KC Chiefs AFC Championship Game Snap Counts vs. Ravens: Balance in Baltimore
Another playoff game, another win for the Kansas City Chiefs.
With their 17-10 takedown of the Baltimore Ravens on the road, Andy Reid's team is heading back to the biggest game of the NFL season. Super Bowl LVIII and the San Francisco 49ers await in a rematch of Super Bowl LIV. Before they can look ahead, though, Kansas City will take a bit of time to review what went right and wrong in the AFC Championship Game.
Now that snap counts have been released, what jumped off the page? Let's take a look at three notable takeaways from another week of Chiefs football.
A noticeable change in the wide receiver rotation
Some things won't be any different for the Chiefs at wide receiver, mostly centered around rookie Rashee Rice. Ever since he took over the majority of reps at the position, he hasn't given up that lead. His workload on Sunday was a very healthy 72 snaps, good for 89% of those available. Behind him, however, some interesting splits developed in Baltimore.
After logging just half of the Chiefs' offensive snaps in the Divisional Round, Marquez Valdes-Scantling saw his share jump to 83% on Sunday. Behind him, Justin Watson got noteworthy snaps once again and Richie James kept consistent. The biggest decline for Kansas City came from Mecole Hardman. Just a week removed from a 19-snap game against the Buffalo Bills in the Divisional Round, Hardman was on the field for just one offensive snap and two total reps in the AFC title game. Following a two-fumble performance, it seems like the fifth-year man was in the proverbial dog house to cap off the AFC leg of the team's playoff run. His involvement in the Super Bowl is worth monitoring.
Charles Omenihu's injury impacts the defensive line picture
Kansas City had one noteworthy injury on Sunday: Charles Omenihu's knee. The severity of that ailment isn't known as of the publishing of this article, but the veteran defensive lineman was upbeat and confident following the AFC Championship Game. Omenihu played only six snaps in Baltimore before exiting the game, making the most of his reps by getting a strip-sack of Lamar Jackson. Following his departure, Kansas City leaned on a variety of players to pick up the slack.
At the defensive end spot, things went as expected with George Karlaftis (47 snaps) and Mike Danna (44) leading the way. Chris Jones played a significant role and didn't leave the field a ton. Elsewhere, pass-rush specialist Tershawn Wharton played 37 snaps after getting just 25 in each of the Chiefs' first two playoff games. To round things out, Mike Pennel logged 20 reps on the inside and Malik Herring played 14 snaps. Kansas City managed to get good pressure on Jackson even without Omenihu for most of the game, which is a testament to the defensive line depth and Steve Spagnuolo's willingness to blitz from elsewhere.
Continued usage of tight end depth
One of the positive tweaks the Chiefs made entering the playoffs is going to multi-tight end sets more often on offense. It naturally helps trim down the wide receiver rotation and (theoretically) also keeps defenses closer to their base personnel packages than their nickel or dime packages. For a team like Baltimore, boasting plenty of intriguing options, they were another candidate to see players like Noah Gray and Blake Bell more often. That's exactly what happened on Sunday.
Gray (58%) and Bell (20%) both kept up their recent trends of playing time and involvement in the AFC Championship Game. In fact, Gray tied a season-high in targets with five. While he only had two catches for eight yards, the Chiefs made an effort to get their third-year tight end involved. Bell gave them an extra blocking threat. Perhaps mixing things up will go over better in the Super Bowl against a more static defense like San Francisco's but if the matchup favors it, the Chiefs should continue getting the most out of their tight end depth.
