Arrowhead Pride
How did Kansas City use its players in Friday’s game against Las Vegas?
The Kansas City Chiefs handed the Las Vegas Raiders a narrow 19-17 defeat in Week 13’s “Black Friday” matchup on GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
Let’s take a look at how the Chiefs used their players.
Starters (offensive): WR Xavier Worthy, TE Travis Kelce, TE Noah Gray, LT Wanya Morris, LG Joe Thuney, C Creed Humphrey, RG Trey Smith, RT Jawaan Taylor, WR DeAndre Hopkins, QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Kareem Hunt.
Starters (defensive): DT Chris Jones, DT Tershawn Wharton, DE Michael Danna, LB Nick Bolton, LB Leo Chenal, LB Drue Tranquill, CB Trent McDuffie, DB Chamarri Conner, S Justin Reid, S Nazeeh Johnson and S Bryan Cook.
Did not play: QB Carson Wentz.
Inactive: RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire, K Spencer Shrader, OL C.J. Hanson, T D.J. Humphries, OT Ethan Driskell, DT Marlon Tuipulotu and DE Malik Herring.
Defensive end Charles Omenihu returned for Friday’s game after missing the season’s first 12 contests. His impact was significant.
In 2023, he appeared in 50-70% of the team’s snaps — and tended to be an every-down player.
Unsurprisingly, he was used a bit less in his first game back in the lineup — and tended toward passing plays.
We would expect that in his return, Omenihu would probably push another player off the field. That’s what happened. Defensive end Malik Herring was inactive for Friday’s game.
To be sure, Herring was not generally playing a big role in the defense — and wasn’t playing on special teams, either. That’s probably why he was made inactive for the game, leaving defensive end Joshua Uche active against the Raiders.
But as we see here, Uche didn’t play any defensive snaps on Friday. His use was restricted to special teams.
According to Pro Football Focus, Omenihu primarily played on the outside. Just 20% of his snaps were on the inside — and on a couple of them, he was lined up off the line of scrimmage. It looks like this led to defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton having his lowest use of the season.
So Omenihu’s return ended up pushing two defensive ends out of their normal (albeit secondary) roles — and even appears to have impacted the use of a defensive tackle. Meanwhile, the defense collected three sacks for the first time since Week 2, as Omenihu turned in the highest win rate on the defensive line.
It looks like Omenihu’s return will end up making a significant improvement
