Falcons snap counts from a Week 9 win over the Cowboys

Atlanta's offense is a well-oiled machine, so snap counts don't change much week-to-week unless there's an injury, as there was for Drake London against the Cowboys. The defense is still looking for answers, however, and as a result we saw significant change Sunday.

Let's talk snap counts.

Kirkvember Cousins: 57

Jake Matthews: 57

Matthew Bergeron: 57

Ryan Neuzil: 57

Chris Lindstrom: 57

Kaleb McGary: 57

Darnell Mooney: 57

Ray-Ray McCloud: 52

KhaDarel Hodge: 46

Bijan Robinson: 42

Kyle Pitts: 31

Charlie Woerner: 26

Tyler Allgeier: 14

Drake London: 11

Avery Williams: 3

Ross Dwelley: 3

When I say no surprises, I mean no surprises. Bijan dominated snaps, Hodge was the first man up when London went down as he has been all year, and Mooney and McCloud played a ton of snaps. This team leans heavily on its playmakers and will continue to do so; the only drama with snap counts on offense next week is whether Drew Dalman will be healthy enough to return and London can suit up.

When things are working as well as they are right now, zero complains about any of this.

Jessie Bates: 77

Justin Simmons: 77

Mike Hughes: 77

Kaden Elliss: 76

Nate Landman: 73

A.J. Terrell: 73

Dee Alford: 70

Arnold Ebiketie: 54

Matthew Judon: 40

Demone Harris: 38

David Oneymata: 34

Grady Jarrett: 33

Kentavius Street: 25

James Smith-Williams: 24

DeAngelo Malone: 23

Zach Harrison: 18

Ta'Quon Graham: 17

Kevin King: 7

Richie Grant: 4

Clark Phillips: 4

Eddie Goldman: 3

The Falcons did try something new on defense. They leaned on lighter fronts partly out of design and partly owing to Jarrett's exit, gave Ebiketie and company more time at the expense of Judon, moved Harris all over the formation, and basically stopped rotating Phillips in at cornerback. The plan was obviously to lean on Atlanta's most productive secondary group to prevent deep passes and get more pressure on Prescott, and that worked, even if the run defense was rough once again.

The appearance of Malone was a surprise, and if he had an uneven effort, the fact that he got a shot on defense after being mothballed for so long was nice to see. Ebiketie got a team-high six pressures with more playing time, Harris was pretty effective for someone being moved around so much (and may be on the roster permanently soon), and Atlanta got after Prescott. This isn't going to happen most weeks because Atlanta has to be more concerned with the run than they were against Dallas, but the experimentation may lead them to mix things up more frequently, and that's welcome given how little pressure the team has generated.

The other interesting wrinkle? Street was back in action and he logged significant time with Jarrett out. If he can return to being a useful rotational piece, especially if the Falcons are not planning to play Brandon Dorlus, it would be a big deal for this line.

Special teams Charlie Woerner: 23

Avery Williams: 22

Richie Grant: 22

DeAngelo Malone: 21

Tyler Allgeier: 19

Natrone Brooks: 18

Bradley Pinion: 14

Clark Phillips: 13

Antonio Hamilton: 13

Kevin King: 12

Ross Dwelley: 10

Nate Landman: 9

Liam McCullough: 9

KhaDarel Hodge: 8

Zach Harrison: 7

Ray-Ray McCloud: 5

Rashaan Evans: 5

Matthew Bergeron: 4

Ryan Neuzil: 4

Kaleb McGary: 4

Jake Matthews: 4

Kaden Elliss: 4

Storm Norton: 4

Younghoe Koo: 4

Kyle Hinton: 4

Matt Hennessy: 4

Demone Harris: 3

David Onyemata: 3

Ta'Quon Graham: 3

Eddie Goldman: 3

Darnell Mooney: 1

Kyle Pitts: 1

Jessie Bates: 1

I'm not exactly concerned about Avery Williams the way some fans are, but I would readily admit his decision-making on return opportunities has been less than spectacular. Hopefully he can iron that out, because I don't see Ray-Ray McCloud being a huge (or really any kind of) upgrade with more opportunities of his own.

It was great to see this team sniff out a fake punt for a second straight week, and kudos to Natrone Brooks for keeping the play in front of him and not biting for a second. That allowed him to swat down the pass and give Atlanta a needed turnover on downs.

If you're going to get a single snap on special teams, you may as well make it impactful. Pitts going to the onside kick and recovering it, avoiding the kind of disaster the Falcons experienced against the Cowboys back in 2020, was just such a play.

The late two point attempt by the Falcons went so horribly awry that Bradley Pinion was forced to throw it away, but hey, his arm looked pretty good.