The Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders will butt heads on Sunday afternoon in an AFC West showdown. The Chiefs are 3-3, but are currently the betting favorites to win the Super Bowl after defeating the Detroit Lions last week. The Raiders are very much not a Super Bowl contender, but they’ll do everything in their power to try and upset their division rivals.

Despite the talent disparity, divisional games tend to be close, so hopefully we’re treated to an entertaining game. Here are some key storylines, players to watch, and bold predictions for Sunday’s showdown.

Key Storylines

What will Rashee Rice’s role look like?

If you’re like me and you’ve been stashing Rashee Rice on your fantasy bench in every single league (or you’re a Chiefs fan), you’ve anxiously been awaiting his return. After seeing what he and Patrick Mahomes did last year, connecting on 24 passes for 288 yards and a touchdown in three games, it’s scary to think about what the Chiefs offense will look like with him back on the field.

All we’ve been hearing this week is that Rice should get a heavy workload in his season debut. He’s coming off a torn ACL, but has been healthy and training while waiting for his suspension to end. He’s pretty much 100 percent, so there should be no limitations.

How much better will the Chiefs look with Rice out wide? That’s the big question I’m hoping to find an answer to this weekend, because I doubt this game will produce much else in the way of storylines.

Can Ashton Jeanty stay hot?

Ashton Jeanty was one of the hottest names in the draft this season, but after going to Vegas and running behind a bad offensive line, we haven’t heard much from him. However, he’s actually been playing pretty well recently.

Over his last three games, Jeanty has rushed for 93.3 yards per game (4.8 yards per carry) and two touchdowns while catching seven passes for 70 yards and two more scores. The question is, can he do it again?

The Chiefs’ defense has been pretty good this season, but if there’s one area they’ve struggled, it’s defending the run. They allow 119.2 yards per game and 4.7 yards per carry. They’ve been in a lot of shootouts, which has kept teams from running it against them too often, but if the Raiders want to win, they need to lean on the run.

Which Chiefs WR gets the demotion with Rice back?

The Chiefs seem to have a problem they haven’t had in quite a while: they have too many receivers. With Rice out, Tyquan Thornton, Hollywood Brown, Juju Smith-Schuster, and Xavier Worthy have all stepped up and shown they deserve to start. But, with Rice back, it’s unlikely we see all five of them on the field to start the game, so who gets the demotion?

Worthy should be safe because of his speed, so it’ll likely come down to Thornton, Smith-Schuster, and Brown. Though he has just 13 catches this year, Thornton has been a big-play threat for the Chiefs, averaging 20.9 yards per catch. Brown has been the opposite, averaging 10 per catch on 30 receptions. Smith-Schuster kind of plays that same role as Brown, so in my eyes, it comes down to those two.

All four of those guys will continue to play, there’s no doubt about it, but it will be interesting to see who gets fewer snaps this week.

Players to Watch

Chris Jones (DT, Kansas City Chiefs)

Over the course of his career, Chris Jones has been a very good run defender. He’s always praised for his pass-rush abilities from the interior of the defensive line, but he’s always been underrated against the run. Not this year, though. He’s been one of the worst run defenders on the team, and if they want to slow down Jeanty, that’ll have to change this weekend.

Per PFF, Jones ranks 22nd in run defense grade among 24 players on the team who have played at least one snap this season. That absolutely needs to change this week, because Jeanty is on a heater, and his going off is about the only thing that could give KC life.

Michael Mayer (TE, Las Vegas Raiders)

It appears that Brock Bowers will miss this weekend’s game, opening the door for Michael Mayer to have another big outing for the Raiders on Sunday.

Last time out, Mayer caught five of his seven targets for 50 yards and a touchdown. He was easily one of the Raiders’ best players offensively, and if Bowers doesn’t suit up, he could be in for another big day in the pass game. Outside of Jakobi Meyers, I’m not scared of anyone else in the Raiders’ receiving core, so expect to see a lot of Mayer this weekend. He could end up wrecking this game.

Trent McDuffie (CB, Kansas City Chiefs)

Trent McDuffie is one of the best young cornerbacks in football. Just last week, he allowed just four catches for 32 yards while guarding one of the best receivers in the league – Amon-Ra St. Brown – for most of the night. This season, he’s allowed a 60 percent completion percentage and 151 yards while picking off a pass and breaking up four more.

This week, he gets to face one of the most turnover-prone quarterbacks in the league in Geno Smith. The Raiders’ QB1 has thrown 10 interceptions this year. He just doesn’t look comfortable in the offense, so if McDuffie can bait him into a mistake or two, KC should run away with this game.

Bold Predictions

Ashton Jeanty sets career-high in rushing yards

For many of the reasons I listed above, I think Jeanty could be in for a career day. The Chiefs’ defense has really struggled to defend the run this year, and Jeanty is finally finding his stride in the NFL. If the Raiders want to win this game, they’re going to have to hand it off to Jeanty a lot. Right now, his career-high is 138 yards, but he could break that on Sunday.

The only thing that could derail this (and likely will) is if the Chiefs go up big. The Raiders will have to throw the ball 30+ times to try and claw back into it, and it could cause Jeanty to get 10-15 carries instead of 20+. If LV can keep it close, though, look for Jeanty to pop a few big runs.

Rashee Rice comes back hot with a 150-yard game

Mahomes and Rice’s connection has been on full display throughout Rice’s career, but they haven’t had extended time together pretty much ever. With Rice finally coming back this week and the Chiefs expected to give him a heavy workload, I think he could go off for 150+ yards.

This is a great opportunity for the Chiefs to give some of their receivers some rest. They still have to play, obviously, but by throwing it Rice’s way a bunch, they’ll be able to take fewer hits and hopefully heal up some of their bruises from early in the season. Also, I just think Rice is one of the best receivers in the league when healthy, and this Raiders defense hasn’t shown it can consistently get stops.

Chiefs win by 17+

The NFL is as unpredictable as ever this year. Anyone can beat anyone on any given Sunday, and yet, I think the Chiefs win this game by 20+.

The Chiefs’ offense is just too good for the Raiders’ defense. With Rice coming back, I expect them to have a big game through the air, and if they can go up 10 or 14-0 early, it’ll take all the life out of the Raiders’ sails.

As much as I like Jeanty and Meyer, I just don’t see Geno Smith doing enough to keep up with the Chiefs’ offense. Actually, I don’t see him doing enough to score more than 14 or 17 points, and I can see the Chiefs easily putting up 30+.