Before we close the door fully on our wrap-up coverage of the Buffalo Bills' win over the Houston Texans, let's talk about the latest trends from the team's snap count data. Our 2015 snap counts page has been updated through the close of that win over the Texans, and there are a few ongoing trends worth discussing.
Two batting 1.000
With 12 of 16 regular season games in the books, there are still two Bills players that have been on the field for every offensive snap so far this year: left guard Richie Incognito and center Eric Wood. The Bills have had two offensive linemen play every snap in each of the past two seasons, and with any luck, that trend will continue. Incognito and Wood were both at the top of their game against Houston.
Skipping Boobie
Boobie Dixon played a position-high 38 snaps at running back in Week 5 at Tennessee, when both LeSean McCoy and Karlos Williams were sidelined by injury. Since that game, Dixon has played just 14 snaps at running back, while the since-released Boom Herron and practice squad signee Mike Gillislee have combined for 50. Dixon's value to the Bills is almost exclusively as a special teams player right now. This is the second time he's been skipped over at running back under Greg Roman.
Rex's plug-and-play
When the Bills placed Kyle Williams and Alex Carrington on Injured Reserve in the same week, most assumed that the largely-forgotten Stefan Charles would see an uptick in playing time thanks to the injuries. Instead, however, Charles played just nine snaps on Sunday, while street free agent T.J. Barnes, a player Ryan and his defensive coaches are familiar with, snuck in 12 reps just days after being signed. Don't be surprised if Barnes stays ahead of Charles in the pecking order for the last four games.
Much more Manny
Playing without Nigel Bradham at linebacker, the Bills decided to turn to veteran Manny Lawson as a fill-in, rather than two younger, far more unproven options. True, Tony Steward (four snaps) was injured early and may have played much more (his replacement, Kevin Reddick, logged 17 snaps in his place), but Lawson was clearly going to be a much bigger part of the game plan at any rate. Lawson played 73 of the 76 snaps on defense against Houston, by far and away his largest play-time percentage of the year for a single game. If Bradham can't play in Philly, expect Lawson's snap counts to stay elevated.
Settled at safety
Bacarri Rambo has been noticeably making plays for several weeks now, but a period of time in which he was running behind Duke Williams in the safety rotation is definitively over. Between Weeks 6-10 (four games), Rambo played a total of just 31 snaps on defense (he was not 100 percent healthy), while Williams raked in 175 snaps in that time frame. In the Bills' last three games, however, Williams has become a complete afterthought, logging just seven total snaps, while Rambo has logged 178 and emerged as a full-time starter. Rambo played every snap against Houston.