AFC West report: Conference championships and coaching searches

Has your heart rate come back to normal after Sunday’s game? Mine sure hasn’t! Oh my goodness, what a game. That was not the game I was hoping for, but it was so much more than that. I asked for a stress-free Chiefs game and, of course, this was anything but!

Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills came to Arrowhead Stadium and threw everything at the Kansas City Chiefs, but 13 seconds and Patrick Mahomes was all that was needed to put the Chiefs into their fourth straight hosting of the AFC Championship Game.

One thing that I think a lot of people are overlooking from this game is the emergence of lower-level guys in key moments. Mecole Hardman has flashed in the last half of the season and through the playoffs. Jerrick McKinnon has proved to be a bruising running back with lightning quickness. My favorite emerging player, however, might be Noah Gray.

I remember throughout training camp that reports were coming in about Noah Gray’s potential. People thought he was going to be a star. He seems to have started to play a bigger role. just look at his snap count in Sunday’s game.

Gray had 15 snaps and played 20% of the offensive snaps. That’s pretty great. He is learning from the greatest tight end in Travis Kelce, so I love this late-season emergence.

In other AFC West news

While the Chiefs continue their run towards the Super Bowl, there is little news coming out from our AFC West rivals.

The Denver Broncos continue their head coaching search and have reportedly narrowed it to three candidates:

Most believe it will be Dan Quinn. It will certainly be an interesting hire given that they fired someone very similar to Dan Quinn just a few weeks ago…

The Raiders are also on the hunt for a new head coach. They, however, have not been quite as active as the Broncos. The following are the reported head coach candidates:

"Former Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia (NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport)Patriots LB coach Jerod Mayo (NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport)Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles (ESPN’s Adam Schefter)"

The Raiders are searching for a new GM as well and have met with:

"Bengals scout Trey Brown (NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero)Patriots director of player personnel Dave Ziegler (ESPN’s Adam Schefter)Bears assistant director of player personnel Champ Kelly (NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport)Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds (The Athletic’s Tashan Reed)"

It seems to me that the Broncos will probably move a lot faster and we may have an answer in the next week as to who will be leading the team next year. Whoever that is will have to deal with the extensive rumor mill surrounding the quarterback position. Will Aaron Rodgers end up in Denver?

Finally, the Chargers have been pretty quiet. They have a solid team with a head coach who shows promise so until we are through the Super Bowl, I don’t see them making much noise.

That’s a wrap

Well, now that we are through the Divisional Round, we are on to the Championship Game. For those of you attending the game, I expect to hear you all the way in the suburbs. Make Joe Burrow regret ever saying this:

Let’s keep the Lamar Hunt trophy in K.C. and bring the Lombardi back home! GO CHIEFS!