Chiefs-Vikings: Making sense of snap counts

The Kansas City Chiefs advanced to 6-3 on the season by defeating the Minnesota Vikings 26-23 at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Let’s see how Chiefs players contributed to the win.

Starters (offensive): WR Tyreek Hill, LT Cameron Erving, LG Martinas Rankin, C Austin Reiter, RG Andrew Wylie, RT Mitchell Schwartz, TE Travis Kelce, WR Mecole Hardman, QB Matt Moore, RB LeSean McCoy and TE Blake Bell.

Starters (defensive): LDE Emmanuel Ogbah, RDT Khalen Saunders, LDT Derrick Nnadi, RDE Tanoh Kpassagnon, LB Anthony Hitchens, LB Damien Wilson, LB Reggie Ragland, LCB Morris Claiborne, RCB Charvarius Ward, FS Juan Thornhill and SS Tyrann Mathieu.

Did not play: QB Chad Henne.

Inactive: QB Patrick Mahomes, CB Kendall Fuller, RB Darwin Thompson, DE Frank Clark, T Eric Fisher, G Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and DE Alex Okafor.

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.

Offensive takeaways

• With OL Laurent Duvernay-Tardif’s injury, the Chiefs kept OL Martinas Rankin at left guard, instead choosing to play OL Andrew Wylie at right guard, where he filled in for Duvernay-Tardif last year.
• WR Tyreek Hill played every offensive snap for the Chiefs (58 for 100%)
• RB Damien Williams recorded 42 offensive snaps — his high for the season. WR Demarcus Robinson had only 24 offensive snaps — his low for the season.
• RB LeSean McCoy only saw the field for six offensive snaps.
• The Chiefs did not up WR Mecole Hardman’s playing time much after a good performance last week. Hardman only saw the field 11 times on offense after nine snaps last week.
• The Chiefs used only 16 players on offense — their lowest number of the season.

Defensive takeaways

• DL Tanoh Kpassagnon (55) and LB Reggie Ragland (44) set season-highs for snap counts.
• DL Chris Jones played 42 defensive snaps (64%) in his return to the lineup. Even with Jones’ return, rookie DL Khalen Saunders saw 28 defensive snaps (42%) against the Vikings.
• DL Joey Ivie played 19 defensive snaps after being called up from the Chiefs’ practice squad. DL Mike Pennel recorded 20 defensive snaps (30%) in his second game for the Chiefs.

Special teams takeaways

• LB Dorian O’Daniel saw no defensive snaps but led in special teams snaps with 27. S Jordan Lucas was right behind him with 26.