The Kansas City Chiefs notched their ninth win of the season against the New England Patriots in Week 15. 

Even though we're approaching the end of the season, we're beginning to see some new snap trends related to the offense. That shouldn't come as a big surprise given the fact that the team is still trying to get its footing on the offensive side of the ball. 

Here’s a look at how the snaps came down in Week 15 followed by some takeaways:

Rashee Rice is the clear-cut WR1

The 23-year-old rookie rarely left the field during Week 15 and has proven to be the team's best wide receiver in short order. With 60 offensive snaps on the day, Rice reached his highest snap total of the season. His previous high was 56 snaps the week prior and he'd never played more than 85% of the offensive snaps in a single game. He was up to 92% against the Patriots on Sunday, and short of injury he should never see fewer than 90% moving forward.

Rice was perfect, catching nine passes on nine targets for 91 yards and one touchdown in New England. This brings his total catches (68) to third among all rookies in the NFL this season, his total touchdowns (7) to third among all rookies, and his receiving yards total (754) to fourth among all rookies.

He already broke the team's rookie receiving touchdown record. He needs three more catches to break the rookie reception record (70, Dwayne Bowe) and 242 more receiving yards to break the rookie yards record (995, Dwayne Bowe). 

Richie James hits a new low in offensive snaps

James is four weeks removed from returning from injured reserve with an MCL injury, but he hit a season-low in offensive snaps and tied his second-fewest total snap mark in a single game this season. It doesn't sound as if that will last moving forward, though. Chiefs HC Andy Reid is taking it upon himself to get James more involved moving forward.

"Richie (James) though, has got to play more than two snaps, so that’s my responsibility on that," Reid said. "I didn’t have him in on enough stuff. He’s a good football player though.”

James played just two offensive snaps against the Patriots but managed one reception on one target for 17 yards. 

Diminishing snaps for struggling players

You might notice that several other wide receivers have seen fewer and fewer snaps over the past few weeks. Some of that is by design, while other parts of it are not so much. Skyy Moore, for example, played just 25% of the offensive snaps in Week 15. That had more to do with reaggravating a knee injury than anything else according to Andy Reid. He's now on injured reserve, so no more snaps for Moore during the regular season. 

On the other hand, Marquez Valdes-Scantling played just 34% of the offensive snaps and received a single target on the day. That seems to have a lot more to do with his recent struggles and dropped passes. He still has value and is often on the field as a blocker when the Chiefs run to the perimeter or throw quick screens. 

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