AFC West

[RiverDog]

I thought I'd try shaking up things a little bit and start a conversation involving other teams from around the league, hopefully hitting all 8 divisions in the next 7 weeks prior to the start of the playoffs, finishing off with our own. Where better of a place to start than our old home, the AFC West:

This is arguably the best balanced division from top to bottom in the league. Three teams have 4 losses and the fifth has 5 losses.

The Kansas City Chiefs started the season on a really bad foot, with defensive problems and sub par QB play. They seem to have turned things around having won their last 3 in a row, including a rout on the road against their division rival Raiders.

The Raiders have been the exact opposite. They won their first three and have now lost two in a row. Rex Grossman....er, I mean Derrick Carr...looked horrible against the Chiefs, blindly heaving passes when under pressure.

The Chargers are much like the Raiders, starting out the season by winning 4 out of their first 5 and now losing 3 out of their last 4 games. Justin Hebert is having a season much like Carr has with the Raiders, piling up a lot of total yards but with a rating that places him in the middle of the pack.

The Broncos have been the beneficiary of a weak schedule. Their 4 of their 5 wins have come against the Giants, Jags, Jets, and WFT. However, that 5th win was a huge blowout rout of the then conference leading Cowboys on their home turf but last week seemed to return to form by losing to the lowly Eagles, another sub .500 team.

Remaining schedules:

Chiefs: Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, at LA Chargers, Pittsburgh, at Cincinnati, at Denver.

Raiders: Cincinnati, at Dallas, Washington, at Kansas City, at Cleveland, Denver, at Indianapolis, LA Chargers.

Chargers: Pittsburgh, at Denver, at Cincinnati, NY Giants, Kansas City, at Houston, Denver, at Las Vegas.

Broncos: LA Chargers, at Kansas City, Detroit, Cincinnati, at Las Vegas, at LA Chargers, Kansas City.

[Hawktawk]

I like these kind of posts and I’ve done them myself . Love my Hawks but I love the game . Played it and watched and studied it for 45 years . The AFC west has reverted to form . Mahoney got his head out of his nether region . Their D woke up. Book them to the divisional round minimum . Vegas has had too many catastrophes. Herbert is a victim of expectations and early success . Denver is hard to figure out . The win over Dallas was totally legit . And quietly Jalen Hurts has amassed the best total QBR in the league last 3 weeks at over 75 . So that loss isn’t as unexpected as one might think . I’ll expand on your thoughts to look around the league . There is no clear cut favorite in the NFC , really in the entire league . The Bills are a huge question mark . Tampa and Tom Brady look ordinary . Dallas got beat down last week then blew it out last Sunday . The Rams look like absolute posers . Stafford looks like he is who we thought he was with no playoff wins in Detroit . Erratic . I applauded their signing of OBJ saying it would sink them . It took exactly 3 plays for him to quit on a route . Az has injury issues with the qb and star receiver but IMO they and Dallas are still the most solid along with a team we could not score on despite great field position and a great defensive effort . But RD it’s why I’m still not giving up and never do till we are mathematically eliminated . Nobody is solid enough to run the table and the bad teams like the giants , skins, eagles , Saints , Vikes , us are good enough to beat anyone on a given day . So let’s see . It’s pretty frustrating to see as wide open a field as I can remember and we’re 3-6 but about 3 kicks and 3 sacks from at least 6-3 . Weird year

[RiverDog]

I like these kind of posts and I’ve done them myself . Love my Hawks but I love the game . Played it and watched and studied it for 45 years . The AFC west has reverted to form . Mahoney got his head out of his nether region . Their D woke up. Book them to the divisional round minimum . Vegas has had too many catastrophes. Herbert is a victim of expectations and early success . Denver is hard to figure out . The win over Dallas was totally legit.

