CHIEFS BEAT RAIDERS IN BATTLE OF NFL BOTTOM FEEDERS

It wasn’t that long ago when a battle between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders would have been a marquee matchup.  On Sunday, it was a battle between two woeful teams with a combined 3-13 record.  Someone had to win, however, and on this day the Chiefs prevailed by a 16-10 score.  Jamaal Charles scored on a 44 yard run—the team’s first rushing touchdown of the season—and Kansas City added three field goals from Ryan Succop to take the victory.  Both teams are now 2-7 on the NFL season.

The Chiefs have been showing progress throughout the season, at least as far as the NFL pointspread is concerned.  Since opening the year with four consecutive pointspread losses Kansas City has covered four of their last five games for a 4-5 ATS mark.  The Raiders are also 4-5 ATS on the year but have only covered two of their last seven games.  The 26 combined points went UNDER the posted total of 36’.  The Chiefs have gone UNDER in six of nine games this season while the Raiders have a NFL totals mark of 4-3-2.

Jamaal Charles moved into the starting lineup when the Chiefs cut loose troubled running back Larry Johnson and made the most of his opportunity.  After the game, he stressed that it’s important to him to not only play well personally but to help the team win:

"I feel like I'm getting the opportunity to play. I'm really trying to take over at the spot. I don't just want to take over, I want to win so it's not all about taking over the job, it's who can make plays."

Kansas City won at Oakland for the 7th straight time, and Dwayne Bowe talked about the rivalry:

"I guess we got a winning streak here. Every time we play a division team our goal is to win. But every time we play the Raiders, it's always a hated rivalry and coach stressed it all during the week: Hate the Raiders, we've got to beat the Raiders."

Raiders’ QB JaMarcus Russell was once again ineffective, and replaced midway through the game by Bruce Gradowski.  Gradowski played competently, but also threw an interception late that sealed the victory for Kansas City:

"It's tough to swallow. You know that kind of summed up today though. We had plays out there that we need to make."

The Chiefs will now host the defending Superbowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday, with Kansas City a +10 home underdog and the total set at 40.  They’ll play at San Diego the following week before returning home for another tough road game against the Denver Broncos.  The Raiders will host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, with Oakland installed as a +9’ home underdog and the total set at 36.  Two tough road games will follow, on Thanksgiving against the Dallas Cowboys followed by the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 6.