AFC West Standings: Week 1

Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

The first week of the 2012 NFL season is in the books and the AFC West race is now starting to take shape.

The West is a very different division than it was in 2011. Tim Tebow is gone. Carson Palmer will have his first full year at QB for the Raiders. The Chiefs have a multitude of new faces, as do the Chargers.

Let’s take a quick look at the standings and see how each team fared in Week 1.

Denver Broncos 1-0
San Diego Chargers 1-0
Kansas City Chiefs 0-1
Oakland Raiders 0-1

The Broncos and Chargers jump out to an early lead. The Raiders took the biggest blow of opening week because their loss came against a division rival, which could come back to haunt them in a tie-breaker later.

The Chiefs got walloped by injuries and the Atlanta offense. The only good thing to come out of the weekend for KC was that their first loss was to an NFC team.

The Broncos looked pretty good on both sides of the ball. Peyton Manning looked more than capable of running the offense and Dennver’s defense did a nice job of closing the deal, though their secondary struggled to stop the Steelers on third and long.

The Chargers handled the Raiders on Monday Night Football, 22-14. The SD offense had some trouble finding the endzone but kicker Nate Kaeding kept them ahead by nailing all five of his field goal attempts.

The Raiders struggled to get things going on offense. Oakland fumbled the ball four times, losing only one.

Next week in the AFC West:

-The Chiefs will travel to Buffalo to take on the 0-1 Bills.

-The Chargers will host the 0-1 Titans.

-The Broncos will travel to Atlanta to take on the 1-0 Falcons on Monday Night Football.

-The Raiders will travel to Miami to take on the 0-1 Dolphins.

How do you think this week will shake out in the AFC West?