As has often been the case this season, the Kansas City Chiefs took every second to secure their latest win, eventually cementing a 19-17 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night. Who stood out from KC's latest narrow win, and what issue was evident before the game even began?
Let's take a closer look at the Chiefs' snap counts from the game that resulted in Kansas City's 12th victory of the season.
While the Chiefs showed a willingness to use all three of their top running backs throughout the game, starting back Isiah Pacheco earned the largest workload in his second game back from an ankle injury, taking 32 of KC's 69 offensive snaps (49%). Kareem Hunt took 20 snaps (29%) while Samaje Perine took 17 (25%). Add in six offensive snaps (9%) for Carson Steele in his various roles, and Kansas City's running back rotation looks the strongest it's been all season.
While the vast majority of running back touches went to Pacheco (14 carries for 55 yards plus two catches for six yards) and Hunt (five carries for 16 yards, one catch for 13), Perine moved the chains on third-and-3 to keep a field goal drive alive. Perine's most impactful highlight may have been a pass blocking rep on the Chiefs' game-winning drive.
This block 🤯 @samajp32 pic.twitter.com/yFUK0H7E9c
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) December 9, 2024
While it's noteworthy that veteran wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins took a healthy 38 of 69 offensive snaps (55%) for Kansas City on Sunday night, the headline comes from the rookie.
Xavier Worthy, Kansas City's most-used receiver in 2024, took 57 offensive snaps (83%), resulting in his highest usage rate by percentage in 2024. With Hopkins second among wide receivers, Justin Watson and JuJu Smith-Schuster were neck-and-neck with 35 and 34 snaps, respectively (51% vs. 49%).
With Mecole Hardman now on injured reserve and Nikko Remigio signed to the active roster for special teams duties, Worthy, Hopkins, Watson and Smith-Schuster were the only four wide receivers to take snaps on Sunday night.
The most jarring snap count of the day may have been one that was determined when Kansas City announced their inactives for the game. Edge rusher Joshua Uche was acquired for a 2026 sixth-round pick ahead of the NFL trade deadline. In the final year of his current contract, Uche's acquisition was always a so-called "rental" for KC. Whatever the Chiefs were getting from Uche would have to come during the team's playoff push, which only made it all the more shocking when Uche was a healthy inactive on Sunday.
Uche played just one snap last week against the Las Vegas Raiders, and he has now played 37 defensive snaps in Kansas City. He's a stylistic outlier among KC's more power-based D-line, but that appeared to be a part of the argument for acquiring Uche in the first place.
While Uche and Malik Herring were healthy scratches, the Chiefs leaned heavily on George Karlaftis (51 of 60 snaps, 85%) and Mike Danna (38 snaps, 63%) with Charles Omenihu taking a step down from last week's workload (24 snaps, 40%) and Felix Anudike-Uzomah closing out the rotation (12 snaps, 20%).
On the touchdown, Chris Jones was double-teamed while Mike Danna, Mike Pennel and George Karlaftis got erased 1-on-1. All too familiar.
— Joshua Brisco (@jbbrisco) December 9, 2024
Karlaftis and Danna haven't been consistent enough in 2024, often the recipient of one-on-one matchups by virtue of the attention opposing offenses have to designate to slowing down defensive tackle Chris Jones (46 snaps, 77%).
While it's anyone's guess as to what defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo's ideal situation may look like across KC's D-line, a total dismissal of Uche still seems unreasonable.
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