Chiefs-Steelers snap counts: McKinnon takes over; some defenders rest

How did Kansas City use its players in Sunday’s playoff game against Pittsburgh?

The Kansas City Chiefs opened their postseason campaign with a Wild Card game on Sunday night, turning in a convincing 42-21 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers to advance to the Divisional round of the playoffs against the Buffalo Bills this Sunday night.

Let’s take a look at how the Chiefs use their players in their first Round 1 playoff game since 2017.

Starters (offensive): WR Tyreek Hill, TE Travis Kelce, LT Orlando Brown Jr., LG Joe Thuney, C Creed Humphrey, RG Trey Smith, RT Andrew Wylie, WR Mecole Hardman, WR Byron Pringle, QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Jerick McKinnon.

Starters (defensive): LDE Frank Clark, LDT Jarran Reed, RDT Chris Jones, RDE Melvin Ingram, LB Willie Gay Jr., LB Anthony Hitchens, LCB Mike Hughes, S Juan Thornhill, S Tyrann Mathieu, RCB Charvarius Ward and CB L’Jarius Sneed.

Did not play: QB Chad Henne, OL Austin Blythe and OL Kyle Long.

Inactive: QB Shane Buechele, WR Josh Gordon, RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire, CB Rashad Fenton, RB Darwin Thompson, DE Joshua Kaindoh and T Prince Tega Wanogho.

Offensive takeaways

The offensive line looks like it set for the playoffs. Left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., left guard Joe Thuney, center Creed Humphrey, right guard Trey Smith and right tackle Andrew Wylie all played every offensive snap to open the playoffs. As we have continued to see in recent games, reserve interior lineman Nick Allegretti got a few snaps as a sixth offensive lineman. When he has done so, he has often reported as an eligible receiver — and on Sunday, we saw that effort pay off with a touchdown reception for the third-year player.

Once again, Travis Kelce, Blake Bell and Noah Gray fell into their usual roles: Kelce as the go-to guy, Bell getting an emphasis in running snaps and Gray filling in for the All-Pro tight end. All saw use in their normal ranges.

At running back — where Cylde Edwards-Helaire was still out with his shoulder injury — the Chiefs hoped that Darrel Williams would be able to contribute after struggling all week with a toe injury. But after a small number of snaps, Williams was pulled in favor of Jerick McKinnon — who essentially took over the position; Derrick Gore had only a handful of snaps.

There had been concern that wide receiver Tyreek Hill’s use would be limited — especially when practice-squad wideout Daurice Fountain was elevated for the game. But Hill’s usage was in his normal range — albeit on the low side. Mecole Hardman, Byron Pringle and Demarcus Robinson went back to sharing WR2 snaps. And Fountain — whose elevation came in the same week where Josh Gordon was declared inactive — ended up being used almost exclusively on special teams.

Defensive takeaways

In the secondary, safeties Tyrann Mathieu and Juan Thornhill — along with cornerbacks L’Jarius Sneed and Charvarius Ward — fulfilled their usual roles: being on the field for virtually every defensive snap. In this game, however, Mathieu and Ward came out for the final Pittsburgh drive, where they were replaced by safety Armani Watts and corner Deandre Baker. Even rookie Zayne Anderson got in for a handful of snaps at free safety.

With Rashad Fenton unexpectedly out of the game, Mike Hughes got the snaps across from Ward on the outside, while Sneed continued to be used primarily in the slot. Safety Daniel Sorensen’s usage was up a bit from a low point in the regular-season finale — but was still within his typical range during recent games.

At the second level, Anthony Hitchens also got some time off during the final drive. Nick Bolton took up most of the slack. But against the Steelers, the Chiefs chose to depend less on linebackers than they have in recent games, averaging just 1.68 on the field for each snap — the lowest figure since Week 14 against the Las Vegas Raiders. That appears to have had the greatest impact on the snaps of Willie Gay Jr., who had his lowest use of the season. Ben Niemann — despite seeing more snaps during the final Steelers drive — stayed in his normal range, suggesting that his overall use was also down.

On the defensive line, Chris Jones, Frank Clark, Melvin Ingram and Jarran Reed also missed the final drive. In addition, head coach Andy Reid said that Jones missed some time after his helmet came down on his eye socket during the game. According to Pro Football Focus data, Jones spent well more than half of his game time playing on the inside of the line. All of this added up to increased usage for the rotational defensive linemen.

Data

Offense

Defense

Special Teams

All Snaps

Editor’s Note: Arrowhead Pride obtains snap count data from the NFL’s game stats and information system, which allows us to break out snap counts by run or pass on offensive and defensive plays. Because GSIS data ignores plays that were nullified by penalties, total offensive and defensive snap counts will vary from other sources, which get their data from NFL Gamebooks