Chiefs-Giants snap counts: Numbers indicate KC is getting healthier defensively

The Kansas City Chiefs evened their record at 4-4 with a 20-17 victory over the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.

Let’s see how the Chiefs used their players in the win.

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Starters (offensive): WR Tyreek Hill, LT Orlando Brown Jr., LG Joe Thuney, C Creed Humphrey, RG Trey Smith, RT Lucas Niang, TE Travis Kelce, WR Demarcus Robinson, WR Mecole Hardman, QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Darrel Williams.

Starters (defensive): LDE Chris Jones, LDT Jarran Reed, RDT Derrick Nnadi, RDE Frank Clark, LB Nick Bolton, LB Willie Gay Jr., LCB Charvarius Ward, RCB L’Jarius Sneed, CB Rashad Fenton, S Juan Thornhill and S Tyrann Mathieu.

Did not play: QB Chad Henne, DE Austin Edwards and G Laurent Duvernay-Tardif.

Inactive: CB Deandre Baker, LB Anthony Hitchens, OL Austin Blythe, T Prince Tega Wanogho, T Mike Remmers and DT Khalen Saunders.

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Offensive takeaways

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With Mike Remmers out of the game, Lucas Niang was back in the lineup to start at right tackle. Along with left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., left guard Joe Thuney center Creed Humphrey and right guard Trey Smith, he played all of the offensive snaps. Among the reserves, Nick Allegretti played only on special teams. The official game report did not list Andrew Wylie on the Did Not Play list, but he registered no snaps. We believe a special teams rep was not recorded. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif was active for the first time all season but did not play. He was traded to the New York Jets the following day. Austin Blythe and Prince Tega Wanogho joined Remmers on the inactive list.

After his snaps had declined in recent weeks, tight end Travis Kelce was used on more snaps than in any other game this season — although it was within a normal range for him. With Blake Bell fully healthy, he was back into his usual range of use — allowing the team to cut Noah Gray back to the range of use he was seeing earlier in the season.

At running back, the Chiefs continued to use Darrel Williams as the bell cow. But in this game, some of the snaps going to Jerick McKinnon went instead to Derrick Gore. But considering that McKinnon was used substantially more often on passing plays than running plays — and the reverse was true for Gore — it would appear the coaches do not yet fully trust Gore in pass protection. Until they do, he’s probably not going to see much more use offense than he had on Monday night.

Among wide receivers, Tyreek Hill’s counts were up a bit more from the season-low percentage he had against the Washington Football Team. Meanwhile, Josh Gordon finally saw significant snaps — and for the first time, had most of them on passing downs. Unfortunately, he still only had one passing target. Byron Pringle’s use continued its steady climb. All of that meant that other wideouts would have less use. Mecole Hardman’s use declined significantly — although he did a lot with his reduced snaps, gaining 63 yards on seven targets. Meanwhile, Demarcus Robinson’s use plummeted — despite being listed as a starter in the game.

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Defensive takeaways

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As usual, safety Tyrann Mathieu was on the field for every defensive snap. But after he was used for 100% of the snaps against Washington, Juan Thornhill’s use has been declining. Daniel Sorensen’s use was up a bit from the game against the Tennessee Titans — but it was still just a fraction of what had been for the rest of the season.

As a practical matter, cornerback Charvarius Ward’s use was finally back to 100%. He missed only three snaps alongside L’Jarius Sneed, who was on the field for every play. So Rashad Fenton’s use was down — and Mike Hughes was used on only a handful of plays. As seen in recent games, Fenton tended to be used outside while Sneed was playing the slot.

At the second level — with starting MIKE linebacker Anthony Hitchens still out — Nick Bolton, Willie Gay Jr. and Ben Niemann had almost identical percentages of use. The younger players tended to be used more often against the run, while Niemann had equal use against the pass and the run.

At defensive end, Frank Clark — apparently now fully healthy — had the most use he’s had this season. Chris Jones’ use continued to climb back towards a normal — even though we have now learned he’s continuing to play through his wrist injury. Mike Danna’s use was down slightly, while Alex Okafor was in his normal range.

With Khalen Saunders out for the game, Jarran Reed’s use reached a season-high — but one that wasn’t way outside his normal range. Meanwhile, Tershawn Wharton’s use was down slightly, and Derrick Nnadi’s use was steady. So how did the Chiefs make up for Saunders’ absence? By sliding Jones to the inside a bit more often. According to Pro Football Focus data, Jones was on the interior for 38% of his snaps.

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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