AFC West report, Week 2: Raiders, Broncos lead upside-down division

For the first time since 2016, the Kansas City Chiefs are not (at the very least) tied for first in the AFC West. Is the sky falling? No, but for a minute there on Sunday, I thought it was.

If you have been reading this column long enough, you may have heard that in my household, we can’t have perfect weekends. That means that one of the teams we cheer for HAS to lose. Well, Sporting KC won in incredible fashion last Wednesday, the Iowa Hawkeyes won on Saturday, and the Dallas Cowboys—yes, this technically counts as one of our teams… thanks marriage!—beat the Los Angeles Chargers.

When the Chiefs took the field on Sunday night, I knew what was ahead. But before we dissect that ugly loss, let’s look at how the rest of the AFC West fared in Week 2.

Denver Broncos

Man I did not see this one coming. The Broncos are 2-0. Under the relative stability of Teddy Bridgewater, who I maintain is a less cool Alex Smith, the Broncos are starting the season off better than anyone could have imagined. But, before we start readying parade floats and bronzed statues of John Elway, let’s remember who they have played.

The Broncos left Week 1 with a win over the New York Giants, a team captained by Daniel Jones (still shocked by that pick). They then waltzed into Week 2 ready to take on the worst team from last season, the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars are already hearing rumblings of an Urban Meyer firing and it is Week 2—clearly they are a team in chaos. And, if you have the first pick overall, you have more problems than just a quarterback issue.

However, each team has to play their schedule. They don’t control the team in front of them and still need to play the game to win. What stood out to me in this game is that the Broncos really miss Jerry Jeudy. Jeudy is a great target and his loss is a big one. Courtland Sutton ate up most of the targets, but they will need someone to step up and fill the hole left by that high ankle sprain injury. Regardless, they found a way. It wasn’t pretty and foretells losses (many) in the future, but hey, at least Broncos fans can brag this week right?

Not so fast. They are certainly mourning in the donkey pastures of Colorado this week as news broke that outside linebacker (and perpetually injured) Bradley Chubb will undergo ankle surgery on Wednesday. The timetable is unknown as it will depend on the results of the surgery, but it is usually a 6-8 week recovery timeline. Not only that, former Iowa Hawkeye linebacker Josey Jewell suffered a pectoral injury that has him out for the season.

Next week, the Broncos face the toughest test in the West (please read sarcasm into this) when they face the winless New York Jets. It is without a doubt the softest opening schedule in the NFL this season, and if the Broncos drop this one on Sunday, there will be endless amounts of gloating coming from my house.