KC Chiefs Divisional Round Snap Counts vs. Buffalo Bills: Postseason Personnel

Taking a closer look at how Kansas City divvied up its snaps in a Divisional Round win against the Bills.

The Kansas City Chiefs are moving on to the AFC Championship Game thanks to some key performances on both sides of the ball in the Divisional Round.

Coming into the game with some injuries to monitor, Kansas City saw a couple of players on defense go down on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills. Despite that, Andy Reid's team persevered and came away with a narrow win on the road against a quality opponent. Up next, the focus shifts to the Baltimore Ravens ahead of this weekend's conference title game. Not before a bit of reflection on how the action unfolded at Highmark Stadium, though. 

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.

Chiefs go heavy with personnel on offense

All season, Kansas City had some question marks at the wide receiver position. Running the football was a proposed solution, and so was going with multiple sets in the passing game and involving several tight ends at once. Not only does going to 12- or 13-personnel (one running back and two/three tight ends) insert more blockers into the equation, but it also makes opposing defenses change their own schematic decisions. With the Bills banged up and very thin at the linebacker position, the Chiefs went very heavy on offense. It certainly paid off. 

According to Next Gen Stats, Kansas City opted for 13 personnel on 11 plays on Sunday. On those plays, they posted a 64% success rate and amassed 95 yards. With tracking data recording back to the 2016 season, this was second-highest clip at which the Chiefs used 13 personnel in a single game. The top spot belongs to last weekend against the Miami Dolphins. Injuries to Miami and Buffalo's defenses undoubtedly factored into this development, but it's a positive one for Reid and company. The game plan was executed to near perfection in the Divisional Round. 

Chamarri Conner plays a significant role on defense in the win

The Chiefs were already thin at the safety position coming into the weekend, as Bryan Cook is still on the injured reserve list with an ankle ailment. When Mike Edwards collided with Stefon Diggs in the first quarter of Sunday's game and entered concussion protocol, that made the situation even scarier. As a result, rookie Chamarri Conner was thrust into an enhanced role on defense. For the most part, he answered the call.

Conner played a career-high 99% of the Chiefs' defensive snaps on Sunday, logging 76 reps against Buffalo. He also set a career-high mark with 10 tackles and had a forced fumble. Another instance saw Conner fail to fall on a Josh Allen fumble, which is proof that he wasn't perfect in his second career playoff game. But for a first-year player to step in and step up in such a big way is monumental. Kansas City seems to have made an impressive pick at 119th overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. 

No Derrick Nnadi means a lot of Mike Pennel

The Chiefs were thrown for a loop on Wild Card Weekend when starting nose tackle Derrick Nnadi suffered a tricep injury early in the game. That placed an emphasis on the rest of the defensive line to occupy his reps and replace his production, and Nnadi appears to have undergone surgery before Sunday's outing against the Bills. Kansas City, knowing they'd be without Nnadi in the Divisional Round, primarily fielded Mike Pennel fresh off the practice squad.

After logging 15 snaps in round one of the playoffs, Pennel played 40 on Sunday. That was good for 52% of available reps along the defensive line. In those snaps, the veteran interior defensive lineman had three tackles. The Chiefs' run defense struggled immensely in the first half and into the third quarter, but tracing that directly back to the absence of Nnadi or the inclusion of Pennel wouldn't be fair. It was more of a group effort in both failing to slow the Bills down early and succeeding in doing so later on. In the AFC Championship Game, Pennel will likely be the go-to nose tackle.

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