Like you, I'm a life long football fan. I can remember watching Jim Brown and Paul Hornung with my old man on Sundays back in the late 50's-early 60's. I've seen every single Super Bowl, from Bart Starr and the Packers vs. Lenny Dawson and the Chiefs to Brady and the Bucs vs. Mahomes and the Chiefs on live TV. When I was in grade school, we used to play tackle football after school in the fall and my mother used to get so mad at me because I'd come home in my school clothes muddy from head to toe. She'd make me strip on the back porch. I played organized football from junior high through my freshman year in college.

I tend to agree with your comments, although I don't know what to attribute Mahomes early failures to launch to. The Chief's weakness has always been on defense. But they seem to have gotten it figured out. They host the Cowboys this weekend, so we'll see if their blowout win vs. the Raiders was the turning point or just a flash in the pan.

The Raiders have had two huge distractions, the firing of their head coach and one of their starting receivers killing a lady via a horrible drunk driving accident. I never have been a Derek Carr fan, and even though he's having the best statistical season of his career, last Sunday night exemplified why I don't think he's ready for Prime Time. I think that they'll be lucky to make the playoffs.

I haven't seen too much of the Chargers this season, but they've lost 3 of their last 4 and seem to be trending in the wrong direction. We'll get a better look at them this week as they play the Steelers on SNF.

If I haven't seen much of the Chargers, I've seen even less of the Broncos. Like everyone else, I had written them off as fodder for the Chiefs and Raiders then lo and behold, they not only beat the Cowboys, they b**** slapped them in Jerruah's World.

[obiken]

River where we differ I am a fan of DC. If the Browns could get a DC, with all their weapons, they would be home. I think Dallas murders Mahomey this weekend, but my Crystal ball this year is broken. You cannot lose a Von Miller and Ruggs and just be okay. Moreover, except for Ruggs the Drafting at LV has be just horrible. Broncos need a running game and a good qb. I think the Chief make to the playoff but will be one and done, depending on who they face. The NFC is way better than the AFC. SD has the Franchise QB, great left tackle to protect him, and they will only get better. They just have to get used to being the Clippers of the NFL.

[Hawktawk]

KC Dallas is game of the week . And I have no idea . Dallas came off a humiliating beating and exploded last weekend . Mahomes followed up scoring 13 vs a team we didn’t score on to looking like the superstar we know . The first 3 years as a starter are so similar to our guy it’s eerie . First year went to Conference championship. Second year champs , third year lost Super Bowl . So we will see. I attribute mahomes early struggles to off field distractions like his bimbo girlfriend . As for DC I don’t know . He’s got all the throws . He’s pretty durable . I feel he has the ability to lead a good offense but he’s not going to win it all himself . I think he’s a good person , not a diva. With the season he’s had losing his # 1 forever in a horrific way I think he’s handled it well . Not gonna pass judgement . I don’t think Denver’s gonna get far without a legit Qb. teddy bear is pedestrian defined in the dictionary and literally refused to at least fall down and attempt to tackle the defender after throwing a pick last week. Denver’s where it’s been since Manning retired. Needing a qb. Chargers and Herbert looked flashy as he leaped to the front of the next big star conversation along with Josh Allen early in the season . Ever since that chatter on the Sunday shows they have fallen to earth . Honestly this Dallas KC game is as likely a SB preview as any .

[RiverDog]

Obi, you're not the only one with a broken crystal ball. You think that a favorite has emerged and bam, they lose...and not just lose, they get waxed. It's been a very unpredictable season to this point.

I agree that Dallas/KC is the game of the week. I think it's basically a toss up. ESPN's matchup predictor has the Cowboys at 50.3%, the Chiefs at 49.3%, and a .4% chance of a tie, and that sounds about right. In situations like these, I tend to default to the home team. KC has a heck of a home field advantage and the Chiefs have won 3 in a row, so I'm going with them.

I agree with Hawktalk about Denver and their major weakness of not having a top flight QB, but we can't count them out. As many warts as Teddy has, he's still an experienced QB that has played a lot of football. The Chargers are also an enigma. Is Hebert the latest Oregon Duck QB flop (a little dig at Obi) or is he the real deal? We'll have to wait until next week to see those two as they both have byes. Ironically, they play each other in their next game on the 28th.

