Chiefs vs. Raiders: Preview, score prediction for Week 7

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Oakland Raiders

Thursday Night Football offers one of the best matchups of the season as the Oakland Raiders will host AFC West division rival Kansas City Chiefs in primetime to start Week 7.

This game will be Oakland’s last in a three-game home stretch, which they have the lost the previous two home games as part of the four-game losing streak. The Raiders desperately need a division win as they have already lost AFC West rival Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers. If the Raiders lose this game they will find themselves 0-3 within the division and have a 2-5 record.

The Chiefs are looking to bounce back after suffering their first loss of the season last week, a 19-13 loss at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kansas City was averaging nearly 33 points a game before only scoring 13 against the Steelers on Sunday. The good news for the Chiefs is that they have found a ton of success in this rivalry recently. KC has won seven of the last eight matchups in this series dating back to 2013, including the last five straight.

Keys to Victory

Oakland needs to do a lot to get back on track this season, but nothing seems more important than fixing whatever is ailing their offensive line. The Raiders offensive line was considered one of the best units in the NFL last season and no one expected any change this season. However, six weeks into the season they have struggled in both pass and run blocking situations.

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Quarterback Derek Carr has been sacked nine times over the five games he has played this season. To compare, Carr was only sacked 16 times in 15 games in 2016. The Raiders have also gone from averaging 120.1 rushing yards per game (ranked sixth in the league) in 2016 to averaging 93.7 yards (24th) this season. Obviously, not all of Oakland’s problems fall on this offensive line. However, an improvement in blocking could help this offense start to click.

The Chiefs need to find the reason the lacked the explosive plays that have defined their offense last week. The Chiefs traditionally conservative offense exploded onto the scene on the opening night of the NFL season scoring 42 points on the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.

Even with the lack of offensive success last week, the Chiefs are still entering Week 7 ranked second in both yards gained per game (387) and points scored per game (29.5). If the Chiefs fix was ever was causing them so many problems last week, they should be able to score fairly easily on an Oakland defense that has some serious holes.

Betting Odds

Point Spread: Kansas City -3
Moneyline: Kansas City -160, Oakland +140
Over/Under: 47

All betting odds provided by BookMaker via the Sportsbook Review

Next: NFL 2017: 20 Bold predictions for Week 7

Prediction

While division games are rarely easily won on the road, it certainly seems that a lot is pointing in the right direction for Kansas City. The Chiefs have looked like one of the best teams in the league for every week of the season except for last week, while the Raiders seem to be spiraling after losing their fourth consecutive game. I expect Kansas City to enter this game angry after last week’s performance and dominate the game.

Final Score: Kansas City Chiefs: 34, Oakland Raiders: 24