The Oakland Raiders are currently 2-3 straight up and 1-3-1 against the spread on the road this season. The Kansas City Chiefs are 3-2 straight up and against the spread when playing at home in Arrowhead Stadium. Both teams are entering this matchup with equal .500 records and desperately need a win. At press, the Chiefs are in the playoffs. They are in a three-way tie in the AFC West along with the 6-6 Raiders and Chargers. There is no head to head tiebreaker at play because one of these teams hasn’t swept the other. Bottom line, this game is really important for either squad.
A few weeks ago the Oakland Raiders chance for a playoff spot looked long lost, but a few wins and some losses by the Chiefs and here they are with four weeks to go controlling their chance at a playoff spot. They come into this game having won three of the last four games, and although they have been playing some pretty easy competition they are taking advantage of the schedule and beating the teams they should.
The only loss they had during that stretch was a beat down at the hands of the New England Patriots. They also should be getting a huge boost back in this game. Amari Cooper should be back from a concussion, and Micheal Crabtree will be back from a suspension. That will give Derek Carr a few more weapons, something he didn’t have a lot of against the New York Giants, a game they won 24-17.
To win this game the defense is going to need to be good in this game. The Chiefs have struggled at times the last few weeks on that side of the ball, and the Raiders can’t let them get settled in. They need to make Alex Smith uncomfortable and hopefully make him have some happy feet. If they can get him uncomfortable they should be able to win this game.
On the other side of this match up is the Kansas City Chiefs who got off to a really fast start this year, but now come into this game really struggling. They have lost four games in a row, and six of the last seven games.
For the most part the offense has been struggling and the defense has been good, but in the last game against the Jets the offense was really good, but the defense struggled and that led to a 38-31 defeat. In this game both sides of the ball just need to be more consistent. Alex Smith needs to play well in the game, but the defense needs to play a lot better. They need to be the aggressive team, and they need to start making big plays down the stretch of games to hopefully come out ahead.
Writer’s Prediction
The Kansas City Chiefs are in a huge downward spiral and I don’t think that will stop in this game. I think the Raiders will play better team ball, and that will lead to a big upset, and to first place in the AFC West. Pick: Oakland Raiders (+4)
