clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Chiefs-Texans: Making sense of snap counts

How much did each Chief play in the team’s 31-24 loss on Sunday?

NFL: Houston Texans at Kansas City Chiefs Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Chiefs lost their second game of the season to the Houston Texans 31-24 on Sunday afternoon. How did the members of the Chiefs contribute to the loss?


Starters (offensive): WR Tyreek Hill, LT Cameron Erving, LG Martinas Rankin, C Austin Reiter, RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, RT Mitchell Schwartz, TE Travis Kelce, WR Demarcus Robinson, RB LeSean McCoy, QB Patrick Mahomes and TE Blake Bell.

Starters (defensive): LDE Alex Okafor, LDT Khalen Saunders, RDT Derrick Nnadi, RDE Frank Clark, LB Ben Niemann, LB Damien Wilson, LB Darron Lee, RCB Charvarius Ward, LCB Bashaud Breeland, FS Juan Thornhill and SS Tyrann Mathieu.

Did not play: QB Matt Moore.

Inactive: WR Sammy Watkins, LB Dorian O’Daniel, LB Anthony Hitchens, T Greg Senat, T Eric Fisher, G Andrew Wylie and DT Chris Jones.

Editor’s Note: Arrowhead Pride obtains snap count data from the NFL’s game stats and information system, which allows us to break out snap counts by run or pass on offensive and defensive plays. Because GSIS data ignores plays that were nullified by penalties, total offensive and defensive snap counts will vary from other sources, which get their data from NFL Gamebooks

Offense All Pass Run
Total 47
(100%)
36
(100%)
11
(100%)
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif 47
(100%)
36
(100%)
11
(100%)
Cameron Erving 47
(100%)
36
(100%)
11
(100%)
Patrick Mahomes 47
(100%)
36
(100%)
11
(100%)
Martinas Rankin 47
(100%)
36
(100%)
11
(100%)
Austin Reiter 47
(100%)
36
(100%)
11
(100%)
Mitchell Schwartz 47
(100%)
36
(100%)
11
(100%)
Travis Kelce 45
(96%)
36
(100%)
9
(82%)
Demarcus Robinson 40
(85%)
29
(81%)
11
(100%)
Byron Pringle 28
(60%)
25
(69%)
3
(27%)
Tyreek Hill 27
(57%)
21
(58%)
6
(55%)
LeSean McCoy 23
(49%)
14
(39%)
9
(82%)
Mecole Hardman 22
(47%)
18
(50%)
4
(36%)
Blake Bell 18
(38%)
14
(39%)
4
(36%)
Damien Williams 18
(38%)
17
(47%)
1
(9%)
De'Anthony Thomas 6
(13%)
1
(3%)
5
(45%)
Darrel Williams 6
(13%)
5
(14%)
1
(9%)
Anthony Sherman 1
(2%)
0
(0%)
1
(9%)
Deon Yelder 1
(2%)
0
(0%)
1
(9%)

Offensive takeaways

  • TE Travis Kelce was the only skill-position player with more than 90 percent of snaps. TE Blake Bell, on the field for the Chiefs’ first offensive play, registered his fourth start as a Chief.
  • The Chiefs opted to ease WR Tyreek Hill back into the lineup with 27 snaps (57 percent); rookie Mecole Hardman came on for 22 snaps (47 percent).
  • LeSean McCoy led all running backs with 23 snaps. More interesting was McCoy’s pass-run split. McCoy was on for 14 pass plays and nine run plays, whereas Damien Williams was on for 17 pass plays and just one run play. Chiefs seem to prefer McCoy as their rushing option—he had a team-leading eight carries to Williams’ one.

