***TNF IN THE SWAMP - OAK @ KC***

***OAKLAND RAIDERS @ KANSAS CITY CHIEFS***

My oh my what a game we have tonight with an AFC wild wild West matchup taking center stage when the red hot Oakland Raiders take on their bitter rivals the Kansas City Chiefs at a frigid Arrowhead Stadium. This has got to be hands down the best Thursday Night Football matchup thus far and may even make up for all the crap ones we have had to endure up until this point. This game has as much hype around it as one could to kickoff what should be a very telling week 14 in the NFL. The Raiders are 5-0 on the road this season and sit amongst the top of the AFC West with a 10-2 record and KC is right behind them at 9-3 and will look to tie Oaktown for first place tonight with a big home win. I cannot remember the last time a game of such magnitude was held at night in Arrowhead in a Prime Time spot like this one, and I can't wait for it. In week 6, the Chiefs went into the Black Hole and served the Raiders up some humble pie when they beat them up and fed them their second loss of the season in convincing fashion. That game came in a spot where the Chiefs were off their bye week, a spot that Head Coach Andy Reid is historically stellar. That being said, the Chiefs had extra time to prepare for the Raiders and it showed. Weather conditions played a factor as well as the game was played in the rain where the style of play favored KC and they were ready to capitalize on it. Tonight, the weather looks like it may favor KC's style once again as Arrowhead is said to be frozen with temperatures as low as 20 degrees and feeling more like 11. In a game like this, a dink and dunk type of offense that concentrates on running the football is the way to go, hence Swampy backing KC here. The Raiders offense has been unstoppable at times and the young gunslinging QB Derek Carr has been playing out of his mind, I am a huge fan of this kid and what he's all about. With the weapons at his disposal in WRs Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree, they are a force who few can slow down as we have seen. They displayed this last week at home when down 24-9 against the Bills and surged back to score 29 unanswered points in the second half to win the game by two scores in an impressive fashion. However tonight in the brutal cold and up against the Chiefs defense that is trending upward with getting many key components back healthy, I think the Raiders offense will struggle big time. Oakland has not had to play in any remotely cold weather yet, and tonight could be a shock to their system as Arrowhead will be roaring and that defense will be foaming at the mouth, feeding off the crowd's energy. Safety Eric Berry has put this team on his back and has been an extremely inspiring for this defense to rally behind given everything he has been through and the comeback he has made. With playmakers like CB Marcus Peters, and now a full strength front led by Justin Houston, Tamba Hali, Derrick Johnson, Dee Ford and the emergence of the Rookie Chris Jones who has been a nice surprise, I like KC to dial up some blitzes and get to Carr tonight. Carr is still nursing the broken pinky and will most likely be in the shotgun throughout the game, and I know his offensive line is spectacular, but I just like this situation too much for the KC defense and believe they will prevail.

On the other side of the ball the Chiefs offense has gotten much better. With WR Jeremy Maclin out with an injury for a couple weeks, they have been forced to make some adjustments and incorporate the speedster duo of WR Tyreek Hill and De'Anthony Thomas into the offense. These guys are lightning quick, especially Hill and with all the misdirection and screen plays KC runs, I don't think the Raider defense will be able to keep up, especially in the freezing conditions. The Raider defense has been pretty poor most of the year but I have noticed them playing better and are starting to gel behind their bookend beast duo of LB Kahlil Mack and Bruce Irvin. Mack especially has been red hot as of late wreaking havoc on offenses every week, I believe he has now had a sack in the last seven games. They will be without their 2016 first round pick in Rookie Safety Karl Joseph which definitely hurts them and I will look for QB Alex Smith to exploit them down the middle with TE Travis Kelce who has really dominated in the KC passing game as well. Tonight KC returns WR Jeremy Maclin and I believe this will also help open up things for the KC offense as the Raiders will have to account for his presence. Too many pieces here for Oakland to prep for on the short week in my mind. KC has the type of offense where they play ball control and can keep Carr and the Raider offense off the field, limiting their possessions and also keeping them out of rhythm which will be hard to get into in general because of the weather. As I mentioned before, there hasn't been a game this big at Arrowhead in quite some time, and I like the Chiefs to explode with energy here and overwhelm Oakland in what should be a hard-nosed defensive battle as the AFC wild wild West only gets wilder! CHIEFS-3