Chiefs-Chargers snap counts: Bolton, Edwards-Helaire take big loads

On Thursday Night Football, the Kansas City Chiefs extended their record to 10-4 with a 36-28 overtime victory against the Los Angeles Chargers. As we do each week, let’s examine how Kansas City used its players in this important win.

---

Starters (offensive): WR Demarcus Robinson, WR Byron Pringle, LT Orlando Brown Jr., LG Joe Thuney, C Creed Humphrey, RG Trey Smith, RT Lucas Niang, WR Tyreek Hill, TE Travis Kelce, QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Starters (defensive): LDT Jarran Reed, RDT Derrick Nnadi, RDE Frank Clark, LB Melvin Ingram, LB Anthony Hitchens, LB Nick Bolton, RCB Rashad Fenton, LCB Charvarius Ward, CB Mike Hughes, S Daniel Sorensen and S Tyrann Mathieu.

Did not play: QB Chad Henne and OL Austin Blythe.

Inactive: QB Shane Buechele, CB L’Jarius Sneed, DB Zayne Anderson, OL Kyle Long and T Prince Tega Wanogho.

---

Offensive takeaways

---

Even though backup offensive lineman Andrew Wylie was active for the game (after being listed as questionable on the final injury report), Lucas Niang returned to his starting role at right tackle. He joined left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., left guard Joe Thuney, center Creed Humphrey and right guard Trey Smith in playing every offensive snap. Nick Allegretti had one snap as a sixth offensive lineman. Otherwise, he and Wylie played only on special teams.

With Niang back on the field, the Chiefs used fewer “heavy” formations with multiple tight ends, averaging 1.28 tight ends on the field for each play. That was down from 1.47 in the Week 14 game against the Las Vegas Raiders. Travis Kelce’s use was on the low side of his normal range, while Blake Bell and Noah Gray saw substantial decreases from Week 14.

At running back, Kansas City went back to “bell cow” mode for Clyde Edwards-Helaire, giving him 70% of the snaps for the first time since the opening weeks of the season. But Darrel Williams’ use remained steady; it was Derrick Gore who lost offensive opportunities. After getting substantial offensive work against the Raiders, the rookie was used only for special-teams plays.

The reduction in tight end usage meant more work for wide receivers — and the team was without normal starter Josh Gordon, who missed the game on the Reserve/COVID list. So while Tyreek Hill and Byron Pringle were in their normal ranges of use, Demarcus Robinson and Mecole Hardman — both of whom had appeared to be in the doghouse during some recent weeks — played a more substantial role than we’ve seen lately.

---

Defensive takeaways

---

Only two players in the secondary — safety Tyrann Mathieu and cornerback Charvarius Ward — were on the field for every (or nearly every) defensive snap; normally, three or four defensive backs get that kind of usage. As we’ll explain in a moment, this was partially because the team was more dependent on linebackers.

But with cornerback L’Jarius Sneed missing another game in the wake of his family tragedy, the Chiefs also adjusted the approach they used to fill the void. According to Pro Football Focus data, Mathieu was rarely used as a safety against Las Vegas. Instead, he spent a lot of his time as a slot corner — while safety Daniel Sorensen picked up the slack in the back end. Against the Chargers, Mathieu continued to get a lot of snaps as a corner — mostly in the slot — while Sorensen went back to primarily playing near the line of scrimmage. Juan Thornhill played most of his reduced snaps in the back end.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs gave the majority of the snaps at outside corner to Mike Hughes — with Deandre Baker taking the rest — while Rashad Fenton handled the slot during the times Mathieu was otherwise occupied. In all, it was a very unpredictable secondary — one that held Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert to a completion percentage of 57.9 and a passer rating of 82.8.

On Sunday, the Chiefs averaged 2.27 linebackers on the field for each play — the highest such number since the Week 7 loss to the Tennessee Titans. (As a comparison, the 1.58 they averaged against the Raiders was the lowest of the season). And they did it without Willie Gay Jr. — sidelined on the Reserve/COVID list — and also while keeping Ben Niemann’s usage in his normal range. Anthony Hitchens saw his highest use since Week 5 against the Buffalo Bills — while rookie Nick Bolton became the first linebacker this season to be on the field for nearly every snap; he missed only a single passing play.

Defensive lineman Chris Jones was also out with COVID. Defensive ends Frank Clark and Melvin Ingram both saw a little more use than they had against the Raiders — with corresponding drops for backups Alex Okafor and Mike Danna.

But in a world where Jones plays inside more than he does outside — which has been true since Week 9 except for the Raiders game — all three of the remaining defensive tackles had their use increase on Thursday night; all three matched (or exceeded) season highs.

---

Data

---

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