Week 1 brought a quick reset in the AFC West, and the first rankings of the season already have a different feel. Kansas City looks like Kansas City again, Denver got shoved backward, the Chargers opened with an ugly surprise, and Las Vegas at least has some momentum to build on.
At the top, the Chiefs are back in familiar territory after a 31-10 win over Denver on Monday Night Football. That result did more than pad a scoreline.
Kansas City showed off a run game, a revamped defense, and an offense that looks more connected with the return of Eric Bieniemy. Patrick Mahomes no longer has to drag everything himself as he works his way back from injury, and that alone makes the Chiefs a much tougher problem for the rest of the division.
Kansas City suddenly looks scary again.
Denver, meanwhile, fell hard in the same game and lands second for now only because the rest of the division has its own issues. The Broncos were run out of the building by a Chiefs team that wasn’t even good last season, and the most troubling part was how badly they got bullied on the ground.
Bo Nix can’t be asked to carry an offense by himself, and this was not the kind of opening statement that suggested a team ready to build on last year’s deep playoff run. It’s still early, but that loss may say as much about Kansas City being back as it does about Denver falling short.
The Chargers sit third after a rough opening weekend that didn’t match the preseason optimism. Los Angeles was beaten soundly by Jacoby Brissett and the Arizona Cardinals, though a fourth-quarter meltdown made the final margin look worse than the game itself at times.
Even so, the bigger concern is the direction of the defense, which is starting to look like a unit built on a bunch of nobodies and two aging stars. Justin Herbert, too, is drawing an uncomfortable comparison that keeps getting harder to ignore: he looks more like Philip Rivers every year.
If the Chargers don’t clean things up fast, a loss to the Raiders this week could drop them to the bottom of the division.
That leaves Las Vegas at No. 4, but there’s at least some upward movement here. The Raiders opened with a much-needed win over the Miami Dolphins and, for the first time in a while, looked like a real NFL team with a clear identity.
The catch is that the Dolphins they beat were awful, so the win can only do so much in these rankings. Still, Las Vegas is headed in the right direction, and its next opponent gives it a chance to prove it belongs closer to the middle than the basement.
In Other News...
Raiders Depth Chart Says A Lot About Who This Team Is Becoming
The Raiders updated depth chart ahead of Week 2 offered a useful snapshot of where this roster stands after the opener, and it lined up with what Week 1 already hinted at. Some of the early contributors have separated themselves, while other spots still look like works in progress as the team settles into its first real stretch of the season. For a roster trying to define its identity, these early pecking orders matter because they reveal who the staff trusts and where the competition is still very much alive.
Against the Chargers, that depth chart also adds a little intrigue to the larger picture. The Raiders are trying to balance short-term game planning with the bigger questions of how this team will take shape over the season, and the latest release suggests there are still a few positions where roles can change quickly. Week 2 should give another clue about which parts of the roster are stabilizing and which ones are still open for business. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Tight End Plans Just Got More Interesting Around Brock Bowers
The Raiders tight end room already had enough intrigue, and the conversation only picked up after the team discussed a possible return timeline for Brock Bowers while also locking in Michael Mayer with a contract extension. For a group that figures to be central to how Las Vegas attacks this season, the timing matters, especially with the rest of the division already sorting through its own Week 1 chaos.
Denvers 31-10 loss to Kansas City only sharpened the contrast, with Bo Nix pointing to offensive mistakes and penalties while Travis Kelce turned in another productive day for the Chiefs. The Raiders are watching all of that from a distance, but the bigger question in Las Vegas is how soon Bowers can get back into the mix and what Mayers new deal means for the way the team plans to use both ends once the roster is whole again. [Read more 🡒]
Klint Kubiak's Hard Edge Is Already Testing What Raiders Can Be
Klint Kubiaks first eight months in charge have already given the Raiders a different kind of edge, and it started in training camp. The work has been so demanding that one veteran player described it as the hardest camp he has ever experienced, a sign of how firmly Kubiak has tried to set the tone in Las Vegas. General manager John Spytek has publicly backed that approach, praising the coachs work ethic and discipline as the team tries to build something sturdier than a good week or two.
The early returns have shown up on defense, where Rob Leonard has helped shape a group that looked sharp in the Raiders first game of the season. Las Vegas finished Week One leading the NFL in havoc plays, an encouraging indicator for a unit that wants to play fast, disruptive football under a first-year coordinator. Whether that intensity holds up over a full season is the question, but the Raiders already look like a team being pushed hard enough to find out. [Read more 🡒]