I finally splurged and got NFL Red Zone, and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. The Hawks suck so bad that I don't feel obligated to watch every snap yet I still want to keep tabs on them. The Red Zone is the perfect solution.

[Hawktawk]

Lol gotta watch someone score a TD right?

[RiverDog]

Lol gotta watch someone score a TD right?

Yeah, no kidding!

Have you ever tried watching the Red Zone? Back in September when my daughter, son-in-law, and my two nephews were visiting, they talked me into subscribing, and I'm really glad that I did. A lot of my friends don't like it because it's too busy. It's kinda like watching a soccer game as there are no commercial interruptions and the color commentary we normally hear between snaps is pretty limited. There's usually 8 or 9 games in the 10am slot so they don't all hit halftime at the same time. They usually have just 3 games in the afternoon but since the kickoffs are staggered..1:05, 1:15, and 1:25, they don't normally go to half or end at the same time. It's not made for a coffee or beer drinker as if you leave to go to the bathroom, you'll invariably miss something.

Since I'm an active participant in both the Pick-um and Fantasy Football, I have a keen interest in the outcome of the games so Sundays usually finds me in front of the TV with my tablet on my lap so I can monitor everything simultaneously. It's really made the game a lot more entertaining for me.

[Hawktawk]

I’ve watched it . I prefer Sunday ticket so I can flip around if the game I’m seeing is a blowout . Football is cool in general .

[RiverDog]

I’ve watched it . I prefer Sunday ticket so I can flip around if the game I’m seeing is a blowout . Football is cool in general .

For me, I have two problems with Sunday Ticket: It requires you to work the remote and you have to deal with commercials. Since I'm usually on my tablet and multi tasking, switching my attention back and forth between football and whatever it is I'm browsing on the tablet, usually box scores, stats, my fantasy team, et al. so having to use the TV remote complicates things for me. Not so with the Red Zone. They do the channel surfing for me.

[Hawktawk]

Different strokes for different folks . I’m a play by play guy . I watch all the tds after the games . We didn’t do Sunday ticket this year although the pro rate is enticing for the remainder of the season . My thing is half the time one or the other local affiliates doesn’t show a morning game so you have 1 option at 10 AM. If it’s a snoozer oh well. This year with all the weird results there’s been a lot of non competitive games it seems .

[c_hawkbob]

If I'm not watching a Seahawks game (I watch every snap) I'm watching Redzone. Did while I had Sunday Ticket too, now that I can stream untelivised seahawks games I see no need to spend the extra duckets.

[Hawktawk]

Nobody is better than the patriots . I know it’s happened quietly but they could go all the way from what I see

[RiverDog]

Nobody is better than the patriots . I know it’s happened quietly but they could go all the way from what I see

The Falcons just got clubbed by the Cowboys 43-3. They've now scored just 3 points in 8 quarters of football. It was not an unexpected result. Everyone in our Pick-um league had them, some piling on the confidence points. The Patriots still haven't played the division leading Bills yet.

In this whacky season, I'm not confident of any team getting HFA. The Cowboys and Packers are the only teams in the league with more than a one game lead in their division.

[Hawktawk]

But the Atlanta team was 4-5 , entered the Dallas game after having beaten tampa bay . It’s a strange year to try to figure much out . But I’ll back up what I said . Nobody in the conference looks better . KC? Wildly erratic . Bills ? They scored 6 points on a Jacksonville team you watched Geno dissect for 24 points a week earlier . Baltimore has been a popcorn fart . Indy is quietly gaining steam and of course there’s the Titans. They are where they are due to having the best of the younger coaches . Reich with Indy is also a good one . But the GOAT has reloaded with an all time record in spending in FA. The defense is borderline filthy . The qb is mature beyond his years . Cocky too, brash . Got accused of injuring a pass rusher don’t see that too often . Pretty sure their 5 game win streak is the longest in the league so far and they went to the wire with Tampa in a squeaker loss so they could easily be 8-3 . Too legit to quit . If I’m Buffalo I’m sweating .

