Chiefs Already Ruling the AFC West

Laddie Morse

The first step toward winning another Super Bowl is making it to the playoffs and this version of the Kansas City Chiefs looks like they’re well on their way. The next step is winning your own division and in the Chiefs case, that means winning the AFC West… which the Chiefs look like they’re in good shape in that regard as well. Let’s take a look at each AFC West team and see how they did this week.

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Surprise… the Denver Broncos won their game this week, against the Chicago Bears. The Broncos entered the 4th quarter down by 14 point with the Bears leading 28-to-14. Then, miraculously, the Broncos scored 17 points to the Bears zero points in the last quarter and Denver came out on top, 31-to-28.

The big story in Denver has bee nthe addition of new head coach Sean Payton and most every Broncos fan thought he’d bring stability and winning back to the Mile High City… but things haven’t worked out that way, so far. We used to look at the season in quarters and although the Broncos have a 1-and-3 record nearly one-quarter of the way through the season, tings are looking up for them. Any time you can squeak out a victory, it’ll make you all warm and fuzzy inside… and that’s exactly how the Broncos fandom is feeling right now.

In a piece by Lou Scataglia for prediminatelyornage.com called, “Russell Wilson lights it up again; Denver Broncos have an elite QB once again” he said:

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“Through four games of the 2023 NFL season, Denver Broncos QB Russell Wilson once again looks like the old, elite QB he was for a decade in Seattle. If you were off the Russell Wilson train when the season began, it’d be smart to get back on. The veteran QB once again played well, this time carving up the Chicago Bears’ defense.”

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Wow. One win in their first four games and this fan wants to crown the Broncos champions and thinks Russell Willson is once again a great QB. Wow. Russell Wilson did have a very good game on 21-of-28 passing with 223 yards through the air and 3 TDs and perhaps more importantly, zero INTs. Add to that the 133.5 rating he had for the game and then maybe we can understand this writers excitement. However, their defense was less tha nstellar giving up 335 aerial yards to Justin Fields on 28-of-35 passes and a 132.7 rating.

In any event, this week’s Russell Wilson rating is head and shoulders better than last weeks 83.9 rating in a 70-to20 loss. It’s going to be hard to live that one down. The Broncos next opponent is against the Jets in Denver.

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The Raiders played the Los Angeles Chargers and lost by a score of 24-to-17. The Raiders are coached by Josh Daniels and he’s still coaching in the shadow of Bill Belichick, his long time mentor and the man who gave him his start in the NFL as a personal assistant. What still surprises me is that WR Davante Adams, who came to the Raiders from the Packers a year ago, did so with the idea that he’d be playing with his old college buddy, Derek Carr. Carr was unceremoniously released before the end of last season and is now with the New Orleans Saints.

Kevin Patra wrote a piece called. “Saints’ Derek Carr: Shoulder injury ‘no excuse for us playing the way we did’ in blowout loss to Bucs” for NFL.com in which he said:

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Derek Carr suited up Sunday for the New Orleans Saints despite suffering an AC joint injury to his throwing shoulder in Week 3 that kept the quarterback out of practice early last week. The results looked like a player dealing with an injury, as Carr finished the 26-9 Week 4 loss to Tampa Bay with 127 yards on 23-of-37 passing for a measly 3.4 yard per attempt average. He also took two sacks and lost a fourth-quarter fumble.

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A 26-to9 loss. Wow, then again, we’re talking about an ex-Raider. The Raiders this week lost to the Los Angeles Chargers 24-to-17 as their new QB Jimmy Garoppolo didn’t play at all due to landing in the concussion protocol. His replacement, Aiden O’Conner was 24-of-39 with zero TDs and one (1) INT and a 68.1 rating.

In the meantime, the Raiders defense gave up 155 yards rushing. The Raiders next opponent is the Packers in Vegas.

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As the Chargers played the Raiders and beat them 24-to-17, the big story of the game was the play of Khalil Mack. Mack was drafted by the Raiders with the 5th overall pick in the 2014 draft, but n this game he ended up sacking the Raiders QB 6 times. That’s just one short of the record set by our own Derrick Thomas back on November 11, 1990, 33 years ago.

These Chargers losses are tothe Dolphins by a score of 36-to-34 and to the Titans 27-to-24. Two very close losses. The Chiefs head coach has often said, winning in the NFL is often by the closest of margins. He’s also said in preparations for a game against the Broncos:

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Reid has met those challenges better than most coaches of his era. He now stands in 4th place among all head coaches in victories (among the Top 50):

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Top 5 List of NFL Head

Coach Wins Leaders

1. Don Shula – 347
2. Bill Belichick – 330
3. George Halas – 324
4. Andy Reid – 272
5. Tom Landry – 270

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The point is, the Chiefs have a leader who knows about the smallest of details that can lead to winning-or-losing and he makes sure that his team know those details.

The Chargers will make a run later in the season, as they often do, but their leadership won’t be enugh to make a difference. The Chargers next opponent is against the Dallas Cowboys in L.A..

The Chiefs next opponent is against the Vikings in Minnesota.

Go Chiefs!

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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