Defense All Pass Run
Total 84
(100%)
42
(100%)
42
(100%)
Tyrann Mathieu 84
(100%)
42
(100%)
42
(100%)
Ben Niemann 82
(98%)
42
(100%)
40
(95%)
Charvarius Ward 74
(88%)
38
(90%)
36
(86%)
Damien Wilson 74
(88%)
34
(81%)
40
(95%)
Juan Thornhill 72
(86%)
38
(90%)
34
(81%)
Derrick Nnadi 70
(83%)
31
(74%)
39
(93%)
Bashaud Breeland 64
(76%)
32
(76%)
32
(76%)
Frank Clark 60
(71%)
32
(76%)
28
(67%)
Alex Okafor 60
(71%)
31
(74%)
29
(69%)
Khalen Saunders 52
(62%)
23
(55%)
29
(69%)
Darron Lee 42
(50%)
22
(52%)
20
(48%)
Emmanuel Ogbah 38
(45%)
20
(48%)
18
(43%)
Tanoh Kpassagnon 35
(42%)
18
(43%)
17
(40%)
Kendall Fuller 31
(37%)
18
(43%)
13
(31%)
Morris Claiborne 30
(36%)
14
(33%)
16
(38%)
Terrell McClain 23
(27%)
11
(26%)
12
(29%)
Daniel Sorensen 20
(24%)
12
(29%)
8
(19%)
Reggie Ragland 7
(8%)
1
(2%)
6
(14%)
Rashad Fenton 4
(5%)
1
(2%)
3
(7%)
Jordan Lucas 2
(2%)
2
(5%)
0
(0%)

Defensive takeaways

  • Only one iron man for the Chiefs this week — S Tyrann Mathieu, who was on the field for every defensive play. LB Ben Niemann came close, with 82 of 84 snaps for 98 percent.
  • 70 snaps for DT Derrick Nnadi was by far a career-high. Nnadi had usually rotated with Xavier Williams, who is now on injured reserve. DL Khalen Saunders saw 52 snaps with Chris Jones out of the lineup.
  • CB Kendall Fuller only recorded 31 snaps after injuring his thumb in the game.
  • CB Morris Claiborne had 30 snaps (36%), which was a slightly higher percentage than he had against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 5.

Special Teams Snaps
Total 23
(100%)
Blake Bell 18
(78%)
Anthony Sherman 18
(78%)
Daniel Sorensen 18
(78%)
Jordan Lucas 17
(74%)
De'Anthony Thomas 16
(70%)
Rashad Fenton 13
(57%)
Darron Lee 13
(57%)
Ben Niemann 13
(57%)
Armani Watts 13
(57%)
Darwin Thompson 11
(48%)
Darrel Williams 11
(48%)
Harrison Butker 10
(43%)
Reggie Ragland 10
(43%)
Dustin Colquitt 7
(30%)
James Winchester 7
(30%)
Nick Allegretti 5
(22%)
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif 5
(22%)
Tanoh Kpassagnon 5
(22%)
Derrick Nnadi 5
(22%)
Emmanuel Ogbah 5
(22%)
Alex Okafor 5
(22%)
Martinas Rankin 5
(22%)
Austin Reiter 5
(22%)
Mitchell Schwartz 5
(22%)
Charvarius Ward 5
(22%)
Stefen Wisniewski 5
(22%)
Mecole Hardman 2
(9%)
Byron Pringle 1
(4%)

Special teams takeaways

  • The Chiefs used fewer players on special teams than any game this season: 28. It’s been as high as 34 (33 last week against the Colts).
  • TE Blake Bell, FB Anthony Sherman and S Daniel Sorensen all had a team-leading 18 special-teams snaps. S Jordan Lucas and WR De’Anthony Thomas saw 17 and 16, respectively.

