Kansas City Chiefs at Las Vegas Raiders Sunday Night Football Betting Preview

A division rivalry game will be the focus of this week’s Sunday Night Football, as the Kansas City Chiefs head to Sin City to take on the Las Vegas Raiders. Both teams have made it through the first half of the season with a winning record.

And with all four teams in the AFC West being above .500 through the first nine weeks of the season, a win in this game would give that team a huge lift in the race in one of the most competitive divisions in the NFL.

Kansas City Chiefs

Over the last two weeks, the Kansas City Chiefs have picked up two victories at home, but they were anything but convincing in the process. Two weeks ago, the Chiefs beat the New York Giants by a field goal on Monday Night Football before they beat the Green Bay Packers by six points last week.

With the Packers starting backup quarterback Jordan Love in last week’s game, that performance left a lot to be desired, as the Chiefs have been struggling on offense in particular.

Over their last two games, the Chiefs have scored a combined 33 points, for an average of 16.5 points per game. Given their reputation as a team with a high-flying offense, the recent slowdown of the Chiefs’ offense has been a major concern.

This week, against a Raiders team that is solid on both sides of the ball, anything less than a stellar performance from Patrick Mahomes and the offense could result in another setback.

Las Vegas Raiders

Last week, the Las Vegas Raiders had a two-game winning streak snapped on the road against the New York Giants. Las Vegas struggled to finish drives, having to settle for three field goals and throwing a pick-six in the losing effort.

This week, they will aim to take advantage of an inconsistent Kansas City defense as they will look to convert their red zone opportunities in a way they couldn’t a week ago.

The Las Vegas Raiders enter this game as a 2.5-point underdog at home, despite having a better record and point differential and being 3-1 at home on the season. When all is said and done, this game could come down to which quarterback has the better game.

And while Patrick Mahomes has had more success in terms of wins and losses than Derek Carr, Carr is having a strong season in his own right and shouldn’t be discounted here.

Keys to the Game

For the Kansas City Chiefs, the biggest key to this game will be their run defense. Kansas City is at the bottom of the league in yards per carry allowed this season, and their inability to stop running plays could result in them losing the time of possession battle and tiring out their defense.

If they can stop the run on early downs, the Chiefs can pin their ears back and send pressure at Derek Carr, but that is far from a given in this game.

On the Las Vegas side, the biggest key to this game will be how Derek Carr performs in a big game. There has been a track record of Carr turning the ball over and making mistakes at critical times in primetime games in the past. Whether or not that trend continues will go a long way in determining the outcome of this contest.