Heading into Week 10, the Raiders find themselves as underdogs at home against the Kansas City Chiefs. That isn’t a big surprise as they have been home dogs in the last several meetings against the Chiefs.
But this year feels different as the Chiefs are just 5-4 on the season and have just the No. 15 ranked scoring offense in the NFL. They actually have a negative point differential (-6) and it’s clear they aren’t playing like a Super Bowl team.
In a recent article by ESPN, the site gave their predictions for Week 10. Surprisingly enough, their writers believe the Raiders will pull off the upset and defeat the Chiefs. Here is a snippet of their thoughts on the upcoming AFC West showdown:
“I’m a bit surprised Las Vegas is an underdog here despite an ugly loss against the Giants. Kansas City probably needs a prolific offense to knock off the Raiders, yet it’s coming off a grind-it-out win over Green Bay when it averaged 3.8 yards per play. The Raiders, who have scored at least 30 points in four games this season, played inspired football in both of last season’s matchups with Kansas City.”
The Raiders did defeat the Chiefs once last year and it could have easily done it twice. They held a late fourth-quarter lead over the Chiefs before Patrick Mahomes drove his team down for the game-winning touchdown.
For the Raiders to win this game, they are going to need to make Mahomes uncomfortable in the pocket. Luckily, they might have the best pass-rush tandem in the NFL in Maxx Crosby and Yannick Ngakoue.
Look for this matchup to be a close one in Week 10 with the winner in prime position to win the AFC West.
