Chiefs-Patriots: Making sense of snap counts

On Sunday afternoon, the Kansas City Chiefs extended their record to 9-4 — clinching the AFC West and a playoff berth — by defeating the New England Patriots 23-16 in Foxborough.

Let’s take a look at how individual Chiefs players contributed to the victory.

Starters (offensive): WR Tyreek Hill, LT Eric Fisher, LG Andrew Wylie, C Austin Reiter, RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, RT Mitchell Schwartz, TE Travis Kelce, WR Sammy Watkins, QB Patrick Mahomes, RB LeSean McCoy and WR Demarcus Robinson.

Starters (defensive): LDE Alex Okafor, LDT Chris Jones, RDT Derrick Nnadi, RDE Tanoh Kpassagnon, LB Anthony Hitchens, LB Damien Wilson, LB Reggie Ragland, RCB Bashaud Breeland, FS Juan Thornhill, SS Tyrann Mathieu and LCB Charvarius Ward.

Did not play: QB Matt Moore.

Inactive: QB Chad Henne, CB Morris Claiborne, RB Damien Williams, CB Rashad Fenton, T Jackson Barton, G Nick Allegretti and TE Deon Yelder.

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

• The running back snap breakdown vs. the New England Patriots was as follows: Spencer Ware, 28 (19 pass, 9 run), LeSean McCoy, 22 (13 run, 9 pass), Darwin Thompson, 18 (11 pass, 7 run)
• Starting RT Mitch Schwartz missed just two snaps due to injury. Starting LG Andrew Wylie missed 22 plays due to his injury.
• WR Mecole Hardman only saw 13 snaps; he leads the Chiefs with 20.8 yards per reception, and he had a 48-yard touchdown against the Patriots on Sunday.

Defensive takeaways

• The Chiefs had several iron men on defense in this game — CB Bashaud Breeland, S Tyrann Mathieu, S Juan Thornhill and CB Charvarius Ward.
• Frank Clark only saw 28 plays, as he played sick. He finished with 4 tackles (3 solo), a sack, a quarterback hit and two tackles for loss in the game
• S Daniel Sorensen’s snaps were way up, and he registered a nice QB hit on Tom Brady.
• DE Demone Harris saw 18 snaps (7 pass, 11 run) in his Chiefs debut.

Special teams takeaways

• The special teams leaders were S Jordan Lucas (21), LB Ben Niemann (21) and Dorian O’Daniel (21). TE Blake Bell and FB Anthony Sherman each saw 19 special-teams snaps.