Betting Picks

Week 4: Redskins at Chiefs MNF NFL Betting Preview and Pick

There are of course 32 active franchises in the NFL. A total of 30 of them have won a game at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, including the Chiefs. The only two that haven’t are the Arizona Cardinals and the Washington Redskins.

While the Cardinals will have to wait for 2018 for their chance, the Redskins can finally break through at one of the NFL’s toughest venues to play in the Monday night Week 4 game. However, the Chiefs are 7-point favorites on the consensus odds.

Washington and Kansas City have met just nine times overall, and the Chiefs are 8-1 and 4-0 at home. The two teams haven’t played at Arrowhead since 2005, so that has little bearing on the current teams. They last played at the Redskins’ FedExField in Week 14 of the 2013 season and Kansas City won 45-10. That was part of a season-ending eight-game losing streak for Washington that saw coach Mike Shanahan fired and replaced by current coach Jay Gruden.

Two rookies are likely to play a key role for Kansas City. The first would be the early NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year favorite in third-rounder Kareem Hunt. How many teams are kicking themselves for passing on the former Toledo star multiple times in the 2017 draft? He went No. 86 overall. Washington badly needed a running back but decided to take UCLA cornerback Fabian Moreau at No. 81.

Hunt leads the NFL with 401 yards rushing and six total touchdowns (four rushing, two receiving). He has at least one touchdown of 50 yards in each game; no player had done that previously in the first three games of his NFL career.

Hunt is reason No. 1 why the Chiefs are the AFC’s only 3-0 team, although Alex Smith is off to a great start in leading the NFL in completion percentage (77.4) and rating (132.7). Both those numbers would be records over a full season.

The other rookie would be kicker Harrison Butker, signed this week off the Panthers’ practice squad because Cairo Santos was placed on injured reserve. Santos had been 3-for-3 on field goals and 12-for-12 on PATs. His career field goal percentage of 84.8 is the best in Chiefs history. Butker was 2-for-2 on field goals this preseason and 4-for-4 on PATs.

It’s the second straight primetime game vs. an AFC West foe for Washington (2-1) as it was a 3-point home underdog last Sunday night against Oakland but shut down what had been the NFL’s highest-scoring offense in a 27-10 victory.

The Raiders were held to 128 yards and seven first downs while turning it over three times. It was one of the shocking results of Week 3. Redskins running back Rob Kelley and tight end Jordan Reed both missed the game; their status for Monday night remains unclear.

Washington is just 1-6 against the spread in its past seven Monday games. The Skins are 1-9 SU and 3-7 ATS in their past 10 games as a 7-point road dog, and Kansas City has covered six of its past eight against teams with a winning record. The smart play here is to back Kansas City.