Raiders @ Chiefs Week 16 Game Preview
Jonathan Fuller breaks down the Week 16 matchup between the Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs from a fantasy football and betting perspective.
Las Vegas Raiders @ Kansas City Chiefs
The Christmas Day slate of games will start off with an AFC West showdown featuring two teams with very different mindsets coming into this game.
One of these teams scored 63 points last week, and the other has lost two of their last three games. The irony is the team that scored 63 is 6-8 and fired their coach earlier this season while the team that has lost two of their last three are the defending Super Bowl champs. Funny how football works sometimes.
The Raiders look like a completely new team since Antonio Pierce took over as Head Coach, ranking second in EPA per play on defense during that time. They will pose a tough test to a Chiefs offense that hasn’t been firing on all cylinders this season.
Even though the Chiefs managed to win last week in New England, the game was closer than Kansas City would have liked, and Las Vegas would be thrilled to play spoiler and push the Chiefs further down the playoff standings.
There is some good news for KC as Isiah Pacheco is expected to return from his shoulder injury and will slot back in as the primary rusher. They also now have a clear WR1 as Rashee Rice has ascended to a full-time player over the last four weeks and has rewarded that decision with great production.
The rookie WR has seen nearly a 30% target share and finished as a top-10 fantasy WR in three of his last four games. He should be locked into fantasy lineups and checks in as the WR14 in the Fantasy Life consensus ranks this week. Travis Kelce is, of course, one of the top TE options despite his relatively modest production recently.
The Raiders are also expected to get their top RB back after Zamir White filled in admirably in last week's blowout win. Jacobs has averaged nearly 22 opportunities per game since McDaniels was fired and should return to a similar workload as the Raiders try to keep Patrick Mahomes off the field.
Davante Adams delivered a big game last week and has had double-digit targets in four of his last five games. He also spoke highly of his rookie QB after the game and fantasy managers have to hope the Raiders offense has some magic left for a tough matchup on the road in Kansas City.
The Chiefs rank in the top half of the league against every position this season and are giving up just 17.5 points per game, the third lowest in the NFL. They haven’t been quite as strong in recent weeks, but they are still the better unit when Las Vegas has the ball. This is backed up by the fact that the Raiders are tied with the Panthers for the third-lowest team total of the week.
The defensive play of both teams means this isn’t a game to get fancy with the secondary pieces, start the studs and let them carry you into fantasy championships next week.