Pats Pulpit Picks: What are the best bets and picks for Thursday Night’s AFC West clash?

To open up Week 2 we have a clash of AFC West rivals as the Los Angeles Chargers (+4) will travel to Arrowhead to take on the Kansas City Chiefs (-4).

Justin Herbert and the Chargers will be on the road as they face an uphill battle against a Chiefs team that looked unstoppable in Week 1. This should be a shootout as a clash of two phenomenal offenses will be on display.

However, Herbert will be without his favorite target Keenan Allen as he nurses a hamstring issue. This means that players like Joshua Palmer, DeAndre Carter and Gerald Everett will have to step up in his absence. Mike Williams and Austin Ekeler will need to be the stars they can be to hang with the Chiefs offense.

Kansas City is coming off a dominant performance against the Arizona Cardinals. Patrick Mahomes threw five touchdown passes and looked great despite not having Tyreek Hill. The offense adjusted as we saw the likes of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mecole Hardman and Clyde Edwards-Helaire step up. All-Pro Travis Kelce also showed up in a big way and will cause major issues for this Chargers defense.

The Chiefs have the slight edge here as they are at home and the Chargers are without Allen. Do not be surprised if the Los Angeles defense pressures Mahomes a lot and forces a few turnovers to make it a game. Either way this game figures to be high scoring with a two high octane offense going at each other.

The oddsmakers at DraftKings Sportsbook have the Chiefs winning this one as they are 4-point favorites. Let’s take a look at the Pats Pulpit staff’s picks for the game:

Player Props of the Night

Travis Kelce anytime TD scorer (-150): Kelce scoring a touchdown in a game that should be high scoring seems like a lock. The game also should be relatively close meaning he should play the entire game unlike when he was able to rest last week against the Cardinals in the fourth quarter. He is Mahomes go to guy, and he will definitely have some red zone targets that should lead to scoring opportunities.

Joshua Palmer Over 46.5 Receiving Yards (-130): With Allen out Palmer immediately slides into the wide receiver two role for Los Angeles. He should see a healthy workload and has always stepped up when Allen is forced to miss time. Kansas City will look to take away Mike Williams in the passing game which should open up the field for Palmer. In a game that projects to be very high scoring, look for the wide out to eclipse 46.5 receiving yards easily.