The Kansas City Chiefs will enter the bye week with a victory over the Carolina Panthers. It wasn’t as easy of a win as many predicted, with the game coming down to the final play and a failed 68-yard field goal attempt by Carolina. The offense was as explosive as ever for Kansas City and the defense tightened up when the game was on the line.

So what can we learn about this game from the snaps played? Here’s a look at how the snaps panned out in Week 9:

*Snap counts via NFL Game Statistics and Information System

Observations

Austin Reiter, indeed, is back as the Chiefs’ starting center, playing 100% of the offensive snaps on the day. Turns out that Andy Reid was being sincere about his knee injury. Expect the next depth chart to reflect this change.
Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill both nearly played 100% of the offensive snaps on the day. It makes sense given the fact they both had big days statistically.
The other receivers also caught their fair share of the snaps, with the Chiefs playing a ton of 11 personnel on the day. Demarcus Robinson, Mecole Hardman and even Byron Pringle got involved. Really the only receiver that didn’t get work in on offense was Gehrig Dieter.
It’s starting to look like Le’Veon Bell is competing with Darrell Williams for snaps. Bell had one more snap to Williams this week, while Clyde Edwards-Helaire had the most snaps by a running back. Andy Reid said after the game that the team didn’t expect to find much success running the ball against the Panthers defensive front.
Mike Remmers played in 81% of the offensive snaps on the day. His injury forced rookie OT Yasir Durant into the game for 12 offensive snaps. He struggled against Brian Burns and his speed.
Daniel Kilgore had one snap as an extra blocker. It looks like they’ll still find ways to get him involved now that he’s gone to the bench.
Daniel Sorensen got the start again this week and played 100% of the defensive snaps. Juan Thornhill still played in 81% of the snaps despite not getting the start.
Armani Watts earned 14 snaps on defense, the most that he’s recorded in a game so far this season.
Derrick Nnadi got the start at defensive tackle this week, but Tershawn Wharton finished the day with more snaps. His 50 defensive snaps are the most he’s had in a single game in his career.
Taco Charlton played in just a single snap before suffering what might be a season-ending injury.
Ben Niemann played 41 defensive snaps on the day. That’s the most snaps that he’s seen since Week 2 of the 2020 season.
Willie Gay Jr. played just 15 defensive snaps on the day. He seems to only be on the field when the team is in their base defensive looks. The coaching staff would be wise to get him more involved moving forward.
Anthony Sherman played only on special teams in his return from the reserve/COVID-19 list, recording 21 snaps on the day.
Niemann, Watts and Dorian O’Daniel played the most special teams snaps on the day with 24 apiece.