The Kansas City Chiefs being four-point American football betting favorites against the Oakland Raiders is one of the few positive things one can say about KC at the time. The Chiefs, however, remain, despite losing six of the last seven, including the last four straight, remain filled with an optimism that, given the circumstances, would have Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz himself shaking his head. The fans unfortunately didn’t share the team’s glass-half-full view of things.
- Date: Sunday, 10th December
- Time: 1:05 PM
- Venue: Arrowhead Stadium
Online Sportsbook NFL odds:
Raiders +4 (-115) 47 (-105) +166
Chiefs -4 (-105) 47 (-115) -195
Foul body language
“This is the problem with the Chiefs right now: this body language stinks,” NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger said. “And if you don’t think it can worse, it can [sic] a whole lot worse. Just look at Terrance Mitchell hanging his head. And until they stop hanging their heads, this tailspin will only get worse.” We would normally mock this sort of quackery, but the former offensive lineman may have a point:
.@chiefs you can't make this stuff up: running into each other is not an option #BaldyBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/fGHEMGmx5G
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) December 5, 2017
What he had there was a failure of bodies to communicate. Unless they were both thinking about Robert Burns’s 1782 poem Comin’ Thro’ the Rye. Head coach Andy Reid and starting QB Alex Smith have been the recipients of the fans’ vitriol, but they were two of the highlights of Sunday’s 31-38 loss to the Jets. Reid acknowledged he’s in way over his head allowed his offensive coordinator Matt Nagy to, you know, coordinate the offensive, and as a result, Smith finished with 366 passing yards, four touchdowns, and a 95.3 QBR, his best of the season. Nevertheless, the Chiefs blew a 14-point lead and allowed another 300-yard passing performance from an opposing QB. On the plus side, they are 5-1 SU in their last six games playing the Raiders and 7-1 against the American football betting spread in their last eight playing divisional opponents.
Marshawn toward a wild card berth?
The Raiders have won two games straight, running back Marshawn Lynch had his first 100-yard rushing game, including a 51-yard touchdown, since coming out of retirement, against the Giants on Sunday, and wideouts Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper are expected to return against the Chiefs, who rank 28th in passing yards allowed (245 per game) and whom Oakland already defeated this season, in week 7, as three-point underdogs. Those are all good news. The bad news is that the Raiders haven’t prevailed at Arrowhead Stadium, or swept the season series against the Chiefs, since 2012, going 0-4 in Kansas City the interim. The Raiders are 0-3-1 ATS in their last four road games, 2-5-1 ATS in their last eight playing the AFC, 2-7-1 ATS in their last 10 overall, 8-3 ATS in their last 11 trips to Kansas City, and the visiting team is 21-8 ATS in their last 29 encounters, while the Chiefs are 7-1 ATS in their last eight playing the AFC West, 1-4 ATS in their last five after an ATS loss, 0-4 ATS in their last four overall, and the favored is 7-3 against the American football betting in their last 10 meetings in this matchup.