Chiefs vs. Titans: Making sense of snap counts

On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs won the AFC championship with a 35-24 defeat of the Tennessee Titans at Arrowhead Stadium.

Let’s see how individual Chiefs players contributed to the win that sends them to Super Bowl LIV in Miami.

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

Starters (defensive): LDE Frank Clark, LDT Mike Pennel, RDT Derrick Nnadi, RDE Tanoh Kpassagnon, LB Anthony Hitchens, LB Damien Wilson, RCB Charvarius Ward, LCB Bashaud Breeland, CB Kendall Fuller, FS Daniel Sorensen and SS Tyrann Mathieu.

Did not play: QB Matt Moore and T Cameron Erving.

Inactive: QB Matt Moore, CB Morris Claiborne, RB LeSean McCoy, LB Darron Lee, T Ryan Hunter, T Jackson Barton and G Andrew Wylie.

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

• For the fourth consecutive game, the five offensive linemen played every snap together.
• TE Travis Kelce was back to his normal usage after being on the sidelines for many running plays in the Divisional round game.
• Demarcus Robinson’s usage has been trending down ever since the Week 14 game against the Patriots. After spiking up a little in the Divisional round, on Sunday, it returned to the downward trend line.

Defensive takeaways

• Safeties Tyrann Mathieu and Daniel Sorensen were the only players who were on the field for all defensive snaps. Along with Bashaud Breeland and Charvarius Ward, they formed the defensive backbone for the game.
• As expected, DT Chris Jones was limited as he works his way back from his calf injury, seeing about two in five snaps. Most of his use was on passing plays.
• Defensive ends Frank Clark and Tanoh Kpassagnon played four of every five snaps. Terrell Suggs continued to be on the field for about half of all snaps —- leaning a little more towards passing plays. Demone Harris’ use continued to decline from his season-high against Denver in Week 15
• LB Damien Wilson’s usage continues on an upward trend. On Sunday, he saw more snaps since he’s had since the Raiders game in Week 13. Anthony Hitchens’ passing snaps have varied quite a bit since the Week 8 against Denver — but have remained remarkably consistent against the run. Reggie Ragland was used mostly against the pass in the Divisional round — but mostly against the run on Sunday.
• Defensive tackles Mike Pennel and Derrick Nnadi also had more snaps than they’ve had since Week 13 — primarily in running plays. Khalen Saunders had a significant decrease in running snaps since the Divisional round game.

Special teams takeaways

• Just as in the Divisional round, Sorensen played all the defensive snaps and was one of the top players on special teams. Linebackers Ben Nieman and Dorian O’Daniel — along with safety Jordan Lucas — joined Sorensen with the most snaps for Dave Toub’s unit.