Buffalo Bills snap count notes: AFC Championship

The Buffalo Bills made it all the way to the AFC Championship before their season ended at the hands of Kansas City. As we head into what is now our offseason, let’s take a final look at at a weekly snap count and see what the numbers say the Bills did.

Offense (73 snaps)

Putting aside the obvious bad news, the good news is that the 100 percent club enters the offseason after a game where there wasn’t any major injuries. The starting line of Dion Dawkins, Ike Boettger, Mitch Morse, Jon Feliciano, and Darryl Williams all played the entire game along with Josh Allen.

John Brown edged out Stefon Diggs in snap counts. Cole Beasley was a close third—closer than usual. Brown and Beasley likely picked up some extra snaps from Gabriel Davis whose counts strongly suggest he wasn’t fully recovered from injury. Isaiah McKenzie saw a good amount of time on the field and Andre Roberts made a guest appearance. The numbers indicate the Bills used four receivers about 19 percent of the time.

Devin Singletary and T.J. Yeldon had a perfect split of snaps and fairly even touches. Also interestingly there are three “extra” snaps for running backs, suggesting that the Bills used two on the field that many times, which is unusual for them.

For tight ends, it was the Dawson Knox show, with a few snaps heading to Lee Smith and one for Reggie Gilliam. The Bills used a tight end 77 percent of the time based on the numbers, which could mean a scheme less focused on blocking than we’ve seen in other games.

Defense (65 snaps)

There were no injuries noted on defense during the game but the defensive 100 percent club was still lean, likely due to a sub-package that took some of the usual players off the field. Only Tremaine Edmunds and Tre’Davious White made the cut. Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde, and Matt Milano were all one play short.

Taron Johnson hit 91 percent of play time, which gives a good idea of how much nickel defense was used. Levi Wallace and Josh Norman continued their rotation with a slight edge in playing time for Wallace.

The defensive end rotation went about as expected. Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison saw slight elevations in total time but led the way as usual. A.J. Epenesa and Darryl Johnson rotated behind the starting duo.

For defensive tackles, Ed Oliver was top of the charts, which isn’t unusual. Harrison Phillips hit 51 percent, which is fairly unusual though not unprecedented for him this year. Quinton Jefferson, Vernon Butler, and Justin Zimmer rounded out the group.

Special teams (29 snaps)

If you thought Tyler Matakevitch would be top of the list I have news for you. Of course he was. At 83 percent he outpaced every other player pretty comfortably. No one else even hit 70 percent. Darryl Johnson came in second place at 66 percent. Siran Neal, Jaquan Johnson, and Taiwan Jones all reached 62 percent.