Chiefs’ snap counts at Baltimore: Lots for Hardman, not many for safety Juan Thornhill

The Chiefs suffered a stunning collapse to begin the week, losing 36-35 to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football.

They held a 35-24 edge in the third quarter before two turnovers and an inability to stop the run proved their undoing.

The Chiefs won’t be in panic mode — a single loss won’t break their season. But there plenty of adjustments needed on both sides of the ball.

Here’s how their snap counts worked out Sunday evening.

QUARTERBACKS: Patrick Mahomes (51), Chad Henne (did not play)

Mahomes completed 24 of 31 passes for 343 yards and three touchdowns, but his interception in the third quarter was the turning point of the game.

Baltimore capitalized on Mahomes’ error with a touchdown to close the gap to five points, 35-30, early in the fourth quarter. That gave them momentum, and eventually the lead and win.

After reeling off 11 straight victories in September games since becoming the Chiefs’ full-time starting quarterback in 2018, Mahomes’ is no longer perfect in the season’s opening month.

RUNNING BACKS: Clyde Edwards-Helaire (33), Darrel Williams (14, 10 on special teams), Jerick McKinnon (4, 13 on ST), fullback Michael Burton (5, 16 on ST)

Edwards-Helaire led this position group with 46 yards rushing on 13 carries. His game, though, will be remembered for a critical fumble late in the game with the Chiefs driving for the potential go-ahead score.

The Chiefs couldn’t muster a consistent running game against Baltimore and finished with 62 yards and a touchdown (by Williams) on 18 carries — an average of 3.4 yards per attempt.

Sunday night marked the second straight game in which the Chiefs as a team failed to top 75 yards rushing. Kansas City gained 73 yards on 23 carries, averaging just 3.2 yards per attempt, in the season opener against Cleveland.

WIDE RECEIVERS: Tyreek Hill (50), Mecole Hardman (40, 4 on ST), Demarcus Robinson (30), Byron Pringle (11, 7 on ST), Marcus Kemp (2, 23 on ST)

The Ravens did a good job of taking away Hill, who managed just three catches for 14 yards on four targets. So others had to stop up.

Pringle had two catches for 63 yards and a touchdown; Hardman totaled five catches for 55 yards; and Robinson chipped in with three catches for 46 yards and a touchdown.

Pringle also had three kickoff returns for 46 yards.

TIGHT ENDS: Travis Kelce (44), Blake Bell (20, 11 on ST), Jody Fortson (2, 13 on ST), Noah Gray (14 on ST)

Kelce had seven catches for 109 yards and a touchdown. He now has 8,066 career receiving yards, just the second player in team history and eighth tight end in NFL history to reach the 8,000-yard milestone for receiving yards. He joined Rob Gronkowski (8,613) and Jimmy Graham (8,350) as the only active tight ends with more than 8,000 yards receiving.

Kelce is also the fastest tight end in NFL history to record 8,000 yards receiving, doing so in 113 games. Gronkowski held the mark previously: 120 games.

Bell had one catch for 20 yards, while Fortson recorded his first career reception, good for 11 yards.

OFFENSIVE LINE: Orlando Brown Jr. (51, 5 on ST), Joe Thuney (51, 5 on ST), Creed Humphrey (51, 5 on ST), Trey Smith (51, 5 on ST), Lucas Niang (51, 5 on ST), Nick Allegretti (5 on ST), Mike Remmers (did not play), Andrew Wylie (did not play)

The Chiefs’ front five kept Mahomes clean, for the most part. The Ravens had just three quarterback hits and no sacks.

While the Chiefs’ line did its job in pass protection, the running game couldn’t get going for the second week in a row.

“We’ve looked at that and there are a couple things we have to do, and I think the backs being used to the offensive line and what they’re going to do in certain tight situations is important,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “I think the more they do it, the more confidence they build there, and we’ll hit it a little quicker than what we’re doing right now. I would anticipate it getting better as we go on here

DEFENSIVE LINE: Chris Jones (57, 2 on ST), Jarran Reed (56, 4 on ST), Frank Clark (53), Derrick Nnadi (35, 4 on ST), Mike Danna (32, 4 on ST), Khalen Saunders (29), Alex Okafor (26, 4 on ST), Tershawn Wharton (22, 2 on ST)

The Chiefs’ defensive line failed to generate consistent pressure on Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. No sacks, no quarterback hits.

Clark made his regular-season debut with two tackles, one for a loss.

Defensively, the Chiefs’ inability to plug holes up front and control the trenches contributed to the Ravens gashing the defense with 251 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 41 carries — an stout average of 6.1 yards per attempt.

Jackson paced the Ravens’ ground attack with 107 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries.

LINEBACKERS: Anthony Hitchens (65, 4 on ST), Nick Bolton (63), Ben Niemann (53, 14 on ST), Dorian O’Daniel (23 on ST), Darius Harris (9 on ST)

The linebackers had a busy night with the Ravens’ ground game going nuclear.

Hitchens made a team-high 12 tackles; Bolton chipped in with nine and Niemann three. Through two games, Bolton has recorded 16 tackles.

Second-year linebacker Willie Gay Jr. (toe) is eligible to return from injured reserve after Week 3’s game.

DEFENSIVE BACKS: Daniel Sorensen (76, 3 on ST), Tyrann Mathieu (76), L’Jarius Sneed (73, 3 on ST), Charvarius Ward (73), Mike Hughes (22, 12 on ST), Rashad Fenton (14), Juan Thornhill (11, 6 on ST), Armani Watts (23 on ST), Chris Lammons (23 on ST)

Mathieu made an immediate impact in his season debut, recording six tackles, two interceptions — including one returned for a touchdown — and three passes defensed.

Like Mathieu, Sorensen played on all of the Chiefs’ defensive snaps. He had 10 tackles and the Chiefs’ lone sack of the game.

The scant use of Thornhill was a head-scratcher.

“Juan and Dan, they do certain things the same and a couple things different,” Reid explained. “It all kind of equals out and Dan really had the better camp and so on. ... (W)e love Juan and where he’s getting himself back to where he was his rookie year.”

SPECIALISTS: Harrison Butker (11), Tommy Townsend (8), James Winchester (8)

Butker connected on all five of his extra-point attempts, while Townsend accounted for three punts for 135 yards, averaging 45 yards per attempt.

INACTIVES: Center Austin Blythe, guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, cornerback Deandre Baker, wide receiver Daurice Fountain, rookie defensive end Joshua Kaindoh

Owing to a relatively recent change in the collective-bargaining agreement between the owners and players, teams are now allowed to dress as many as 48 players from their 53-man roster on game day, as long as eight of those dressed are offensive linemen. In the past, teams were only allowed to dress 46.