The Kansas City Chiefs did change their defense a little bit against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Well, saying they “changed” isn’t accurate. They just played in a way they don’t always do.
The Chiefs often have three safeties who play a lot of snaps because you’re often defending the pass. The Steelers ran the ball with Le’Veon Bell 32 times so we saw an uptick in snaps for the Chiefs inside linebackers and a drop in snaps for third safety Eric Murray.
We also saw the Chiefs running back usage change due to Charcandrick West’s injury. Sometimes it’s West who comes in on passing downs because he’s a pretty good pass blocker. However, Steelers DB Mike Mitchell took him out with a potential concussion so the Chiefs were forced to use Hunt more.
The Chiefs also had receivers like Marcus Kemp and De’Anthony Thomas playing key downs late in the game. That tells you where the injury situation is at with Chris Conley and Albert Wilson out.
This week’s Steelers-Chiefs snap counts:
Quarterback
QB Alex Smith: 54
Offensive line
C Zach Fulton: 54
G Bryan Witzmann: 54
G Cam Erving: 54
OT Eric Fisher: 54
OT Mitch Schwartz: 54
Tight end
TE Travis Kelce: 52
TE Demetrius Harris: 18.
Wide receiver
WR Demarcus Robinson: 39
WR Tyreek Hill: 42
WR De’Anthony Thomas: 36
WR Marcus Kemp: 8
Running back
RB Kareem Hunt: 42
FB Anthony Sherman: 9
RB Akeem Hunt: 5
RB Charcandrick West: 3
Linebacker
LB Derrick Johnson: 64
LB Justin Houston: 64
LB Dee Ford: 34
LB Frank Zombo: 30
LB Reggie Ragland: 27
LB Kevin Pierre-Louis: 18
Safety
S Ron Parker: 64
S Daniel Sorensen: 62
S Eric Murray: 13
Cornerback
CB Marcus Peters: 62
CB Terrance Mitchell: 61
CB Phillip Gaines: 37
Defensive line
DE Allen Bailey: 51
NT Bennie Logan: 46
DE Chris Jones: 42
DE Rakeem Nunez-Roches: 19
NT Roy Miller: 10