Kansas City Chiefs at Baltimore Ravens Betting Preview
AFC powerhouses will square off for Sunday Night Football as the Kansas City Chiefs (1-0) take on the Baltimore Ravens (0-1). The Ravens will host this one at M&T Bank Stadium, with kickoff scheduled for 8:20 pm ET.
Despite being a little shell-shocked in their game last week, the Chiefs were ultimately able to prevail. At halftime, the Cleveland Browns led 22-10, but the Chiefs were able to hold Cleveland to just a single touchdown in the second half and win 33-29.
The Ravens basically had the opposite outcome last week. Despite leading 17-10 after three quarters, the Las Vegas Raiders were able to tie it up in the fourth and win the game 33-27 in overtime.
Kansas City is the favorite on Sunday night despite playing on the road. They are -188 to win while the Ravens’ moneyline sits at +158. The spread features Baltimore +3.5 (-110), and the over/under for total points is 54.5.
More Odds
Baltimore currently has the second-best odds of winning the AFC North at +165. They are +1800 to win Super Bowl LVI.
For the Chiefs, they are the favorites to win the AFC West (-250), the AFC (+230), and the Super Bowl (+500) this year.
By The Numbers
Kansas City has won four straight games against the Ravens, and they are 10-1 overall in their last 11 games away from Arrowhead Stadium. Despite their overall success, they are just 1-5 in their last six games against the spread.
Baltimore has been solid as of late. They have won six of their last eight and are 7-2 against the spread in their last nine. In the month of September, the Ravens are 12-6 in their last 18 games.
Chiefs’ Passing Attack Looks To Keep Rolling
Last season, the Kansas City Chiefs led the NFL in passing yards per game (301.9) and led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes; they hope to do it again.
If Week 1 is any indication, that might just happen. In the opening win over the Browns, Mahomes threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns (with no interceptions). He also rushed for 18 yards and another score.
Aside from his production, though, the ground game was relatively quiet. Clyde Edwards-Helaire had 43 yards on 14 carries, but all combined, the Chiefs still rushed for just 73 yards.
It was no surprise that Mahomes’ two favorite targets, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce, were again the focal points last week. Hill had 11 receptions for 197 yards and a touchdown. Kelce had six receptions for 76 yards and two scores.
Ravens Trying To Bounce Back After Last Week’s Upset
In what is a very competitive AFC North, the Ravens know they can’t let games slip away. That is exactly what they did against the Raiders last week.
The biggest problem for Baltimore was a passing defense that allowed 435 passing yards to the Raiders. With Patrick Mahomes now coming to town, the Ravens need to fix that in a hurry.
Under center for Baltimore is star quarterback Lamar Jackson. In the opener, Jackson threw for 235 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for 86 yards on 12 carries.
Even with J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards out for the year with leg injuries, the Ravens were able to establish a running game in their opener. Aside from Jackson’s performance, they still received solid outputs from Ty’Son Williams (nine rushes, 65 yards, one touchdown) and Latavius Murray (10 rushes, 28 yards, one touchdown).
Take Kansas City To Win And Cover
It is just hard to ignore how badly Baltimore struggled with the pass defense last week. In fact, they had the worst passing defense in the entire NFL last week as they were the only team to allow over 400 yards.
Expect Patrick Mahomes to have a field day with the Ravens’ defense on Sunday.
Take Kansas City to not only win but to cover the modest 3.5-point spread as well.
