The Kansas City Chiefs are 2-1 on the season after a 20-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on the road.
The defense played 71 total snaps, while the offense played just 63. I suspect That number would have been even closer, if not for the early unforced errors on special teams. The offense likely would have played more snaps than the defense if not for Chris Jones’ late unsportsmanlike penalty. What else did we learn about the team via the snap counts on Sunday?
Here’s a look at how the snaps came down in Week 3:
*Snap counts via NFL Game Statistics and Information System
Observations
- Andrew Wylie missed one snap and was replaced by Prince Tega Wanogho. Something to keep in mind in terms of the depth chart.
- The running back position still seems to be about a 50/50 time split between Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Jerick McKinnon.
- The trio of Mecole Hardman, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling played right around the same number of snaps. MVS and Smith-Schuster saw plenty of action on Sunday, but Hardman seemed limited by his heel injury and struggled to get open. He was only targeted once and caught that one pass.
- After playing just two snaps on offense the week prior, Skyy Moore got eight snaps on offense this week. It’s only a slight increase, but it’s progress. The team just needs to find some targets for him and they’ll be in business.
- Khalen Saunders was a two-way player for the Chiefs on Sunday. He played 21 snaps on defense, but also got one snap at fullback on a goalline carry. He didn’t get the carry, but I’d like to think this will only set him up for that opportunity in the future.
- For the third consecutive week, George Karlaftis led all rookies in snap total with 57 snaps. I suspect this will persist until Trent McDuffie gets back on the field.
- Four defenders (Nick Bolton, Justin Reid, Juan Thornhill and L’Jarius Sneed) played all 71 of the snaps on defense.
- Darius Harris, in his first start of the 2022 NFL season, played 87% of the defensive snaps. It just goes to show how much trust the coaching staff has in the fourth-year linebacker. Expect this to persist, with Harris filling in for Willie Gay Jr. during his suspension.
- Malik Herring, in his NFL debut, played just four snaps. He managed two total tackles in those snaps.
- Seven players were relegated to special teams only snaps. That group included Deon Bush, Joshua Williams, Chris Lammons, Dicaprio Bootle, Elijah Lee, Jack Cochrane and Geron Christian.
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