NFL Thursday Night Football Preview & Free Pick- Week 2

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Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs

Pointspread: Kansas City -3

Total Line: 42

The Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs meet this Thursday night in a key early season battle in the AFC West. Kickoff from Arrowhead Stadium is set for 8:25 p.m. (ET) on both CBS and the NFL Network and 5Dimes has opened the Chiefs as three-point home favorites with the betting odds on the total set at 42.

Denver opened its 2015 regular season as a 4.5-point favorite at home against Baltimore and it needed a strong defensive effort to preserve a 19-13 win. The total in this game stayed well UNDER the closing 46-point line. The Broncos finished the 2014 regular season as the second-highest scoring team in the NFL with an average of 30.1 points per game, but the only player to find the end zone in this one was safety Aqib Talib, who returned an interception for a score.

Peyton Manning had a long day under center throwing the ball with 175 yards on 24 completions. He was intercepted one and sacked four times on the day. His completion rate on 40 passing attempts was just 60 percent. Denver also had major trouble moving the ball on the ground against the Ravens with a total of 69 rushing yards.

The Chiefs got a quick start out of the gate with a 27-20 victory against Houston as one-point favorites on the road. The total in this contest went OVER the closing line of 40.5. Kansas City was able to capitalize on a few early turnovers to build a 27-9 lead at the half, but its offense also failed to find the end zone over the last two quarters of this game.

Alex Smith did have a hot hand early throwing the ball early for Kansas City and he ended the game completing 22-of-33 attempts for 243 yards and three scoring strikes. Running back Jamaal Charles also had a long day running the ball with just 57 yards on 16 carries. The Chiefs ended the day with a total of 97 yards on the ground.

Denver comes into this AFC West showdown with a straight-up record of 5-0 in the last five meetings and it is 5-1 against the spread in its last six road games in this series. The total has stayed UNDER in four of the last five meetings in Kansas City.

While it is obvious that the past betting trends in this matchup favor the UNDER, the play of Denver’s offense last Sunday tip the scales in this direction as well. Stick with the UNDER 42 on Thursday night as the top play in this one.