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The Kansas City Chiefs defense was on the field a ton on Sunday night against the Denver Broncos, playing 20 more total snaps to the offense. That tells you just how off the offense was for Kansas City during the game. The defense still managed to hold their opponents to under nine points despite being on the field for the most snaps they’ve played in a single game this season.
What else can we learn from this week’s snap counts? Here’s a look at how the snaps played out in Week 13:
*Snap counts via NFL Game Statistics and Information System
Observations
- Byron Pringle continues to be the No. 3 receiving option in Kansas City in terms of snap count and target share. Though he was targeted four times against Denver, he only caught one pass on the night.
- Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Darrel Williams have settled into what is nearly a 50-50 snaps share and it has seemingly worked out for the Chiefs. Williams becoming a trusted target in the receiving game has been a boon to offensive success lately.
- Mecole Hardman’s snaps continue to trend downward. This was his lowest career snap total, with nine snaps on offense and a single snap on special teams. He previously set his lowest career total in Week 11 against the Cowboys.
- Josh Gordon’s snaps and involvement have also been trending in the wrong direction. It feels like not having a chance to be with the team during training camp and the preseason has him behind the eight ball in terms of chemistry with Patrick Mahomes.
- Nick Allegretti was spotted in the game and it led some Chiefs fans to wonder if there was an injury to the starting offensive line group. Nope. The team brought him in as an extra blocker on three occasions to help move the chains in the run game.
- Derrick Gore appeared in two offensive snaps in Week 13. Even with Jerick McKinnon on injured reserve, it was hard to get Gore involved as the No. 3 back.
- Three Chiefs players (L’Jarius Sneed, Charvarius Ward and Tyrann Mathieu) played 100% of the defensive snaps. On a night where the unit played the most snaps they had all season, that’s impressive.
- Deandre Baker played the fifth-most snaps on any Chiefs defender on Sunday night. It was the most snaps he’d played since Week 4 when he played 67 snaps in injury relief for Charvarius Ward. It was also the most combined snaps he’d played in a single game in his career with Kansas City. There’s also something to be said about how well he played against a talented WR group.
- Willie Gay Jr. continues to lead the linebacker group in snaps, while rookie Nick Bolton is getting the fewest snaps of any linebacker. Bolton is making the most of his snaps, but don’t expect him to replace Ben Niemann as the dime linebacker or Anthony Hitchens unless there is an injury.
- Daniel Sorensen, who had a big night for the Chiefs, played 39 defensive snaps on Sunday. It speaks to the usage of the big nickel package which has each of Juan Thornhill, Tyrann Mathieu and Sorensen on the field at once.
- Alex Okafor had more snaps than Mike Danna this week, which is a rarity. It seems like Danna got dinged up at one point during the game, limiting his snaps total.
- Melvin Ingram’s snaps continue to trend in the right direction. He’s getting upwards of 40 snaps per game in each of the past two games and he’s making an impact. He managed his first sack with Kansas City this week in the opening defensive series.
- Noah Gray led the team in special teams snaps while Armani Watts, Dorian O’Daniel, and Chris Lammons only played special teams snaps.
- Lammons, who was injured on the opening kickoff, returned to the game and played three more special teams snaps.
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