Chiefs-Raiders snap counts: Willie Gay’s use seems determined by game plan

The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Las Vegas Raiders 35-31 on Sunday night, extending their season record to 9-1 and taking firm control of the AFC West race. Let’s see show the Chiefs used their players in the victory.

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Starters (offensive): WR Tyreek Hill, LT Eric Fisher, LG Nick Allegretti, C Austin Reiter, RG Andrew Wylie, RT Mike Remmers, WR Byron Pringle, WR Demarcus Robinson, TE Travis Kelce, QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Starters (defensive): LDE Tanoh Kpassagnon, DT Derrick Nnadi, LDT Chris Jones, RDE Frank Clark, LB Anthony Hitchens, LB Damien Wilson, LCB Charvarius Ward, RCB Bashaud Breeland, SS Daniel Sorensen, DB L’Jarius Sneed and CB Tyrann Mathieu.

Did not play: QB Chad Henne, C Daniel Kilgore and G Bryan Witzmann.

Inactive: WR Sammy Watkins, S Tedric Thompson, CB BoPete Keyes, LB Darius Harris, TE Ricky Seals-Jones, DE Tim Ward and DT Khalen Saunders

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Offensive takeaways

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There were no new injuries on the offensive line on Sunday night, so Eric Fisher, Nick Allegretti, Austin Reiter, Andrew Wylie and Mike Remmers (subbing in for Mitchell Schwartz) played together on every offensive snap.

Starting tight end Travis Kelce was on the field for a typical percentage of plays — 89%. But counts for both Nick Keizer and Deon Yelder were up a bit.

Even though he was back to his normal special-teams snap count for the Carolina Panthers game two weeks ago, against the Raiders, fullback Anthony Sherman saw his first use on offense after missing three games on the reserve/COVID list.

The running back-by-committee approach we saw against the Panthers continued against the Raiders. It’s becoming more and more clear that Darrel Williams is the go-to back when the Chiefs need an additional pass blocker.

After spending some of the bye week break on the reserve/COVID list, wide receiver Mecole Hardman was activated just in time for Sunday’s game — but outside of Tyreek Hill and Demarcus Robinson, most of the wide receiver offensive snaps went to Byron Pringle, who had his lowest special-teams use of the season.

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Defensive takeaways

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As we have come to expect, safeties Tyrann Mathieu and Daniel Sorensen were on the field for every defensive snap. But Juan Thornhill — the only other safety who saw time on defense — was hardly used at all, getting his lowest appearance rate of the season. Instead, he had his first special-teams snaps of the year. Asked about it after the game, head coach Andy Reid said that Thornhill was used that way deliberately, saying that he’s “a situational guy right now.” He then said the team is “going to bring him back slowly” — but offered no additional information.

Cornerbacks Bashaud Breeland and Charvarius Ward each had 93% of the defensive snaps. Meanwhile, rookie corner L’Jarius Sneed got a little time on defense on special teams in his first game back from his broken collarbone — apparently at the expense of second-year player Rashad Fenton, who has now carved out a special-teams role.

At linebacker, Anthony Hitchens and Damien Wilson were each used more than we’ve seen for a while — and Ben Niemann saw his lowest use of the season. Meanwhile, it now seems more and more likely that rookie Willie Gay Jr. is being used situationally on a per-game basis; he seems to be getting a consistent number of snaps — primarily against the run — when game plans call for it.

Defensive end Frank Clark was on the field for nearly every snap. After missing three games with a hamstring injury, Alex Okafor came in exactly where he left off in Week 5. It looks like those snaps came at the expense of Tanoh Kpassagnon and Michael Danna. Danna also had special-teams snaps for the first time since Week 4.

As usual, defensive tackle Chris Jones was in on the most interior snaps. Derrick Nnadi got more work than we’ve been seeing lately — and Mike Pennel’s use came back up a bit. That led to fewer snaps for rookie Tershawn Wharton.

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Data

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Offense

Defense

Special Teams

All Snaps

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