Chiefs vs. Steelers: Making sense of snap counts

The Kansas City Chiefs deafened the Pittsburgh Steelers, 42-37, in game two of the 2018 season on Sunday.

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, WR Chris Conley, QB Patrick Mahomes, RB Kareem Hunt

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

Active, but did not play: QB Chad Henne

Inactive: S Eric Berry, RB Darrel Williams, CB Charvarius Ward, LB Ben Niemann, C Austin Reiter, G Kali McKenzie, DT Justin Hamilton

Takeaways (in no particular order)

• Chiefs right tackle Mitch Schwartz, who has an ongoing six-year snap streak, wanted it to be well known that he did not miss a play on Sunday.

• Demetrius Harris had 17 snaps on offense (29 percent) and 30 snaps on special teams (86 percent) in his return to the lineup. Harris was suspended Week 1.
• Damien Williams actually had more snaps (9) at running back this week than Spencer Ware (6).
• Anthony Sherman got in the mix for 13 plays (22 percent), but he failed to keep his two-game touchdown streak alive.
• Safety Ron Parker and cornerback Steve Nelson were your iron men on defense this week, each playing 81 snaps for 99 percent.
• With the Steelers passing quite a bit, the Chiefs’ third cornerback, Orland Scandrick, was on the field for 74 snaps, or 90 percent.
• With Reggie Ragland dealing with a stinger, Terrance Smith actually saw more snaps on the game, 43-25.
• Rookies Derrick Nnadi (19 snaps) and Armani Watts (16 snaps) contributed a bit on defense.
• Chiefs head coach Andy Reid commented on the additional snaps for Smith and Watts on Monday: “I would tell you the number of reps that these guys have had over the last couple of weeks to give Armani (Watts) a shot in there. And then (Tremon) Smith, I’ve told you before, I would tell you that it was just number of reps that equal. Both of them are good in that position. Different flavor, but both of them are good in that spot. And we sprinkled Armani (Watts) in a little bit last week. They have had a lot of reps.”
• Your outside linebacker snap count went as follows: Justin Houston (70), Dee Ford (65), Breeland Speaks (20), Tanoh Kpassagnon (11).