The Kansas City Chiefs were on the wrong end of a game-winning field goal in overtime this weekend. After defeating the Buffalo Bills last week on a field goal in overtime, the Chiefs saw the Oakland Raiders’ Sebastian Janikowski kick a 33-yard field goal to win the game, 23-20. Janikowski had earlier tied the game with only seconds remaining in the fourth quarter on a 41-yard field goal.
The running game for both teams never picked up steam, though the Raiders’ Darren McFadden came close to 100 rushing yards with 89 in the game. It was Raiders wide receiver Jacoby Ford who had the big game, grabbing six passes for 148 yards. He also returned a kick for 94 yards and a touchdown. He had a 158 total kick return yards.
The Chiefs have the advantage in the loss column by one game with a 5-3 record.
In other AFC West action, the San Diego Chargers defeated the Houston Texans, 29-23, by scoring a touchdown and making a successful two-point conversion in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Philip Rivers threw for 295 yards and four touchdown. Wide receiver Seyi Ajirotutu and tight end Randy McMichael each caught two of Rivers’ four touchdown passes.
Texans running back Arian Foster rushed for 127 yards and two scores, but the team could only put up nine more points on three field goals by Neil Rackers.
Next week, the Kansas City Chiefs visit the Denver Broncos at Mile High, and the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers have the week off. Here are the current AFC West standings:
The Broncos are off this week but the rest of the AFC West is in action with Kansas City and Oakland facing off against each other.
San Diego Chargers @ Houston Texans - Chargers -3 The Chargers enter week nine off of a strong win over the Tennessee Titans. San Diego, who has started the season 0-4 on the road, heads to Houston to take on a Texans team that got smoked in Indianapolis, 30-17. This line started at a pick 'em, but has moved all the way up to 3 (a HUGE swing in NFL terms), even though the public money isn't too badly skewed towards the Chargers. The Houston defense has really struggled of late and Phillip Rivers is piling up the yards and points with the San Diego offense. Vegas loves San Diego and so should you, take San Diego as long as it doesn't go over 3.
Kansas City Chiefs @ Oakland Raiders - Raiders -2 The odds-makers have learned to respect the Oakland Raiders very quickly off of surprisingly dominant victories in the two previous weeks. While the Broncos and Seahawks aren't exactly top shelf competition, outscoring any team 93-17 over two games is pretty incredible, especially for a team that has been offensively inept as long has Oakland has. Kansas City is currently 5-2, but their only road victory of the season was a 16-14 "slug fest" against the Browns. This could be one of the most entertaining games of the day and it could go either way. If you must play it, I would take the Raiders giving the points, but I am going to recommend that you lay off of this one.
The former Charger exploded on to the NFL scene in 2005 and had three strong seasons through 2007. However, Merriman then missed all but one game of the 2008 season after undergoing reconstructive knee surgery. He returned in 2009 to play 14 games, but recorded only four sacks (he had 39.5 sacks from 2005-2007). He played in three games this season for the Chargers before being placed on injured reserve. Against the Broncos, Merriman had three career sacks.
Merriman is also a high-profile case of testing positive for steroids in 2006. Was his early production in the NFL do to illegal substances? Let’s see what happens in Buffalo.
The AFC West-leading Kansas City Chiefs travel to Oakland for a game at 4:15 p.m. ET against the Raiders. The Chiefs have the top running game in the league, averaging 190.4 yards per game. The Raiders' rushing defense is ranked 26th, allowing 127.4 yards per game. However, the Chiefs have the worst passing offense in the league, while the Raiders have the fourth best. The Chiefs will need to grind the ball to beat the Raiders.
The San Diego Chargers visit the Houston Texans this weekend. The Texans are third in the AFC South with a 4-3 record. Philip Rivers leads the top-ranked passing offense in the league against the worst passing defense in the league.
