Kansas City Chiefs vs San Diego Chargers 11-01-2012 Preview

Thursday Night Football, Week #9 Thursday, November 1st TV: NFL Network 8:20 EST

Kansas City Chiefs at San Diego Chargers -7.5 OvUn 42.5

Two AFC West teams headline Thursday Night Football to kickoff Week 9 of the NFL season. Both teams are reeling. The Chargers host the 1-6 Chiefs while mired in a three game losing streak of their own.

The Chiefs have looked like the NFL’s worst team this season. Falling again last week at Oakland 26-16, Kansas City has fallen to 1-6 on the year. The Chiefs lead the NFL in turnovers, with 25 and have the league’s lowest passer rating at 64.4. It looks as if Matt Cassel will start for the injured, Brady Quinn – who was just promoted to starter two weeks ago over the aforementioned Cassel.

If the Chiefs want to have any chance of beating the Chargers, they will need to get Jamal Charles back to the torried pace he had through the first five games. Charles lead the NFL with a 110 yards per game average in the Chiefs’ first five games, but ran for just 44 yards on 17 carries in the last two games.

The Chargers were turning the ball over way too much through the first half of the season, and decided to scale back their offense last week. This new found offensive game plan likely cost them a win in Cleveland last week, as they managed just 265 yards against the hapless Browns losing 7-6. Rivers threw for a season low 150 yards in the loss.
The Chargers may abandon their rolled back offense this week, but still need to get running back Ryan Mathews going. He gained 95 yards against the Browns last week, but has yet to rush for 100 yards and has just one touchdown on the year.

The Line

The line opened at Chargers -9.5 and has moved to -7.5 at mostly all books. The total has moved down from an opening of 44 to 42.5 or 42.

The Play

Both of these teams are playing some horrible football, but the Chiefs might be playing the worst football in the NFL right now. Saddled with a QB the fan base doesn’t want in Cassel, a coach on the hot seat in Romeo Crennel and their star wide out, Dwayne Bowe requesting a trade – everything has gone wrong in KC this year.

Underdogs have been undefeated on Thursday Night Football this year, but we like that trend to end this Thursday. Norv Turner may be playing for his job as well, and the Chargers should open this one up more. The Chiefs, until last week had not scored an offensive touchdown in 34 offensive possessions, and with the Chargers great defensive front, we don’t see them reaching the end zone more than once this week.

In spite of the line already moving, we still like the Chargers at -7.5