Kansas City Chiefs vs. Tennessee Titans Matchup Preview (10/24/21): Betting Odds, Depth Charts, Live Stream (Watch Online)

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Tennessee Titans Matchup Preview (10/24/21)

I’d be lying to you if I said I expected the Titans to have a better record than the Chiefs at this point in the season, but here we are. Nobody expected Tennessee to hang with Buffalo on Monday night with the way their defense has underperformed all season. Still, the Titans figured some things out on both sides of the ball and should be taken seriously as a top team in the AFC now that they are healthier. The Chiefs, meanwhile, have some more figuring out to do, and the fact that they were losing at halftime against a Taylor Heinecke-led Washington team should be eye-opening. For the second straight week, the Titans host a top team in the AFC with a chance to prove they belong as one of the best teams in the AFC.

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Tennessee Titans Betting Odds

Betting Trends

• Chiefs are 2-4 ATS this season, Titans are 4-2 ATS this season
• Chiefs are 13-2 SU in their last 15 road games
• Titans are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games
• The over is 5-1 in the last 6 games where the Chiefs play in Tennessee
• The over is 4-2 in Chiefs’ and Titans’ games this season

My Pick

Neither of these defenses has proven to be consistent enough to slow down the other team’s elite offense, and the over looks to be the best play in this matchup, even though it’s one of the highest totals of the week. Derrick Henry is torching the NFL this season, and the Chiefs arguably have the worst run defense in the league, so I’m backing the Titans to cover at home in a high-scoring affair.

My predictions: Chiefs win 38-35, Titans cover, over 56.5 points

TV Schedule

Date: Sunday, October 24
Time: 1:00 PM ET
Location: Nissan Stadium – Nashville, TN
TV Coverage: CBS

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Tennessee Titans Live Stream

Where can you watch Chiefs vs. Titans online? You can stream this game, and many other NFL games live online with Hulu. Hulu has a 7 Day free trial and is cheaper than cable options at $5.99/month. Watch Chiefs vs. Titans Free Online Now.

Injuries

Kansas City Chiefs: DE Chris Jones (wrist) Q, CB Charvarius Ward (quadriceps) Q, LB Anthony Hitchens (elbow) Q, OT Lucas Niang (hamstring) Q, TE Blake Bell (back) Q, TE Jody Fortson (Achilles) Q, OG Kyle Long (knee) PUP, RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire (knee – MCL) IR
Tennessee Titans: WR Julio Jones (hamstring) Q, OT Taylor Lewan (head) Q, RB Jeremy McNichols (ankle) Q, CB Caleb Farley (knee – ACL) O, P Brett Kern (undisclosed) COVID-19 IR, CB Kristian Fulton (hamstring) IR, LB Jayon Brown (knee) IR, RB Darrynton Evans (knee) IR

Kansas City Chiefs Analysis

Patrick Mahomes is still the most talented quarterback in the NFL, but he hasn’t been on top of his game this season. He leads the league with 18 passing touchdowns, but he has also thrown eight interceptions. To be fair to Mahomes, he is registering a career-high 69% completion rate, but the interceptions are a bit out of control. Tennessee’s defense made some big plays on Monday to come up with the win and picked off Josh Allen for just the third time all season, but they still rank as the sixth-worst pass defense in DVOA per Football Outsiders. Mahomes should be able to move the ball up and down the field with ease in this game.

This season, the Chiefs’ new-look offensive line has performed admirably, particularly while starting two rookies in center Creed Humphery and guard Trey Smith. Lucas Niang, a sophomore who opted out of the 2020 season and is essentially a rookie, had been starting as well but is injured now, and Mike Remmers has been doing a good job holding down the fort for Niang in the meantime. Harold Landry III had two sacks on Monday, but he’ll have a tough time generating the same pass rush against left tackle Orlando Brown. Kansas City ranks 10th in the NFL in run blocking and 7th in pass-blocking per Football Outsiders.

Tyreek Hill is having an excellent season and is tied with Davante Adams and Cooper Kupp with league-leading 46 receptions. Hill has turned those receptions into 592 yards and five touchdowns – that’s a monstrous 17-game pace of 129 receptions for 1,676 yards and 14 touchdowns. Travis Kelce isn’t far behind with 38 receptions for 468 yards and four touchdowns. Mecole Hardman emerged in recent weeks with over 60 receiving yards in each of his past two games and a touchdown last week against Washington. All three receivers could have massive games against Tennessee.

