*Confidence Picks: 6-1 (Season: 36-29)
All Picks Against Spread: 11-3 (Season: 91-69-1)
Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders (+7)*
Not so fast, Kansas City.
While the Green Bay Packers are flying up the ranking in the NFC, the Chiefs have quietly turned an 0-2 start into a 7-3 campaign and now share the lead for the AFC West division. With a top-ten defense, an offense that doesn’t turn the ball over, and touchdown-heavy backfield, Kansas City has proven to be one of the league’s best teams this year.
Oakland is not.
At an atrocious 0-10 and touting the league’s worst offense, the Oakland Raiders are a devastated mess. The likelihood of any team going winless for an entire season is generally low, but Oakland continues to threaten with dismal performances on a weekly basis.
Everything is pointing to a Kansas City blowout. If you have followed this column for more than a few weeks, you know where this is headed.
Kansas City is an unprecedented 9-1 against the spread this season, including nine straight after losing on Opening Day. With Miami’s 13-point victory in Week 11, the favorites on Thursday Night Football have now moved to 8-3 against the spread. We say it every week: the closer a trend is to 100 percent, the more likely it is to snap back into place. The final piece to the puzzle is one of our constant favorites – Oakland is getting a touchdown worth of points at home.
Would it really be that much of a shock for Friday morning to roll around and people to start wondering how legitimate Andy Reid’s Chiefs really are? Would it be impossible for a struggling team to host a primetime game and rise to the occasion and fight to the end? For evidence of this potential, think back to Week 12’s Monday Night Football game between the Titans and Steelers. In fact, Kansas City will likely mirror Pittsburgh perfectly, winning the game in the end but with much less confidence than the team has shown to this point.
Chiefs win a nail-biter by a field goal, but Oakland beats the spread.
