Jaleel McLaughlin, RJ Harvey's backup, averaged 7.4 yards per carry against the Jaguars last week. He's favored to get six carries against K.C. on Christmas night. With the Broncos likely to be leading -- and possibly by multiple scores -- look for McLaughlin to get enough carries to gain 25-plus yards. I would play this up to 25.5.

Broncos wideout Pat Bryant (concussion) is out, setting up Troy Franklin for more opportunities. The Chiefs just put corners Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson on IR. Franklin excelled in the first meeting with Kansas City, catching four passes for 84 yards. Look for Franklin to rack up 40-plus receiving yards for the fifth time in the past seven games.

The way this season has gone for the Chiefs, it's no surprise KC is down to 3rd QB Chris Oladukon, whose previous NFL experience has mostly come in preseason. Yet even Patrick Mahomes has had trouble moving the ball vs. the layers on Vance Joseph's defense the past three seasons, and after the Chiefs couldn't score a TD last week at Tennessee, hard to see them doing much more vs. the high-ranked Broncos stop unit. We're not quite as bullish on a Denver blowout, as the Broncos have been involved in one-score games vs. lowly foes like the Titans, Jets, Giants, and Raiders, but in an expected slow-paced game, Bo Nix won't be asked to tap the accelerator too hard. Play Broncos-Chiefs Under

No one is giving the Chiefs much of a chance in this game, and if the Broncos are going to have any chance of covering the spread, Harvey is going to need to get in the end zone. He's been the team's lead back for the last five weeks, receiving 11+ touches in every game in that stretch after hitting double digits just once to that point. He's also been a TD machine, scoring in his last four games after watching Jaleel McLaughlin snipe the only score in his first start during this stretch. The Chiefs defense has surrendered five TDs to RBs in the last four games and got run all over last week after getting eliminated. Harvey should score early here.

FanDuel. In the absence of JK Dobbins, RJ Harvey had earned his way to the lion’s share of running back work with 17 and 19 carries in weeks 14 and 15, respectively. However, he only recorded seven carries last week in a largely trailing gamescript. I’m not expecting that on. Christmas, with the Chiefs turning to their third string quarterback on a short week. I’m expecting the Broncos defense to keep Kansas City’s offense off the field, similar to what the lowly Titans did last week (70 offensive plays for Tennessee compared to 43 for the Chiefs). Harvey should garner the bulk of the work in what I’m expecting to be a positive gamescript for Denver. I have him projected closer to 16 attempts.

RJ Harvey continues to function as the lead RB for a Denver team that has been very balanced. He saw only 7 carries last week against Jacksonville, however the Broncos only ran the ball with their RBs 12x in a game where were trailing wire to wire by signing margin. In the four previous games Harvey was averaging approximately 15 rushing attempts which I think is a realistic expectation in a game where Denver is heavily favored.

The Chiefs were unable to sustain drives at Tennessee, going 1 for 9 on third down. That ended up limiting K.C. to 43 offensive plays. I'm expecting something similar Thursday night against the highly-motivated Broncos. Chris Oladokun performed admirably against the Titans, going 11 of 16 for 111 yards in just under three quarters. Even in what will almost certainly be a trailing game script, don't expect Andy Reid to go pass-happy against a Denver team leading the NFL with 63 sacks. I would play this down to 28.5.