Arrowhead Pride
How did Kansas City use its players in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game?
On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs won their third consecutive AFC Championship, beating the Buffalo Bills 32-29, becoming the first team in NFL history to win back-to-back titles and then reach the Super Bowl in an attempt to three-peat.
Let’s look at how the Chiefs used their players in this game.
Starters (offensive): WR Hollywood Brown, LT Joe Thuney, LG Mike Caliendo, C Creed Humphrey, RG Trey Smith, RT Jawaan Taylor, WR Xavier Worthy, TE Travis Kelce, WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Isiah Pacheco.
Starters (defensive): DE Michael Danna, DT Mike Pennel, DT Chris Jones, DE George Karlaftis, LB Nick Bolton, LB Drue Tranquill, DB Chimarri Conner, CB Trent McDuffie, S Nazeeh Johnson, S Justin Reid and S Bryan Cook.
Did not play: QB Carson Wentz.
Inactive: CB Keith Taylor, LB Joshua Uche, OL C.J. Hanson, OL Wanya Morris, OT Ethan Driskell and DE Malik Herring, Justyn Ross.
Rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy continues his ascension — and he has staked his claim as the Chiefs' No. 1 wide receiver, leading the team in targets and receiving yards, as well as snaps, eclipsing the next closest wide receiver in Hollywood Brown by 11 plays. Worthy was second overall in snaps for offensive skill position players behind tight end Travis Kelce.
Sunday’s contest also saw DeAndre Hopkins’ numbers continue to fall, as he only saw the field for a dozen plays and was out-snapped by JuJu Smith-Schuster by over a three-to-one margin.
This is a continuation of last week’s numbers against the Houston Texans. In that matchup, Hopkins was disproportionally on the field for passing plays only.
The lone downside to the AFC Championship game may have been that the Chiefs struggled to establish the run consistently on the ground. Sure, there were some clutch moments where runners came up big, but on a down-to-down basis over the course of the game, you could hardly call it a statistically stellar day for any of the Chief's ballcarriers, with the exception of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who had a pair of rushing touchdowns in this contest.
Running Back Isiah Pacheco, in particular, struggled to find his footing in this game — and not only was he out-touched 18-7 by Kareem Hunt, but he also failed to do anything with the opportunities afforded him, averaging just 2.4 yards per carry.
On defense, outside of cornerback Trent McDuffie and Justin Reid, everybody's roles seem to be in flux. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo opted to go with a Big Nickel formation to start the game, which means free safety Chamarri Conner got the start over linebacker Leo Chenal.
But in addition to getting the start, Conner played in a whopping 77% of the plays, which was the third most for all defensive backs. Fellow safety Bryan Cook has seen his playing time diminish as...
