Chiefs-Raiders: Making sense of snap counts

The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Oakland Raiders 28-10 on Sunday afternoon. Let’s take a look at which Chiefs players contributed most to the victory.

Starters (offensive): WR Mecole Hardman, 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 Damien Williams and WR Blake Bell.

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

Did not play: QB Matt Moore and CB Rashad Fenton.

Inactive: WR Tyreek Hill, LB Reggie Ragland, G Ryan Hunter, G Nick Allegretti, T Martinas Rankin, TE Deon Yelder and DT Khalen Saunders.

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

• LT Eric Fisher lasted just three offensive snaps before exiting the game due to his groin injury. OL Cam Erving played the rest of the team’s snaps at left tackle.
• WRs Demarcus Robinson and Sammy Watkins played the same number of offensive snaps—62, or 91 percent. Last week, WR Mecole Hardman had more snaps then Robinson, but Hardman had 12 less than Robinson this week.
• RBs Damien Williams and LeSean McCoy were closer to an even timeshare this week. Williams still out-snapped McCoy by six plays, 34-28. Rookie Darwin Thompson came on for four offensive snaps.
• OL Jeff Allen entered the game as an extra man on two offensive plays.

Defensive takeaways

• The four iron men for the Chiefs (all 60 plays) were CB Bashaud Breeland, CB Tyrann Mathieu, S Juan Thornhill and CB Charvarius Ward.
• LB Ben Niemann and S Daniel Sorensen each were in the game for 13 defensive snaps, 11 of which were pass plays by the Oakland Raiders.
• DT Derrick Nnadi recorded 22 snaps to Xavier Williams’ 17.
• LB Reggie Ragland was inactive for the second week in a row. Reid on Ragland prior to the game: “We feel like Reggie is a starter, but you have to sit somebody, right? We’re lucky to have a little bit of depth at that spot. You always keep special teams in mind, too, as you go through it. But we have full confidence in Reggie. That’s not an issue. It’s a week-to-week thing. He could be up Sunday.” He was not.

Special teams takeaways

• Niemann, Sorensen and LB Dorian O’Daniel played in 80 percent (20 plays) or more special-teams snaps for the Chiefs (25 plays).