[RiverDog]

But the Atlanta team was 4-5 , entered the Dallas game after having beaten tampa bay . It’s a strange year to try to figure much out . But I’ll back up what I said . Nobody in the conference looks better . KC? Wildly erratic . Bills ? They scored 6 points on a Jacksonville team you watched Geno dissect for 24 points a week earlier . Baltimore has been a popcorn fart . Indy is quietly gaining steam and of course there’s the Titans. They are where they are due to having the best of the younger coaches . Reich with Indy is also a good one . But the GOAT has reloaded with an all time record in spending in FA. The defense is borderline filthy . The qb is mature beyond his years . Cocky too, brash . Got accused of injuring a pass rusher don’t see that too often . Pretty sure their 5 game win streak is the longest in the league so far and they went to the wire with Tampa in a squeaker loss so they could easily be 8-3 . Too legit to quit . If I’m Buffalo I’m sweating .

The Pats do look tough. Matt Jones seems to be getting better with each game, they have a decent rushing attack, and their defense has been playing lights out, allowing just one touchdown and 13 points in their last 3 games. But if you take a look at their schedule, their wins have come at the expense of the Jets times 2, the Texans, Chargers, Browns, Panthers, and now the Falcons. Of those teams, only the Chargers have a winning record. That changes next week when they host the Titans, so I'm waiting until after that game before I, using the words of the immortal Dennis Green, "crown their ass."

[Hawktawk]

I agree . If it’s a competitive game it really isn’t a knock on either team but it could well determine HFA in the end . Titans have a hard road without Henry although there’s a slim chance he could get back in the postseason around divisional time . Right now Tannehill is being asked to do more than he will be able to sustain without a reliable running game . But again it’s such an odd year that one of the Titans 2 losses is to the Jets and their pure rookie qb. Really hard to draw any conclusions based on common opponents . Just the eyeball test the Pats tells me it’s a very balanced solid obviously expertly coached team . Should they continue to streak and host the playoffs at foxborough they could be in LA at seasons end .

[RiverDog]

I agree . If it’s a competitive game it really isn’t a knock on either team but it could well determine HFA in the end . Titans have a hard road without Henry although there’s a slim chance he could get back in the postseason around divisional time . Right now Tannehill is being asked to do more than he will be able to sustain without a reliable running game . But again it’s such an odd year that one of the Titans 2 losses is to the Jets and their pure rookie qb. Really hard to draw any conclusions based on common opponents . Just the eyeball test the Pats tells me it’s a very balanced solid obviously expertly coached team . Should they continue to streak and host the playoffs at foxborough they could be in LA at seasons end .

I've always said that I don't like trying to figure out playoff scenarios until after the Thanksgiving weekend games. This season it might be mid December before a clear favorite emerges. I actually like the Chiefs in the AFC. It's as if they were finally able to get the campfire to light last Sunday night after two months of wet weather. I'll try to multi task, stream the Hawks game on my tablet while watching the Red Zone on the tube so I can keep an eye on Cowboys-Chiefs. Bills-Colts will be another game to keep an eye on, and I have a funny feeling that we might see the Vikings upset the Packers. They finally got over the hump of losing close games. They've lost 5 games by a total of 18 points, or less than 4 points per game, definitely the tough luck team of the year.

[RiverDog]

Another whacky weekend.

The two top seeds in each conference both lost to sub .500 teams. Although the Vikings are a better team than their record would indicate, there's no such excuse for the Titans, who lost to a team whose only win was in their opener to the lowly Jags and had lost 8 in a row. Plus the Bills, a team a lot of people were picking for the Super Bowl, got absolutely shellacked by the suddenly relevant Colts.

Now just watch the Giants beat the Bucs by 4 touchdowns.