The Kansas City Chiefs finished the season with 69 snaps on defense and 69 snaps on offense. It’s not too surprising given how the two halves of the game were polar opposites for Kansas City. In one half the Chiefs offense was scoring with ease and the defense was getting off the field. During the other, the offense couldn’t keep a drive alive and the defense was playing on its heels.
What else can we learn from this week’s snap counts? Here’s a look at how the snaps played out in the AFC championship game:
*Snap counts via NFL Game Statistics and Information System
Observations
- Jerick McKinnon saw the most significant workload of any of the three running backs for Kansas City. Outside of Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce he was the skill position player to receive the most snaps for the Chiefs. Clyde Edwards-Helaire played just 13 snaps, while Darrel Williams played just two in his return to action.
- Mecole Hardman, who seemed visibly frustrated with his role at times, came in No. 4 behind Hill, Demarcus Robinson and Byron Pringle in receiver snaps.
- Blake Bell played 22 snaps on Sunday. Noah Gray played just 3 snaps on offense and eight on special teams before leaving the game with an ankle injury.
- Tyrann Mathieu, Charvarius Ward and L’Jarius Sneed played 100% of the defensive snaps during Sunday’s game. Sneed had a particularly tough day in coverage.
- Willie Gay Jr. led the Chiefs’ linebackers in snaps. The opportunity led to one of the best days of his career. Anthony Hitchens played 11 more defensive snaps to rookie Nick Bolton. Ben Niemann played the fewest defensive snaps among linebackers.
- A week after playing a majority of the snaps on defense, Daniel Sorensen was reduced to a sub-package role, playing just 22 snaps on the day. He still managed to make a negative impact on the two-point conversion that first tied the game.
- Mike Danna played just 14 defensive snaps. It felt like he was making an impact in the snaps he did play, so perhaps it’s a good sign for the future.
- Armani Watts, Daurice Fountain, Dorian O’Daniel, Zayne Andersen and Nick Allegretti only played on special teams on Sunday. Kemp, Watts and O’Daniel tied for the most with 23.
