We have a thrilling Sunday Night Football to look forward to this week as the Kansas City Chiefs face another of the pretenders to their AFC crown, the Baltimore Ravens.
Last week the Chiefs came from behind to knock off an impressive Cleveland Browns team and now head out on the road in search of a fifth straight win over the Ravens.
Baltimore endured a miserable preseason as they lost a raft of players to injuries and things didn’t improve when the real action started as they slipped to an overtime loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. Beating the Chiefs at home is just the spark the Ravens’ season needs at this point but knocking off Kansas City is easier said than done.
This is the marquee game of the Week 2 slate and just to add to all the excitement, we have put together a four-leg same-game parlay that pays at odds of +1644 with FanDuel Sportsbook.
Kansas City Chiefs -3.5 (-110)
Baltimore Ravens under 24.5 points (-116)
Patrick Mahomes over 318.5 passing yards (-113)
Lamar Jackson over 67.5 rushing yards (-113)
Parlay odds: +1644
Kansas City Chiefs -3.5 (-110)
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson described Kansas City as Baltimore’s kryptonite after their Week 3 34-20 defeat to the Chiefs last season, a phrase that does little to inspire confidence in the home team’s chances.
Jackson is 0-3 in his career against the Chiefs and found the going very tough in their most recent encounter as he managed just 97 passing yards. Jackson will need to do significantly better than that if Baltimore is to have any chance in this game given they can’t rely on their defense to be lights out.
The Ravens are missing their best corner in Marcus Peters and really struggled to pressurize Raiders QB Derek Carr in Week 1. The Chiefs arguably bested a better defense when putting 33 points on the Cleveland Browns and haven’t had any issues slicing through Baltimore in the past.
Kansas City has put up at least 30 points in the pair’s last two meetings, helping them improve to 4-1 ATS when facing the Ravens. Take the Chiefs to cover what looks a minimal spread.
Be sure to check out our full game preview for Kansas City Chiefs vs Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore Ravens under 24.5 points (-116)
The Ravens put up 27 points against the Raiders on Monday but there were some worrying signs in that performance on offense. The O-line was the biggest concern as they gave up a 54.5% pressure rate, part of the reason why they went scoreless with 5 of their opening 8 drives. They’ve now lost starting left guard Tyre Phillips to injury, further weakening the line.
Jackson has had issues passing against the Chiefs, potentially negating the impact Sammy Watkins, Mark Andrews, and Marquise Brown have on the game and piling more pressure on the ground attack.
Two of their last 4 meetings with the Chiefs have ended with Baltimore failing to put up more than 20 points, while a fit-again Tyrann Mathieu boosts Kansas City’s defense to the point where they can keep a lid on the Ravens.
Patrick Mahomes over 318.5 passing yards
No one loves September more than Patrick Mahomes, who is now 11-0 across his career in the opening month of the season with 35 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. The 2018 MVP averages over 330 passing yards per game in September and the only thing that appears to be able to limit his output is how much Andy Reid wants his team to run the ball.
The Chiefs have shown a desire to establish more of a ground game in some road matches but it is still worth backing Mahomes to go over 318.5 passing yards having put up 385, 363 and 347 yards in his 3 starts against Baltimore.
Lamar Jackson over 67.5 rushing yards
Without wanting to hammer the point too much, Jackson doesn’t like playing the Chiefs. Two of his 3 games against them have seen him throw for fewer than 150 yards and he looks to be heading into this game with minimal pass protection.
Jackson spent a lot of time escaping the pocket against the Raiders as he ended up with 82 rushing yards on 12 carries. Expect to see something similar against the Chiefs, who get Frank Clark back to pair with the excellent Chris Jones.
Kansas City has issues stopping the run and Jackson put up more than 80 yards with his legs in last season’s encounter. That could be where he gets the most joy on a potentially difficult night.
We have NFL same game parlays for EVERY GAME of Week 2! Check out the rest of them here
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