As the Kansas City Chiefs prepare for Monday Night Football, the Oakland Raiders are a heavy favorite to win on Sunday. That means that by Sunday night, the Raiders could be tied atop the AFC West with the Chiefs. Even though Kansas City owns the tiebreaker, nobody would have ever guessed these two teams could be tied in the standings this late in the season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standing in front of the Raiders is a Cincinnati Bengals team that\u2019s winless and has hardly been competitive. As long as the Raiders don\u2019t come out sloppy, they should cruise here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Raiders are winning more games but that doesn\u2019t mean they are blowing teams away. Their margins of victory in their wins this season have been by eight, seven, three, seven, and two points. Also, those wins have come over the Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, and Los Angeles Chargers. It\u2019s been a good year for Oakland but it\u2019s not as if their five wins have come against the best teams in the league. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bengals, meanwhile, have often been competitive. They lost by one point on the road to the 8-2 Seattle Seahawks, limited the Los Angeles Rams to just 24 points, were tied with the Arizona Cardinals late in regulation before losing on a last-play field goal, lost by just six points at the Baltimore Ravens a month ago, and by only 10 to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The doors were blown off last week in a 49-13 drubbing but this team has mostly kept it close. They\u2019re a bad team but they aren\u2019t getting crushed every week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They should also get a boost with the return of A.J. Green, who has yet to play a game this season. It\u2019s not going to hurt getting a Pro Bowl-caliber receiver out there \u2013 especially against the league\u2019s third-worst pass defense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even though the Raiders have not yet scored a decisive win this season \u2013 all their wins have been close \u2013 they can change that against the Bengals. The Cincinnati offensive line took a hit before the season even started, with Jonah Williams \u2013 the team\u2019s first-round draft pick \u2013 getting hurt. That\u2019s proved to be just one of many issues along the line as they\u2019ve been flat-out terrible. They\u2019re getting no push in the ground game and they\u2019re giving up 3.4 sacks per game \u2013 the fifth-worst mark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the Raiders, the formula should be quite easy here: just pound the rock and run to a win. The Bengals allow just over 170 rushing yards per game \u2013 by far the most in the NFL. The Raiders have a stud in rookie running back Josh Jacobs and with Oakland\u2019s road-grading offensive line, they should be able to get to 150+ yards easily. If that\u2019s the case, Oakland shouldn\u2019t have to sweat too much in this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The LaMarcus Joyner injury for the Raiders and the return of Green for the Bengals might help Cincinnati score in the 20-point range. If that\u2019s the case, and Oakland\u2019s offense contributes 30+ as I\u2019m expecting, this game will get over the number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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