Arrowhead Pride
The Kansas City Chiefs lost 31-28 to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. Let’s look at how the Chiefs used their players in this game:
Starters (offensive): TE Travis Kelce, LT Josh Simmons, LG Kingsley Suamataia, C Creed Humphrey, RG Mike Caliendo, RT Jawaan Taylor, WR Marquise Brown, WR Rashee Rice, WR Xavier Worthy, QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Kareem Hunt.
Starters (defensive): DE George Karlaftis, DT Derrick Nnadi, DT Chris Jones, DE Michael Danna, LB Drue Tranquill, LB Nick Bolton, LB Leo Chenal, DB Chamarri Conner, CB Jaylen Watson, CB Trent McDuffie and S Bryan Cook.
Did not play: QB Gardner Minshew
Inactive: CB Kristian Fulton, WR Jalen Royals, RB Elijah Mitchell, CB Christian Roland-Wallace, G Trey Smith, OL Esa Pole and TE Noah Gray.
The game in Dallas occurred four days after the Chiefs won 23-20 in overtime against the Indianapolis Colts. In that narrow victory, the offense ran a season-high 92 total plays. This season, the team averages 61 plays per game.
Off the short week, Kansas City’s offense leaned on its veteran players. In the case of tight end Travis Kelce — who was on the field for a season-high 92% of snaps — it was out of necessity. Second tight end Noah Gray suffered a concussion against Indianapolis and did not play against the Cowboys.
Second-year tight end Jared Wiley made his season debut after being a healthy scratch for 11 games, playing the second-most snaps at the position (9) — but that was only 15% of the unit’s plays.
In the backfield, running back Kareem Hunt still led the position by taking the field for 74% of the Chiefs’ running plays following a game where he registered 30 carries (on 80% of the running plays) against the Colts. Running back Isiah Pacheco returned to the lineup for the first time since his knee injury, playing only 13% of the running calls. Hunt carried the ball 14 times, while Pacheco collected three rushes.
Kansas City’s defense may not have played a season-high number of snaps in Week 12, but defensive tackle Chris Jones played 88% of the defense’s snaps, including 94% of the pass plays; both marks are top-2 results for Jones this year. Against Dallas, he played 79% of the snaps, which was still more than his season average (74%).
Veteran safety Mike Edwards also played an impactful role after being elevated from the practice squad in response to defensive back Christian Roland-Wallace’s injury. Starting safety Bryan Cook left the game early, forcing Edwards to play 62% of the snaps in his season debut.
With the return of Pacheco, the backfield rotation tightened. That squeezed rookie running back Brashard Smith’s playing time.
Smith played a season-low 7% of offensive snaps, including just 3% of pass plays. He carved out a niche role in the offense earlier this season, but it appears Smith has lost any momentum he held as a playmaker for the Chiefs. Even though...
