Chiefs Kingdom is fully aware that the Kansas City Chiefs are the better team on paper for today's game, but how will the Chiefs bounce back from last week's loss to the Philadelphia Eagles? Yes, the Chiefs lost to the Eagles last week, and that still stings, but we have to remember all the things that went wrong in order for KC to lose that game. Travis Kelce fumbled the ball in the red zone. Patrick Mahomes threw a pick in the dang end zone. Justin Watson, Marquez Valdez-Scantling and even Kelce dropped game-altering, catchable balls. After all that, the Chiefs lost to the defending NFC champs by four.
Despite also coming off a loss, the Raiders will be pumped up for this game. The dismissal of former head coach Josh McDaniels seems to have lifted a dark cloud from over the franchise. A win over KC would be monumental for the Raiders and their interim head coach Antonio Pierce. The old saying would propose that Vegas has everything to win while KC has everything to lose. Luckily for Chiefs fans, predicting a victory for Vegas (the football team) against any opponent that isn't a tomato can is something that Vegas (the oddsmakers) would never do.
The theme for the Las Vegas Raiders this season has been simple, if not intriguing: they lost to every team they played that doesn't stink. These Raiders, who are surprisingly still in the playoff hunt past the half-way point of this season, collected W's when facing the Broncos, Packers, Pats, Giants and Jets. None of those teams have winning records. Even the Raiders' weapons that may frighten most other teams in the league will match up poorly against the Chiefs.
Davante Adams still looks like an elite receiver, but the Chiefs excel in handling elite receivers now. The L'Jarius Sneed/Trent McDuffie tandem helped limit A.J. Brown to a single catch for eight yards last week, and I've extensively covered them shutting down other great wide-outs this year. The Raiders' ability to keep their QB upright will be tested by the Chiefs' elite pass-rush today, as well. Vegas' 2.5 sacks allowed per game is almost exactly the league average - they're tied for 17th in that category - and the Chiefs 3.6 sacks per game is the NFL's second-highest.
Another key matchup to watch for will be Isiah Pacheco facing off against the Raiders run defense. Although Vegas held the Dolphins Raheem Mostert mostly in-check last week, they've been one of the league's worst over the course of the regular season. Pacheco ran the ball 19 times for 89 yards against Philly's elite run defense last week. He's only 27 carries and 116 rushing yards away from his total production last season. Another solid performance from Pacheco today could ensure that he surpasses last season's production well before Christmas this year.
Pacheco and KC's defense should be enough to avoid some Cinderella nonsense today. The Raiders starting quarterback and 135th draft pick in the latest draft, Aidan O'Connell, hasn't done enough to instill nearly that much faith in Vegas. I know the Chiefs have had their struggles lately, but we cannot abandon all logic and presume KC would lose a game like this. The Chiefs offense isn't going to fix itself overnight, though. I'm predicting an ugly 24-16 victory for Kansas City.
No comments:
Post a Comment