49ers snap count vs. Buccaneers: Time of possession domination dictates flow

The San Francisco 49ers took care of business against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday afternoon, and the snap count reflects a fairly one-sided effort. The Bucs had a couple scoring drives that made things interesting, but for the purposes of 60 minutes of football, the 49ers controlled this one.

The 49ers played 74 snaps on offense, and 51 snaps on defense. You'll get that when your offense has the ball a whopping 39:50 of the game. That will boost the 49ers ranking in TOP just a little bit. The Bucs converted a single third down on the day, going 1 of 10. They did manage 13 third downs, as they had two incredibly efficient touchdown drives, but outside of those two, the Bucs offense was going nowhere. I'm sure the coaching staff will have something to say in film review on those two drives, but I would say for the purposes of right now, we can view that as a positive. The team remains in some kind of position to improve on defense. In this case, learning how to deal with the hurry-up.

The 49ers deactivated Mike Iupati for the game, as he continues to work back from his sprained MCL. This week could be the week he finally gets back, particularly given the extra day of rest because of Monday Night Football. The rest of the line got in all 74 snaps. Colin Kaepernick played 71, as Colt McCoy handled the final three kneel-down snaps.

LaMichael James got in some offensive work, playing eight offensive snaps. He had a pair of runs, with one going for 21 yards. That run got him out to the edge in space, and he used his space to burst through for the longest run of his career. It was only one run, but that kind of thing is something he does well. The 49ers offensive line is built for power work, but I have to think they can figure out ways like that to work LMJ into the mix.

Tarell Brown made his first appearance since injuring his ribs against the New Orleans Saints. Brown ended up replacing Eric Wright as the 49ers third cornerback. Brown finished the game with 36 snaps. Carlos Rogers and Tramaine Brock played the full 51 snaps, while Eric Wright got seven special teams snaps. It will be interesting to see if Brown moves past Rogers or Brock at some point back into the starting lineup.

Once again, the 49ers used a significant rotation behind Ray McDonald and Justin Smith. McDonald and Smith played 35 and 33 snaps respectively, while Tony Jerod-Eddie got in 19 snaps and Demarcus Dobbs played 14 snaps. TJE's snaps included some in place of Glenn Dorsey when Dorsey injured his knee early in the first drive. Dorsey returned fairly quickly.

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