All Snaps Off Def ST Total
Total 47
(100%)
84
(100%)
23
(100%)
154
(100%)
Nick Allegretti 0
(0%)
0
(0%)
5
(22%)
5
(3%)
Blake Bell 18
(38%)
0
(0%)
18
(78%)
36
(23%)
Bashaud Breeland 0
(0%)
64
(76%)
0
(0%)
64
(42%)
Harrison Butker 0
(0%)
0
(0%)
10
(43%)
10
(6%)
Morris Claiborne 0
(0%)
30
(36%)
0
(0%)
30
(19%)
Frank Clark 0
(0%)
60
(71%)
0
(0%)
60
(39%)
Dustin Colquitt 0
(0%)
0
(0%)
7
(30%)
7
(5%)
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif 47
(100%)
0
(0%)
5
(22%)
52
(34%)
Cameron Erving 47
(100%)
0
(0%)
0
(0%)
47
(31%)
Rashad Fenton 0
(0%)
4
(5%)
13
(57%)
17
(11%)
Kendall Fuller 0
(0%)
31
(37%)
0
(0%)
31
(20%)
Mecole Hardman 22
(47%)
0
(0%)
2
(9%)
24
(16%)
Tyreek Hill 27
(57%)
0
(0%)
0
(0%)
27
(18%)
Travis Kelce 45
(96%)
0
(0%)
0
(0%)
45
(29%)
Tanoh Kpassagnon 0
(0%)
35
(42%)
5
(22%)
40
(26%)
Darron Lee 0
(0%)
42
(50%)
13
(57%)
55
(36%)
Jordan Lucas 0
(0%)
2
(2%)
17
(74%)
19
(12%)
Patrick Mahomes 47
(100%)
0
(0%)
0
(0%)
47
(31%)
Tyrann Mathieu 0
(0%)
84
(100%)
0
(0%)
84
(55%)
Terrell McClain 0
(0%)
23
(27%)
0
(0%)
23
(15%)
LeSean McCoy 23
(49%)
0
(0%)
0
(0%)
23
(15%)
Ben Niemann 0
(0%)
82
(98%)
13
(57%)
95
(62%)
Derrick Nnadi 0
(0%)
70
(83%)
5
(22%)
75
(49%)
Emmanuel Ogbah 0
(0%)
38
(45%)
5
(22%)
43
(28%)
Alex Okafor 0
(0%)
60
(71%)
5
(22%)
65
(42%)
Byron Pringle 28
(60%)
0
(0%)
1
(4%)
29
(19%)
Reggie Ragland 0
(0%)
7
(8%)
10
(43%)
17
(11%)
Martinas Rankin 47
(100%)
0
(0%)
5
(22%)
52
(34%)
Austin Reiter 47
(100%)
0
(0%)
5
(22%)
52
(34%)
Demarcus Robinson 40
(85%)
0
(0%)
0
(0%)
40
(26%)
Khalen Saunders 0
(0%)
52
(62%)
0
(0%)
52
(34%)
Mitchell Schwartz 47
(100%)
0
(0%)
5
(22%)
52
(34%)
Anthony Sherman 1
(2%)
0
(0%)
18
(78%)
19
(12%)
Daniel Sorensen 0
(0%)
20
(24%)
18
(78%)
38
(25%)
De'Anthony Thomas 6
(13%)
0
(0%)
16
(70%)
22
(14%)
Darwin Thompson 0
(0%)
0
(0%)
11
(48%)
11
(7%)
Juan Thornhill 0
(0%)
72
(86%)
0
(0%)
72
(47%)
Charvarius Ward 0
(0%)
74
(88%)
5
(22%)
79
(51%)
Armani Watts 0
(0%)
0
(0%)
13
(57%)
13
(8%)
Damien Williams 18
(38%)
0
(0%)
0
(0%)
18
(12%)
Darrel Williams 6
(13%)
0
(0%)
11
(48%)
17
(11%)
Damien Wilson 0
(0%)
74
(88%)
0
(0%)
74
(48%)
James Winchester 0
(0%)
0
(0%)
7
(30%)
7
(5%)
Stefen Wisniewski 0
(0%)
0
(0%)
5
(22%)
5
(3%)
Deon Yelder 1
(2%)
0
(0%)
0
(0%)
1
(1%)

NEW: Join Arrowhead Pride Premier

If you love Arrowhead Pride, you won’t want to miss Pete Sweeney in your inbox each week as he delivers deep analysis and insights on the Chiefs' path to the Super Bowl.