First Half Play For Titans Vs. Chiefs

Titans vs. Chiefs, 8:20 ET

There are exactly three teams in the NFL that I think have a legitimate shot at winning the Super Bowl as of today: the Bills, the Eagles, and the Chiefs. The rest of the teams in the league need to either improve or get really hot in order to take one of these three down. The Titans are fine, but they aren't Super Bowl contenders. The Chiefs are, but that doesn't mean they can't be beaten.

The Titans are a team I've talked about for years now on this site. My favorite thing to mention is they play half a game. Imagine how good they could be if they put together a full game of football. They are 5-2 right now and are on a five-game winning streak. Somehow this 5-2 team has allowed more points per game on average than they've scored. The biggest question mark in this game is to see if Ryan Tannehill plays for the Titans at quarterback or not. He did practice, but was limited. If the mobility isn't there, I could see the Titans turning to rookie quarterback Malik Willis. He wasn't great in the start against the Texans, but he wasn't asked to do much either. He only had 10 attempts for 55 yards and one interception. He didn't have much success with his legs either, but the team won the game. In fairness, the Texans allow a ton of rushing yards so handing off to Derrick Henry 32 times was the right strategy.

The Chiefs are coming off of their Bye week and get back-to-back home games. They've played the Titans a few times in the past couple of years and are clearly the better team. Patrick Mahomes will probably carve up this Titans defense. He has spread the ball around his playmakers fairly well - though Travis Kelce is getting the lion's share as he deserves. And, despite the frustration of fantasy owners, they are making a good effort to revolve their running backs. The Titans defense is likely to hold the Chiefs down for a bit, but once they start scoring, expect Kansas City to not stop scoring unless they just don't care.

12.5 is a lot of points to expect the Chiefs to cover. It isn't because they can't cover it, but I don't expect them to dominate this game from the start. You never know which half the Titans will play in and if it is the first half, that means the Chiefs probably cover. But, if it is the second half, I think that the Chiefs cover. Instead, I think we get an over in the first half with over 23 points. I'd love it if Tannehill is starting, but I like it even with Willis under center.

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