Patriots’ personnel packages and snap counts certainly vary from week to week and opponent to opponent. Each week WEEI.com takes a look at New England’s snap counts from that particular game and breaks down not only what they meant in that week’s matchup, but also what trends might be developing with certain players’ playing time.
Here are a few observations and takeaways from the Patriots snap count totals from Sunday’s season altering failed comeback attempt in Buffalo:
--New England played 65 offensive snaps against the Bills.
--All five starting offensive linemen – Isaiah Wynn, Joe Thuney, David Andrews, Shaq Mason and Michael Onwenu – played all 65 offensive snaps in Buffalo. It was just the second time this season that all five of New England’s starting offensive linemen played every snap in a game. The other was a backup-filled lineup in Kansas City.
--Showing the lack of depth at the skill positions as the Patriots played without Julian Edelman and N’Keal Harry, Damiere Byrd played all 65 offensive snaps. Byrd has been the Patriots top receiver in terms of snaps all season, but this is the first time he played every snap. Byrd finished with three catches on four targets for 39 yards.
--Fellow wide receiver Jakobi Meyers missed just a single snap in Buffalo, playing 64 downs (98 percent) on his way to a game-high 10 targets and team highs of six catches and 58 yards as Cam Newton’s go-to guy.
It was more snaps than Meyers played in any game as a rookie, when overall he saw action in 36 percent of New England’s snaps, never playing more than 76 percent in a single game.
--Tight end Ryan Izzo, the only active player at his position, played 48 snaps (74 percent) in Buffalo. He caught two of the three passes thrown his way for 24 yards.
--Damien Harris continues to get the ball often when he’s actually on the field. The second-year running back had 16 carries for 102 yards and a touchdown on his mere 20 snaps (31 percent).
--Rex Burkhead 32 snaps (49 percent) and James White 31 snaps (48 percent) both played more snaps than Harris. Burkhead had six carries and one reception, while White had two rushes and two catches.
--Fullback Jakob Johnson led the way for some of Harris’ ground success, his 16 snaps (25 percent) basically in line with his 28 percent play time for the season.
--WR Gunner Olszewski picked up some of the slack in reps at receiver, playing 42 snaps (64 percent) in Buffalo, most since he played in 50 snaps in Week 6 of his rookie season a year ago against the Giants. Olszewski didn’t do much with the play time, though, failing to record a target in the passing game and adding one rush for 6 yards on the ground.
--The Patriots defense was on the field for 58 total snaps in Buffalo.
--Four players – all defensive backs in Devin McCourty, Jason McCourty, Adrian Phillips and Terrance Brooks – played all 58 defensive snaps. Two other defensive backs were close to playing every snap, with J.C.
Jackson on the field for 57 snaps (98 percent) and Jonathan Jones for 54 snaps (93 percent). New England started the game in a six-DB, dime package on defense and basically stayed in that look all afternoon.
--DE/OLB Chase Winovich continued to see his play time fall off the map in Buffalo, with New England now clearly seeing the second-year pass rusher as merely an option in obvious passing situations.
Given the overall struggles to stop the run, it doesn’t seem the team views Winovich as a capable contributor in that area. Winovich played a season-low 5 snaps (8.6 percent) against the Bills, his playing time having now dropped for four straight games after he opened the season playing 54 percent of snaps or more in each of the first four weeks. The only defender who played fewer snaps on defense in Buffalo was undrafted former practice squad defensive back Myles Bryant.
--Deatrich Wise’s role grew as New England attempted to stop the run, with the defensive end playing a season-high 47 snaps (81 percent) in Buffalo.
--Second-round pick Josh Uche was active for the first time and made his NFL debut in Buffalo. The former Michigan star notched 12 snaps (21 percent), finishing with one tackle and a QB hit.
--A practice squad call-up each of the last two weeks, Tashawn Bower is finding a role for himself on the undermanned defensive front.
Bower played 19 snaps (33 percent) in Buffalo after notching 27 snaps a week earlier against the 49ers. Bower had two tackles against the Bills.
--Byron Cowart was big part of the defensive line in the dime package, playing 45 snaps (78 percent).
--Ja’Whaun Bentley has struggled as really the only option at linebacker this year and his play time dropped in Buffalo with a season-low 35 snaps (65 percent). The defensive co-captain still tied for second on the team with five tackles in Buffalo where he also notched his first full sack of the season.
--Rookie linebacker Anfernee Jennings did not play a single snap on defense in Buffalo and a mere one play on special teams.
