Las Vegas Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs Matchup Preview (12/12/21): Betting Odds, Depth Charts, Live Stream (Watch Online)

Las Vegas Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs Matchup Preview (12/12/21)

Derek Carr and the Las Vegas Raiders are heading to Arrowhead Stadium this weekend for an AFC West matchup against Patrick Mahomes and the 8-4 Kansas City Chiefs. The Raiders are coming off a loss to the Washington Football Team where a game-winning field goal by WFT handed them their fourth loss in their last five games, one of which was a blow out loss against the Chiefs, 14-41. They now sit at 6-6 and every game they lose, takes them farther from the playoff picture. Against a Chiefs team that’s on a five-game winning streak, this doesn’t make it easy for the Raiders to get to a winning record. The Chiefs have found ways to win recently despite having a slow start to the season and now sit in first place in the AFC West. If they keep their streak alive, they will almost surely take the AFC West title for the sixth year in a row. The Raiders showed moments of greatness in their huge win against Dallas two weeks ago and that team could definitely beat the Chiefs, but we have only seen that team a couple of times, as they have really rode the rollercoaster of highs and lows this season. It’ll be interesting to see what Raiders team shows up on Sunday.

Las Vegas Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs Betting Odds

Both teams have covered a whopping 42% of the time this year. This speaks to the inconsistency we saw from the Chiefs early in the season and the inconsistency we have seen recently from the Raiders. Despite losing four of their last five games, the Raiders are surprisingly good at covering on the road, and are 3-1 against the spread this season as the away underdog, which they are again this week. The Chiefs are favored by 9.5 points which is no surprise given the different streaks that these two teams are on currently, but the Chiefs have covered a mere 28.6% of the time as the home favorite. The total for this game is set at 49 points – the Raiders are .500 on the over/under and the Chiefs are 5-7 on hitting the over, but with two huge passing threats like Mahomes and Carr, I foresee this being a high scoring game. The Raiders have faced a lot of adversity this season and have shown moments of good football that often gets overlooked in their struggles, but I think the Chiefs will put more points on the board. 

My prediction: Chiefs win 31-27, Raiders cover, over 49

TV Schedule

Date: 12/12/21
Time: 1:00 PM ET
Location: Arrowhead Stadium – Kansas City, MO
TV Coverage: CBS

Las Vegas Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs Live Stream

Where can you watch Raiders vs. Chiefs 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 Raiders vs. Chiefs Free Online Now.

Las Vegas Raiders Analysis

Last week’s loss to the Washington Football Team really puts the pressure on this team to get results these next few games which won’t be easy as they have the Browns, Broncos, Colts, and Chargers ahead of them. But, nothing is impossible, as we’ve seen all year (i.e. Jaguars vs. Bills, Lions vs. Vikings). 

They played down a key player last week against Washington – tight end Darren Waller which undoubtedly would have been helpful to them. Still, Derek Carr completed 73.7% of his passes and threw for 249 yards. This strong completion percentage doesn’t mean much when you have an offensive line that is as bad as the Raiders’ is. Carr was sacked twice against Washington and has been sacked 27 times on the season in total. Offensively the Raiders obviously like the ball in the air and their recent acquisition of DeSean Jackson has offered them another option to do that. He had a strong showing against Dallas but was quiet last week, though I think his comfort-level with Carr and the offense is growing. Hunter Renfrow has been their main target all year and had 102 yards over nine catches last week, but the last time he scored a touchdown was against the Chiefs in week 10. Carr and his receivers average 291.3 passing yards per game, meanwhile they sit in the bottom five of the league in rushing yards per game. 

The Raiders have a lot in the way of defensive threats. Denzel Perryman leads the team with 133 tackles, the third most by anyone this season along with Jonathan Abram in the secondary who has 97 tackles, which is the second most by any safety in the league. They have done a decent job at containing the passing game but allow 124.8 rushing yards per game, which gives Clyde Edwards-Helaire a good opportunity to perform. But the pass defense has to be better than “decent” if they want to contain Patrick Mahomes, who has led his team to five straight wins and to the top of the AFC West. This defense allows 26 points per game and is defending against a Chiefs team that scores 25.3 points per game. 

Over one-third of the Raiders points have come from kicker Daniel Carlson who has 104 points and is ranked second among points by kickers across the NFL. We saw last week in their game against Washington just how much a kicker can make or break the game, so they should consider themselves lucky to have consistency in that regard.

Las Vegas Raiders Depth Chart

QB: Derek Carr
RB1: Josh Jacobs
RB2: Kenyan Drake
WR1: Hunter Renfrow
WR2: DeSean Jackson
WR3: Bryan Edwards
TE1: Darren Waller
TE2: Foster Moreau

Kansas City Chiefs Analysis

The Chiefs seem to be back to their old selves. After starting off so rough that some people started to question if the reigning AFC West champions would even make the playoffs, they’ve turned a winning corner. They have won their last five games, two of which were against the Packers and the Cowboys. 

Mahomes had just 184 passing yards last week which is almost 100 yards less than the team’s passing average of 281.1 yards per game. He completed just over 50% of his passes and had his second consecutive game with zero touchdown passes. He has proven himself to be inconsistent this year and the only thing consistent about him is that he likes to throw the ball. Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill are still his favorite targets, and there’s no changing that. In week 10, Mahomes threw for five touchdowns against the Raiders, Kelce had a season-high 119 receiving yards, and Hill had two touchdowns. The Raiders definitely have their work cut out for them despite the inconsistencies on the Chiefs offense this year. 

The Chiefs’ defense has seen major improvements this season and looked incredible against Denver last week with three turnovers, three fourth-down stops, and a pick-six. Quite frankly this defense is the primary reason the Chiefs are doing as well as they are – quite a turnaround from the beginning of the season, when they were the crux of the problem. This defense, which allows 21.6 points per game will face off against the Raiders offense, which averages 22.8 points per game. They allow the seventh-most yards against them per game and struggle to defend the aerial ball, which isn’t ideal against Derek Carr’s arm.

Kansas City Chiefs Depth Chart

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

Las Vegas Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs Daily Fantasy Picks

Desean Jackson had a slow game last week – but the week before he really performed against a good Cowboys team and proved he can still play despite his age. He can run and catch the deep ball and his comfort level will continue to grow with this offense, so I think he will be a good pick for his coming games. 

If the Raiders are on their run defense like they have been, then it may force Mahomes to keep the ball on the ground. If they do that, it’ll be up to Clyde-Edwards Helaire to get the ball up the field for them. He had the stomach flu last week and wasn’t at the top of his game, but can be expected to do better this week if he’s healthy, against a weak run defense.