The Kansas City Chiefs suffered their first loss of the season, losing 40-32 to their most bitter rival, the Las Vegas Raiders. This was a team loss, with struggles coming on both sides of the ball and throughout the roster. Can the snaps tell us anything about why the Chiefs struggled?

Here’s how the snaps shook out in Week 5:

*Snap counts via NFL Game Statistics and Information System

Observations

• This was really the first week of the season where the Chiefs had near equal offensive and defensive snaps, with 72 on offense and 70 on defense.
• Kelechi Osemele only played five snaps before tearing both tendons in his knees. Mike Remmers filled in for the remainder of the snaps, playing 67 snaps total.
• Sammy Watkins played in just 27 snaps before exiting the game with a hamstring injury. His presence was sorely missed and players like Demarcus Robinson and Mecole Hardman struggled to make an impact without him on the field.
• Clyde Edwards-Helaire seems to be hovering right around 60% of the snaps. He played two more snaps this week from last and didn’t have much to show for it.
• Anthony Sherman only played in two snaps for the Chiefs’ offense. This surprises me, given how the Raiders had been gashed by 21 and 22 personnel groupings against New England earlier this season. I thought that Andy Reid might utilize him against a poor run defense.
• Damien Wilson played a season-high snap total in Week 5. This was due to the injury to Anthony Hitchens that had him in and out of the game. Hitchens played just 47 total snaps.
• Everyone’s favorite rookie LB Willie Gay Jr. saw a bump in snaps this week. He played in seven more defensive snaps to Week 4 and saw noticeable improvement notching six tackles and the lone sack of Derek Carr.
• He might have just returned from suspension, but no other Chiefs corner saw more snaps than Bashaud Breeland in Week 5 with 51 snaps. That just shows you the trust that the staff has in Breeland and how prepared he was in his return.
• Charvarius Ward saw the second-most snaps with 49. He was benched to start the second half after surrendering three touchdown receptions in the first half of the game. He would get some snaps later on in the fourth quarter as the defense started to get gassed. He didn’t record a single stat on the day.
• Rashad Fenton was in on 50% of the defensive snaps and he probably should’ve played more. He notched a pass defended and three tackles on the day.
• Tedric Thompson saw a season-low of two defensive snaps. It was a bit surprising given his play the past few weeks.
• Antonio Hamilton, Dorian O’Daniel and Armani Watts led the specials teams unit with 27 total snaps each.