 31

Cordarrelle Patterson: 26

Anthony Firkser: 15

KhaDarel Hodge: 14

Avery Williams: 12

Keith Smith: 7

Frank Darby: 5

Germain Ifedi: 2

Feleipe Franks: 1

---

For the first time all year when both were healthy, Allgeier decisively out-snapped and out-touched Cordarrelle Patterson. The young back picked up 117 yards from scrimmage on a combined 22 touches in this one, contributing as a receiver and runner, while Patterson picked up 31 yards on nine combined touches. The veteran remains a terrific player but has seen his effectiveness wane late in the year for the second straight season, with Allgeier making his case to be the clear-cut top option in the backfield. Hopefully Patterson will be back next year, but the team clearly needs Caleb Huntley and Avery Williams (and perhaps another back) in the mix for those times when the veteran is banged up or worn down. Regardless, Allgeier should be option 1A going forward.

Otherwise, there were few surprises in the snap counts. The starting line from Week 1 is healthy again, but had their day marred by a handful of penalties and shaky snaps by Dalman against a tough Ravens defense. London, Zaccheaus, Allgeier, and Firkser were the favored targets this week and will likely continue to be, though I think preseason Ridder favorite Byrd should get more looks over the final two weeks, as well.

Defense

Richie Grant: 52

A.J. Terrell: 52

Rashaan Evans: 52

Jaylinn Hawkins: 48

Troy Andersen: 46

Cornell Armstrong: 46

Lorenzo Carter: 45

Grady Jarrett: 44

Timothy Horne: 37

Abdullah Anderson: 37

Adetokunbo Ogundeji: 37

Jalen Dalton: 19

Arnold Ebiketie: 15

Jaleel Johnson: 9

Mykal Walker: 8

DeAngelo Malone: 7

Isaiah Oliver: 6

Darren Hall: 6

Dee Alford: 6

---

This game and recent playing time trends tell us in alarming, clear fashion just how unsettled the Falcons’ cornerback group is. Isaiah Oliver’s playing time has been trending downward and he hasn’t quite re-captured the excellence of early 2021, Darren Hall effectively was benched for a game but shaky Cornell Armstrong, and Dee Alford still can’t get any real playing time. Casey Hayward will be back next year, in all likelihood, but he’s coming off a major injury that now seems likely to have cost him most of the 2022 season. It’s basically A.J. Terrell and a handful of players who might be solid reserves going forward, and that tells you that a significant amount of draft capital, cap space, or both is likely going into the position next year.

I still would like to see Alford get more playing time over the final two games and I do think Hall is a high-end reserve for a better cornerback group, but the trend lines here paint a picture of a group the Falcons simply aren’t happy with. Change will be coming.

Change didn’t come for the team’s linebacker snaps, where Andersen was starting instead of Walker for the second straight week and turned in a second straight uneven effort. Andersen is going to be counted upon as a starter a year from now, in all likelihood, so the Falcons will be content to let him take his lumps over the final two weeks. The more confusing trend is at outside linebacker, where rookie Arnold Ebiketie is playing a fairly minor role and DeAngelo Malone is struggling to get additional snaps. Neither player has been spectacular this year—though Ebiketie has had some very big moments—but both should be getting time given that they ought to be major pieces of the pass rush in 2023. That’s especially true for Ebiketie, who flashed even against the Ravens.

Otherwise, we sort of know what this team is and how they’re divvying things up. The silver lining of getting long looks at Abdullah Anderson and Timothy Horne out of sheer necessity is that the Falcons know they have a pair of affordable and solid depth options on the line if they want to bring both back in 2023.

Special Teams

Erik Harris: 18

Mike Ford: 18

Nick Kwiatkoski: 17

DeAngelo Malone: 15

Avery Williams: 15

KhaDarel Hodge: 14

Parker Hesse: 12

Keith Smith: 11

Richie Grant: 10

Bradley Pinion: 9

MyCole Pruitt: 8

Feleipe Franks: 8

Isaiah Oliver: 7

Troy Andersen: 6

Liam McCullough: 6

Cordarrelle Patterson: 5

Cornell Armstrong: 4

Timothy Horne: 4

Abdullah Anderson: 4

Adetokunbo Ogundeji: 4

Jaleel Johnson: 4

Jaylinn Hawkins: 3

Lorenzo Carter: 3

Jake Matthews: 3

Kaleb McGary: 3

Chris Lindstrom: 3

Germain Ifedi: 3

Frank Darby: 3

Ryan Neuzil: 3

Younghoe Koo: 3

Colby Gossett: 3

Darren Hall: 2

---

There are no major surprises here, and there haven’t been for a while. It is interesting, if only to me, that the team is asking Richie Grant to play pretty significant special teams snaps as well as his full-time role on defense, as they’re parking special teamer and safety Jovante Moffatt to make other players active on gameday. Perhaps that changes next week if Franks is out. It’s also a little striking that Walker, who played 73% of the special teams snaps a year ago, has played exactly zero this year and is not being asked to step into any kind of a role with Andersen now starting. I don’t know quite what to make of that, but it’s odd.

Also, if Patterson returns in 2023 as I’d anticipate, he’ll likely still get opportunities to return kicks but will be sharing time in that role with Williams, something we’ve seen off and on all year.