The Kansas City Chiefs finish Week 5 of the NFL season against the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday Night Football, but most fans are already looking ahead to their matchup against the Buffalo Bills in Week 6.
The Chiefs sit as 1.5-point home underdogs for that game against the Bills on Sunday, according to DraftKings.
It is the marquee matchup on a Week 6 slate that features some other intriguing storylines, including the Dallas Cowboys visiting the Philadelphia Eagles in a battle for first place in the NFC East.
The Eagles are 5.5-point favorites for Sunday Night Football after hanging on to win 20-17 at the Arizona Cardinals in Week 5. Philadelphia remained undefeated when Arizona’s Matt Ammendola missed a potential tying 43-yard field goal with 17 seconds left.
Dallas won its fourth in a row with Cooper Rush at quarterback, 22-10 at the struggling Los Angeles Rams. It was reported earlier in the day that injured Dak Prescott (thumb) is unlikely to return for this next game.
The Cowboys have not allowed 20 points in any game this season, and the Eagles had not scored fewer than 24 until Sunday.
“It’s incredible to watch,” Rush said of the Dallas defense to The Associated Press. “They’re able to do a lot because of how they communicate, how smart they are, all three levels. We get to see that in practice every day itself, so to get to see that on game day, what we deal with, it’s very fun.”
The Chiefs and Bills have played each other in the regular season and in the playoffs the past two seasons, with Kansas City winning three of the four.
Buffalo’s win came last October, 38-20 at Kansas City, before the Chiefs exacted revenge 42-36 in overtime in the AFC Divisional Round, one of the classic playoff games in NFL history.
The Bills obliterated the Pittsburgh Steelers 38-3 at home Sunday and have outscored their opponents 152-61 this season.
“We came into this with the killer instinct, attitude, the mindset of domination,” Buffalo pass rusher Von Miller told the AP. “And I feel like that mindset really separates good teams from other good teams.”
Other intriguing Week 6 games include the New York Jets at Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers at Atlanta Falcons.
The Jets, after defeating the Miami Dolphins 40-17, have won two in a row for the first time since December 2020. It was their first win against an AFC East opponent since 2019 and they haven’t been 3-2 since 2017.
The Packers are a 7.5-point favorite despite having to travel home from London following a 27-22 loss to the New York Giants when they allowed 17 straight second-half points and failed to score on three plays from inside the 9-yard line late in the fourth quarter. They were a 9-point favorite against the Giants.
“I ain’t worried, but if we lose next week, then I’ll be worried,” Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander said to ESPN.
Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers reacted to Alexander’s postgame comment.
“Frankly, I don’t like all this conversation about losing next week,” Rodgers said. “I’m a firm believer in the power of words and manifestation. And we’ve got to check ourselves on that, because talking about that is not winning football. There was conversation about it in the locker room, and I don’t like it. Ja’s my guy, but we don’t need to be talking like that.”
San Francisco defeated the Carolina Panthers 37-15 on Sunday, its third win in four games with Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback. Atlanta lost a chance to upset the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a third win in a row with a late roughing the passer call in a 21-15 loss.
The Falcons’ three losses are by a total of 11 points.
The Rams, who have lost two in a row and are 1-2 at home, are 9-point home favorites against the Carolina Panthers, who have lost four of five.
“This is some adversity that we’re facing right now,” Los Angeles head coach Sean McVay told the AP. “You find out a lot about people when you do go through that. It’s not good enough right now. I’ll never pretend that it is.”
In prime time, the Washington Commanders visit the Chicago Bears on Thursday night in a pick ’em game, and the Denver Broncos, with QB Russell Wilson nursing a lat injury that required a PRP injection, are 6.5-point road underdogs at the Los Angeles Chargers.
NFL.com reported Wilson is receiving “round-the-clock treatment from his personal medical team.”
#Broncos QB Russell Wilson flew to L.A. on Friday for an injection he hopes will relieve discomfort near his throwing shoulder – an injury similar to the one that sidelined Dak Prescott in camp last year, sources tell me and @RapSheet. https://t.co/mdKlkruciH
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 8, 2022
