NFL Football Betting: Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders
The Kansas City Chiefs but an emphatic end to a three game losing streak last Sunday as they easy dominated the hapless Washington Redskins at FedEx Field. Washington was never in the game as Kansas City systematically dismantled them in a 45-10 victory. The Chiefs will try to win on the road for a second week in a row and take advantage of the San Diego Chargers’ upset win over the Denver Broncos last night. A victory here can move the Chiefs back into a tie atop the AFC West though Denver does own the tiebreaker. Oakland has lost three straight and five of their last six but they’ve been competitive against the number going 3-3 in that stretch.
As was the case last week the obvious reaction is to lay the points with a Kansas City team that is definitely much better ‘on paper’ the ‘kneejerk reaction’ is seldom a winning strategy in the NFL. This isn’t a great situation for Kansas City playing on the road for the second straight week. The defense remains banged up-though it didn’t come into play as they manhandled a horrible Washington offense last week. Kansas City’s game plan is also obvious-The Chiefs could control this game just by running Jamaal Charles repeatedly.
While Oakland might not be flatlining the way that the Washington Redskins are they have plenty of problems. They’ll start Matt McGloin at quarterback once again and although he hasn’t performed badly he’s far less mobile than Terrelle Pryor. That mobility is a very significant advantage against an aggressive Kansas City pass rush that wants to get their swagger back after a series of poor performances. KC’s Alex Smith may not be a dynamic playmaker but he is good at taking care of the football and avoiding mistakes. The Chiefs won’t give the Raiders many opportunities to put points on the board and it’s not a given that they’ll be able to take advantage of the chances they do get. Winning on the road is tough in the NFL but in our view this should be a redux of last week’s Kansas City victory over Washington.
BET KANSAS CITY CHIEFS -4′ OVER OAKLAND RAIDERS