Chiefs visiting Raiders aim to remain undefeated

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (KY3) – The Kansas City Chiefs will play at the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. BetMGM Sportsbook lists the Chiefs as 9-point favorites.

Las Vegas beat the Chiefs 20-14 in their last game last Christmas Day. Kansas City hasn’t lost since that game.

Both teams have defensive stars like Chris Jones on the Chiefs and Maxx Crosby on the Raiders. The Chiefs’ defense should have a huge advantage over the struggling Las Vegas offense.

Kansas City (6-0) at Las Vegas (2-5)

Sunday, 4:25 PM EDT, CBS

BetMGM NFL odds: Chefs until 9.

Against the spread: Chiefs 5-1; Raiders 3-4.

Series record: Chiefs lead 71-54-2.

Last meeting: Raiders beat Chiefs 20-14 in Kansas City on Dec. 25.

Last week: Chiefs beat San Francisco 28-18; The Raiders lost to the Los Angeles Rams 20-15.

Chiefs offense: overall (10), rushing (10), passing (12), scoring (13).

Chiefs defense: overall (10), offense (4), passing (20), scoring (5).

Raiders offense: overall (26), offense (30), passing (16), points (26).

Raiders defense: overall (11), offense (23), passing (8), scoring (29).

Turnover differential: Chiefs minus-3; The Raiders are minus-13.

Chiefs player to watch

DT Chris Jones. Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said his team can’t rely on a single blocker to keep Jones out of Las Vegas’ backfield, a testament to how dominant the 30-year-old remains. “This guy plays at the MVP level, the defensive MVP level,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “He takes a lot of pride in being the best and he’s doing that right now, it shows.”

Raiders player to watch

DE Maxx Crosby. He finally looks completely healthy after suffering a high ankle sprain. Even while playing through pain, Crosby has made at least half a sack in every game but one this season. With 6 1/2 sacks, he is on pace to surpass his career-high of 14 1/2 set last season. He also had notable interactions with Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, as featured in the Netflix docuseries “Quarterback.”

key match

Chiefs offensive line and Raiders defensive front. Pro Football Focus ranks Kansas City’s offensive line as the NFL’s third-best, noting that it had a particularly strong run-blocking performance in Sunday’s win over the 49ers. The Raiders had a number of problems on their line – DT Christian Wilkins was on injured reserve and DE Malcolm Koonce was out for the season. This puts extra pressure on Crosby, LB Robert Spillane and others to pick up the slack.

Key injuries

Chiefs WR JuJu Smith-Schuster (hamstring) and DE Mike Danna (pectoral) will not play. Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers (ankle) is questionable after missing the last two games, but coach Antonio Pierce said he believes he will play. G Dylan Parham (foot) will sit out for the second straight game. LB Tommy Eichenberg (quadriceps) and TE Harrison Bryant (elbow) are questionable.

Series notes

The Raiders became the latest team to beat the Chiefs, who have since won 12 consecutive games, including the Super Bowl. Until that Christmas Day game, Kansas City had defeated the Raiders six straight times; In 11 of 12 matches and 16 of 18 matches. … The Chiefs lost 4-0 to the Raiders in Las Vegas.

Statistics and other things

Kansas City is 8-2 in its last 10 regular season road games against the Raiders. The Chiefs beat 49ers QB Brock Purdy three times last week; This was the first game with that many interceptions since Oct. 5, 2020 against New England.

Chiefs WR Mecole Hardman had 110 all-purpose yards against San Francisco, including two carries for 38 yards and a touchdown. Mahomes has 225 TD passes. He needs 13 more points to pass Len Dawson for the Chiefs franchise record.

Chiefs TE Travis Kelce needs a TD catch to pass Jason Witten (74) for fifth in the final. Tony Gonzalez needs to catch three TDs to break the franchise record.

Chiefs C Creed Humphrey has started 57 consecutive games since entering the league in 2021. Jones is tied for fourth in Chiefs history with Justin Houston with 78 1/2 sacks.

Raiders TE Brock Bowers was targeted on 30.3% of his routes, per NFL Next Gen Stats; that’s the most for a rookie tight end through seven weeks since 2018. Bowers also leads all tight ends in receptions (47) and yards (47). 477), first downs (23) and yards after the catch (251).

CB Jakorian Bennett is allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete just 40.6% of their passes while he is the primary defender. That’s the fifth-lowest rate through seven games since Next Gen Stats started tracking the statistic in 2016.

Opponents are converting 28.9% of third downs against Las Vegas, the second-lowest rate in the NFL. This is also the Raiders’ lowest percentage through the first seven games since 2001, when the club held opponents to 25% of the time. Crosby has 98 tackles for loss. JJ Watt (133), Aaron Donald (117) and DeMarcus Ware (101) were the only players ranked in the top 100 in their first six seasons.

fantasy tip

Chiefs defense. Kansas City is playing at a high level, allowing just 17.2 points per game, and the Chiefs face a Raiders offense that was seen in the teens during a three-game losing streak.

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