Raiders Chiefs Line

Written by Steve Janus

The Kansas City Chiefs are set to host the Oakland Raiders in a crucial AFC West matchup on Christmas Eve. The Chiefs come in off that shocking 19-14 win over the Packers. Kansas City still has an outside shot at winning the division, but will need Denver to lose at Buffalo and the Chargers to lose one of their final two games. The Raiders 27-28 loss at home to the Lions was their third straight overall. As bad as it has been for the Raiders, they are still just a game back of the Broncos for the division title, but will have to beat both the Chiefs and Chargers to finish out the season. Kansas City went into Oakland and beat the Raiders 28-0 back in week 7, but that was the Raiders first game without starting quarterback Jason Campbell.

Taking a look at the week 15 NFL spreads, oddsmakers currently have the Chiefs favored by 1-point over the Raiders with the total set at 42 points.

Oakland Raiders:

The Raiders have to be killing themselves for not finishing off the Lions last week. Oakland took a 27-14 lead with just under 8 minutes to play in the fourth quarter, but would end up allowing the Lions to score two touchdowns in the final 5 five minutes to lose the game. Had the Raiders held on for the win, they would not only be tied with the Broncos for the AFC West lead, but they would also be tied with the Jets and Bengals for the final Wild Card spot.

One positive to take away from the loss was the outstanding play of Carson Palmer, who completed 32 of 40 attempts for 367 yards. The only downside to Palmer’s big day was the fact that he finished the game with just one touchdown. That lone scoring strike came on a 43-yard pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey, who had eight catches for 155 yards.

Oakland got another solid game out of running back Michael Bush, who rushed for a team-high 77 yards on 18 carries and also caught seven passes for another 62 yards. It will be all Bush the rest of the way. Darren McFadden has officially been ruled out for the rest of the season.

The Raiders had all kinds of trouble offensively the first time they played the Chiefs. Oakland was able to rush for 155 yards, but three interceptions a piece by Palmer and Kyle Boller allowed Kansas City to win easily. Palmer should fair better the second time around against the Chiefs, but this Kansas City secondary is coming off a game where they held Aaron Rodgers to just 235 yards and a touchdown on 17 of 35 passing.

Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs weren’t even suppose to be able to keep it close against the Packers, let alone dominate the game from start to finish. The final score of 19-14 makes it seem like the Chiefs squeaked out a win, but the Packers were lucky they didn’t blow the score wide open. Kansas City had the ball six times inside the 10-yard line, but had to settle for four field goals and failed to convert on 4th down one other time.

Interim head coach Romeo Crennel and starting quarterback Kyle Orton were the difference makers in the Chiefs win. Crennel put together a brilliant game plan that kept the ball away from Rodgers, and Orton executed it to perfection. In his first start since coming to Kansas City, Orton completed 23 of 31 attempts for 299 yards. The only thing he could have done better was get the team in the endzone, but they really didn’t give him many opportunities to throw the ball inside the redzone.

The Chiefs used a number of different players to rush for 139 yards on Sunday, but the biggest run of the game came from Jackie Battle, who gave the Chiefs a 19-7 lead on a -yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Kansas City has a great chance to build off one of their best offensive performances of the season this week, as they face a Raiders defense that is 23rd against the pass (243.8 ypg) and 26th against the run (135.0 ypg).

Betting Trends:

Oakland is 9-2 ATS in their last 11 vs. AFC West.

Kansas City is 3-12-1 ATS in their last 16 games as a home favorite.

Be sure to stop back and check out who Steve Janus has picked to win this week in the NFL.

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