2017 is already shaping up to be another wild AFC West

Once again the AFC West is looking like the toughest division in football. Three teams in the division are undefeated after two weeks. No other division in football has more than two.

Not only are the Raiders, Chiefs, and Broncos 2-0, but each team has at least one quality win that suggests it’s no fluke.

The Chiefs opened the season by putting a hurting on the Patriots 42-27 in Foxboro then took down a good Eagles team in week two. The Broncos shocked everyone this week by ripping the Cowboys, putting up 42 points of their own. The Raiders beat a tough Titans team in Tennsessee in the season opener, and then put up 45 points on the Jets Sunday.

Only the Chargers lag behind. They are winless, but they have been within a 44-yard field goal in both games and their rookie kicker missed both of those kicks. The first one was for the tie against the Broncos and it was blocked. The second was for the win against the Dolphins and sailed wide right.

Turns out all the trick shots in the world mean nothing in an NFL game. He makes those and the Chargers could be 2-0 as well or at least 1-1.

Compare this crazy division to, say, what the Patriots have in the AFC East. They could easily go undefeated in their division with the Bills, Jets, and Dolphins as their competition. That’s a pretty good head start for them. Yet they face an AFC West team (Chiefs) and get shellacked. They will be facing all four AFC West teams this season. The Raiders will see them in Mexico City.

The Dolphins, who narrowly beat the Chargers thanks to YoungHoe Koo’s missed 44-yard attempt, now actually lead that division, primarily because their week one game against the Bucs was postponed to week 11 due to Hurricane Irma and therefore the Dolphins are 1-0 on the season.

Or you could look at the AFC South with the Jaguars (1-1), Texans (1-1) and Colts (0-2). The Texans ‘won’ that pathetic division last year at 9-7 and therefore got to host the 12-4 Raiders in the wild card game. They won it because Derek Carr was out with a broken fibula.

Last season the Raiders were tied for the second best record in their conference and third best in football. And yet they didn’t win their own division and were the five seed in their own conference. It looks like this season they’re going to have to earn it again.