The Chiefs are arguably the worst defense in the NFL and rank 31st in the league in defensive DVOA per Football Outsiders. Without Chris Jones, Kansas City has struggled to put together any semblance of a consistent pass rush, and they have just seven sacks this year, the fewest in the NFL. That lack of pass rush has put their secondary in a tough spot all year. The run defense hasn’t been much better as the Chiefs are allowing 5.2 yards per carry, the third-most in the NFL. That bodes poorly against Derrick Henry, the best running back in the NFL.

Kansas City Chiefs Depth Chart

QB: Patrick Mahomes
RB1: Darrel Williams
RB2: Jerick McKinnon
WR1: Tyreek Hill
WR2: Mecole Hardman
WR3: Demarcus Robinson
TE1: Travis Kelce
TE2: Blake Bell

Tennessee Titas Analysis

Ryan Tannehill’s performance against the Bills was impressive as Buffalo still ranks as the best defense in DVOA in the NFL. Tannehill’s final stats weren’t outstanding, but he helped the team go 4-10 on third down and 1-1 on fourth down to march to 34 points. This week, he gets an infinitely easier matchup against the Chiefs, and with a healthy offense surrounding him, Tennessee should have a big offensive performance. Tannehill has struggled to produce at his expected level with just a 63.4% completion rate, the 25th-best in the NFL, and just six touchdowns to four interceptions. However, this game provides an excellent get-right for him.

Derrick Henry, of course, is the straw that stirs the drink for Tennessee, and it’s hard to quantify how much better he is than any other running back in the NFL. Henry has 783 rushing yards, and only two other players have more than 500 yards. Henry has ten rushing touchdowns, and no other player has more than five. Henry is the definition of a workhorse with 162 carries so far and is pacing towards 459 carries for 2,218 yards and 27 touchdowns. Will he get to those numbers? Probably not, but the Titans’ offense revolves around him, and he should be talked about in the MVP conversation.

The Titans have one of the best receiver tandems in the NFL on paper with A.J. Brown and Julio Jones, but neither player has been healthy this season. Brown got off the schneid on Monday with seven catches for 91 yards, and he draws an excellent matchup against Kansas City this week. Jones left the game on Monday with further hamstring issues and his status for this week is very much up in the air. The Titans don’t have great depth outside of those two wide receivers, so their ability to perform at their best this week is crucial to the Titans’ ability to pull off an upset.

Tennessee’s defense made a few big plays on Monday to help the team win, and that’s enough in this era of the NFL. Outside of a few defenses, there aren’t any teams who can consistently win on the back of elite defensive play, and the Bills on Monday showed they aren’t even entirely in that group. The Titans have one of the best safeties in the NFL in Kevin Byard, and Amani Hooker had a tremendous game on Monday, while Harold Landry bagged two sacks and David Long had 14 tackles. I’m not calling the Titans’ defense remarkable by any stretch, but it’s not the horrifying unit it was made out to be before the start of the season.

Tennessee Titans Depth Chart

QB: Ryan Tannehill
RB1: Derrick Henry
RB2: Darrynton Evans
WR1: A.J. Brown
WR2: Julio Jones
WR3: Josh Reynolds
TE1: Anthony Firkser
TE2: Geoff Swaim

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Tennessee Titans Daily Fantasy Picks

This game has one of the highest over-under totals of the week, and that makes it a game to target for DFS lineups. This week, Patrick Mahomes will see massive ownership again, but it’s hard not to trust him against the Titans, who allow the seventh-most fantasy points to QBs. Tennessee also allows the second-most fantasy points to wide receivers, making Tyreek Hill the target for a stack this week. Hill played the Titans twice in 2019 and scored three touchdowns across those two games. On the other side of the field, I’ll have significant interest in Ryan Tannehill as the Chiefs are allowing the second-most fantasy points to quarterbacks, and you can stack him with either A.J. Brown or Julio Jones, depending on their availability this week. Derrick Henry, of course, will be the highest-priced running back in DFS again this week, but it’s hard to go wrong with him as the Chiefs have one of the worst run defenses in the NFL.