The AFC West didn’t exactly light up the calendar this past week. One team sat out on a bye, and the other three finished a combined 1-2, which didn’t leave much room for upheaval in the division pecking order. Even so, there were still some clear signs about where things stand as the season keeps grinding forward.
At the bottom, the Chargers remain a team searching for answers. They didn’t lose this week, but that only happened because they were off.
Los Angeles badly needed the bye to get a handle on whatever has gone wrong, though one week away probably won’t solve much. The timing also sets up a tricky test, with the Rams coming next in the battle for Los Angeles.
Up next is the only team in the league with an actual fan base in L.A.
The Raiders have slid even further. What looked like a possible playoff push has started to unravel with four straight losses, and the latest defeat to the Rams showed exactly why.
Las Vegas is improved from where it was a year ago, but the roster still doesn’t have the talent to trade punches with the league’s top teams. That leaves the Raiders stuck in an awkward middle ground: competitive enough to hang around the wild-card conversation for most of the year, but not good enough to position themselves for a premium pick in the 2027 draft.
Right now, this feels like an 8-9 team. A much-needed get-right game is on deck this week against the Jets.
Denver is the division’s only team coming off a win, and that alone nudges the Broncos up the board. They handled the lowly Arizona Cardinals in more convincing fashion than usual, though the performance didn’t wipe away the lingering questions around Bo Nix.
He again completed just over half his passes and stayed under 250 yards through the air. Still, he helped crack the game open with a 62-yard touchdown run, which happened to be longer than any pass he has thrown this season.
His longest completion also came in this one, a 52-yard touchdown to running back RJ Harvey, who did most of the work on the play.
Denver is 5-2 and has now won three in a row, which is hard to ignore even if the style points are lacking. The Broncos get a real chance to show they’re moving forward when they meet the Chiefs in a division rematch this week.
And then there’s Kansas City, which stays at No. 1 but not without a warning label after Sunday night. The Chiefs did not look sharp against the Seahawks.
Kenneth Walker was held down all night, averaging only 2.6 yards per carry, and Patrick Mahomes couldn’t carry the offense through the air, finishing with just 165 yards. The defense didn’t do enough to help, either, as Seattle controlled the clock by keeping Kansas City off the field.
The biggest issue was easy to spot: the offensive line. It has improved, but it still has trouble holding up against blitzes and elite pass rushers.
That gets even more dangerous when the Chiefs don’t have enough weapons to make defenses pay for loading the box. Mahomes and Walker are going to have to drag this offense to at least 20 points if Kansas City wants to sweep the Broncos.
In Other News...
Raiders Run Game Suddenly Puts Ashton Jeanty Under Real Pressure
As the Raiders try to steady their ground game, Ashton Jeanty has found himself at the center of a familiar kind of NFL critique, the sort that usually comes when production and expectations start to drift apart. Former Raiders guard Richie Incognito weighed in on Jeantys early struggles, and his comments pointed to a back who is getting opportunities but not always turning them into the kind of yardage the offense needs, while also floating Mike Washington Jr. as a possible change-of-pace option.
The larger concern for Las Vegas is that Jeanty is dealing with crowded looks more often than most runners, with defenses stacking the box and making every handoff feel a little harder than it should be. That leaves the Raiders with some decisions to make as they head into upcoming games, from how they distribute carries to how they sort out the blocking in front of him, because the run game may not get cleaner unless the pieces around Jeanty start to fit better. [Read more 🡒]
Ashton Jeanty Just Added Real Heat To Raiders Jets Week
Ashton Jeanty added a little edge to Raiders-Jets week after practice, signaling that he expects Las Vegas to sharpen up its ground game against New York on Sunday. The running back, who usually keeps his pregame comments fairly measured, said the Raiders should be able to get the run game going and get themselves back on track against a Jets defense that will be trying to set a tone early.
Jeanty also hinted that some Jets defenders are not eager to finish tackles, though he stopped short of naming anyone in particular. It was a notable bit of confidence from a player who does not often go looking for headlines before kickoff, and it gives this matchup a little extra spice as the Raiders try to turn that belief into production on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Derek Carr Reopens Painful Raiders Split With Josh McDaniels
Derek Carr has revisited one of the most difficult endings of his Raiders tenure, and it adds another layer to how abruptly things unraveled in 2022. In discussing his final meeting with Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler, Carr said he wanted to keep playing through the last two games after being benched, a request that underscored just how much he still wanted to finish the season on the field.
McDaniels and Ziegler, meanwhile, were looking at the bigger picture and chose to prioritize a look at other players for the future. Carr has said he is on good terms with McDaniels now, but the fit between quarterback and coaching staff never really clicked in Las Vegas, and this latest account only reinforces how messy that split became. [Read more 🡒]