NFL Power Rankings Week 10: AFC West Headed for Midseason Chaos
There are so many ways to describe the AFC West these days—mediocre, unsettled, chaotic, Tim Tebow'd.
The only thing that's certain about this most bunched of NFL divisions is that the race to the top won't likely be any more clear-cut after Week 10.
At present, its four member teams are all within a half-game of each other, with the San Diego Chargers, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders in a three-way tie at the top with identical 4-4 records.
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Those three have thus far appeared reluctant to move ahead of one another, as though there are cooties waiting for whichever team finally decides/is able to separate itself from the pack. The Chargers may have wanted to jump to the top, but had the unfortunate task of keeping up with the Green Bay Packers in what turned out to be a thrilling shootout.
One in which three of Philip Rivers' bullets turned out to be blanks, two easy enough to return for touchdowns.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs, who looked like a team of destiny after edging the Bolts on Monday night to climb all the way back from an 0-3 start, reverted to their early-season form, just in time to suffer an embarrassing 31-3 home loss to the previously-winless Miami Dolphins.
Then there are the Raiders, who stormed out to a 10-point lead in the third quarter before surrendering 24 unanswered points over the final 18 minutes of the game to lose 38-24.
And who, pray tell, did the Silver and Black succumb to? Why, Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos, of course! Just a week removed from a sorry 45-10 thrashing at the hands of the Detroit Lions, the Broncos now find themselves but one game back of first place in the division, with a game in Kansas City on Sunday to move one step closer to what only recently seemed entirely laughable.
Tim Tebow in the playoffs. Somewhere, Roger Goodell is smiling at the prospect of America's Golden Boy running around and throwing awkward tosses on national TV.
All the while, John Elway is bemoaning the chance to bring aboard quarterback-of-the-future and Stanford chum Andrew Luck by way of the 2012 NFL draft.
If you don't think Denver can or will win in KC, rewind the clock back to three weeks ago, when Tebow led the Broncos to an improbable comeback from 15 points down with three minutes to play to top the Fins in overtime.
Granted, the transitive property doesn't work as well in football as it does in math, but there's still plenty of reason to think Denver can and will move a step closer to contending in the AFC West.
As for the other game going on in the division in Week 10, conventional wisdom would dictate that San Diego, after going toe-to-toe with the defending Super Bowl champs, will have the upper hand playing at home on Thursday night.
However, let's not forget that this will be the Chargers third game in the span of just 11 days and comes on the heels of a game that undoubtedly took quite a bit out of the Bolts.
Then again, there's no telling if Darren McFadden will be back for the Raiders or if Carson Palmer will go 3-for-3 in throwing three picks per game with his new team.
All of which points to one thing—the AFC West is a mess and probably will be for the rest of the season.
Josh Martin's Week 9 NFL Power Rankings |
6. Detroit Lions |
10. New York Jets |
12. Houston Texans |
13. Buffalo Bills |
14. Dallas Cowboys |
16. Chicago Bears |
17. San Diego Chargers |
18. Kansas City Chiefs |
19. Denver Broncos |
21. Tennessee Titans |
22. Oakland Raiders |
25. Cleveland Browns |
26. Seattle Seahawks |
30. Miami Dolphins |
31. St. Louis Rams |
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