Chiefs vs. Broncos: Making sense of snap counts

The Kansas City Chiefs came back to defeat the Denver Broncos, 27-23, on Monday Night Football.

Here were the snap counts for the Chiefs:

Offense

Defense

Special teams (only)

Starters (offense): WR Tyreek Hill, LT Eric Fisher, LG Cam Erving, C Mitch Morse, RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, RT Mitch Schwartz, TE Travis Kelce, WR Sammy Watkins, RB Kareem Hunt, WR Chris Conley, QB Patrick Mahomes

Starters (defense): RDE Chris Jones, NT Xavier Williams, LDE Allen Bailey, ROLB Justin Houston, LILB Anthony Hitchens, RILB Reggie Ragland, LOLB Dee Ford, RCB Steven Nelson LCB Kendall Fuller, S Eric Murray, S Ron Parker

Active, but did not play: QB Chad Henne

Inactive: S Eric Berry, RB Darrel Williams, CB Tremon Smith, C Austin Reiter, G Kahlil McKenzie, DT Justin Hamilton, TE Alex Ellis

Takeaways (in no particular order)

• Chris Conley (73), Travis Kelce (73) and Tyreek Hill (70) all saw more than 90 percent of the Chiefs’ offensive snaps.
• Conley’s saw more time than usual due to Sammy Watkins leaving the game early with a hamstring injury. Watkins only had 12 offensive snaps in the game. Demarcus Robinson’s time was also up—he saw 45 offensive snaps for 58 percent.
• Chiefs running back Spencer Ware’s snaps were up—he was on the field for 24 offensive snaps (31 percent). Starter Kareem Hunt, by comparison, had 45 offensive snaps (58 percent).
• The members of the secondary—cornerbacks Kendall Fuller and Steve Nelson and safeties Eric Murray and Ron Parker—were your iron men on Monday night. Those players were on the field 100 percent of the time.
• Linebacker Justin Houston and Anthony Hitchens were on the field for nearly the entire time, too—they had 58 snaps apiece. Reggie Ragland’s snaps were way down from last game. The Chiefs only had Ragland, who had preseason knee issues, on the field for 26 defensive snaps.
• For the first time all year, outside linebacker Tanoh Kpassagnon out-snapped Breeland Speaks. Kpassagnon had 18 defensive snaps to Speaks’ 16. Dee Ford had 30 defensive snaps (50 percent), as he left the game with a groin issue.
• It only took rookie safety Armani Watts 12 defensive snaps to register the first sack of his career. There was also a Dorian O’ Daniel sighting—he had two snaps on defense.
• Cornerback Charvarius Ward replaced Tremon Smith in the lineup, but he saw no defensive snaps—only 11 on special teams. LB Ben Niemann didn’t see any defensive action either—only 14 special-teams snaps.