AFC West becoming a serious division again

[scho63]

We all sorta expected it at some point. The Donkeys and Bolts have substantially improved so it looks like the cakewalks of years prior won't be so easy. They would give us the division by like game 8. Not this year even though we are highly likely to close it out again. End of year division games may mean much more this year.

I think it's better for the Chiefs as they have to focus for every game and the proof will be in the results. No easy games.

Then you have the Raiders, who are the Browns or Jets of the West. They have one or two big victories a year like beating the Ravens this year and us last year.

As we finish up 2024 with a Super Bowl march and look at 2025 and beyond, our drafts, the ability to execute in free agency and having a season with fewer injuries will be much more important.

Beating them will be tougher BUT much more rewarding.

Here's to a better overall, more respected AFC West.........

[TEX]

Originally Posted by Mile High Mania

It’s still not as great a difference as some think. KC has a couple of better wins, for sure and that should be expected. KC lost to their toughest opponent and Denver lost to their 3 toughest. Each team has played 6 teams over .500

Ravens? Remember them? How did that go for Denver? And I think you are off on victories against teams above .500. But u may be using a different criteria. Im counting teams as their records stand now, and I see that Denver has only beaten 1 team currently over .500. What am I missing?

[Mile High Mania]

Originally Posted by TEX

Ravens? Remember them? How did that go for Denver?

I’m not dismissing that Denver has lost all but 1 game against the winning teams they’ve played. They were terrible at Baltimore.

And yes, KC was without a couple of guys at SF, but they won.

[Mile High Mania]

Don’t misinterpret my comments as me suggesting that Denver is equal to KC. They almost won that game, but didn’t. Even if they had won, still not on par with KC. My comments have been focused on the SOS not being vastly different after 11 weeks.

[RedinTexas]

Originally Posted by Mile High Mania

I’m not suggesting that it doesn’t make a difference… it’s just not as vast as some think. Through week 11, with Denver having played one more game… the total opposition wins for KC is 54 and Denver is 58.

The difference in teams played between the two so far.. CIN, 49ers, Bills for KC and SEA, PIT, Jets, Panthers for Denver.

Well, let's take a more practical look at the differences between the Chiefs and Broncos schedules. First of all, the Broncos schedule is a bit more difficult in the fact that you all play the Chiefs twice while the Chiefs play the Broncos twice. That makes your schedule more difficult, but it's not exactly honest to factor that into calculations about the difficulty of schedule.

So, let's dispense with that nonsense and let's also dispense with the nonsense of looking at just games played to date. Let's look at the entirety of the 2024 schedule. Let's also eliminate all common opponents because those will all work out as equivalent.

When we eliminate all common opponents and our head-to-head matchups, we're left with just 3 games each in which we face opponents that the other does not. For 2024 those opponents are San Francisco, Buffalo, and Houston for the Chiefs, and Seattle, NYJ, and Indianapolis for the Broncos. The difference in win totals for those teams is:

Chiefs opponents: 20 wins

Broncos opponents: 13 wins

That is an honest comparison.

[Mile High Mania]

Originally Posted by RedinTexas

Well, let's take a more practical look at the differences between the Chiefs and Broncos schedules. First of all, the Broncos schedule is a bit more difficult in the fact that you all play the Chiefs twice while the Chiefs play the Broncos twice. That makes your schedule more difficult, but it's not exactly honest to factor that into calculations about the difficulty of schedule.

So, let's dispense with that nonsense and let's also dispense with the nonsense of looking at just games played to date. Let's look at the entirety of the 2024 schedule. Let's also eliminate all common opponents because those will all work out as equivalent.

When we eliminate all common opponents and our head-to-head matchups, we're left with just 3 games each in which we face opponents that the other does not. For 2024 those opponents are San Francisco, Buffalo, and Houston for the Chiefs, and Seattle, NYJ, and Indianapolis for the Broncos. The difference in win totals for those teams is:

Chiefs opponents: 20 wins

Broncos opponents: 13 wins

That is an honest comparison.

I guess that’s one way to slice the narrative. The biggest difference really is Bills and the Jets.

They have 6 common opponents so far, KC is 6-0 and Denver is 4-2

[Ocotillo]

There should be a banhammer for any Chiefs fan on this forum that gives praise to the Donkeys. One month first offense, lifetime on the second.

[DrunkBassGuitar]

Originally Posted by Womble

3 games. We have to play the top seeds from the other 2 AFC divisions and an additional game against a team in the NFC which finished with a similar standing in 2023-24, which was the 49ers.

In that additional NFC game the Chargers played the Cardinals and the Broncos played the Seahawks.

This is one thing I tend to forget, the NFL does try to prevent years long dynasties. What they want is teams rotating in and out of being contenders. You do well, you have to play a tougher schedule and you have less chances to draft good players, which should over time bring you down. Like, they in a way punish success, which makes sense, they want people who follow a team like Denver or Steelers to have a reason to watch every week and remain invested.

[InChiefsHeaven]

The AFCW is the only division with 3 500+ teams. The AFCN has the Steelers and Ravens, the AFCE is just the Bills and the AFCS is just the Texans.

AFCW is officially the toughest division in the AFC. Crazy.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Sean Peyton is a low life piece of shit coach that paid players (bounty gait) to end careers of football players. I would be pissed if he ever coached the Chiefs. He fits the Broncos with their history of cut blocking.

With Andy Reid, he gives us integrity.

I always like how bounty gate is brought up and it completely covers over the fact that Sean Peyton was stealing using and selling pain pills.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Mile High Mania

Schedules are so similar aside from 2 games, right? Not a lot of difference there.

Yes, over the entire season.

Look at the games so far. Hardly the same.

[RunKC]

Broncos remind me so much of the 2014 Chiefs.

Middle of the road QB, excellent defense, good OL, not beating good teams.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Mecca

I always like how bounty gate is brought up and it completely covers over the fact that Sean Peyton was stealing using and selling pain pills.

I care a lot more about bounty gate because it actually potentially imapcts my team. That other crap is his problem so I don't give a shit.

[Megatron96]

And it's only going to get tougher. DEN is still dragging Wilson's cap hit this season, so they weren't able to be as active in FA or even retain players the way they probably wanted to this season, but that basically goes away in 2025. So they'll be able to reload some talent this coming off-season. All the more reason to seriously consider re-signing DHop, btw, as I really don't want to see him playing for DEN next year. Yuck.

And Harbaugh has already proven to be a better coach than any of his Chargers predecessors. Yeah, the 2nd half of last night's game wasn't pretty, but they did finally execute on their final drive and put CIN away. Staley would've shit the bed there. And right now LAC doesn't have top-tier weapons except at RB. They're only going to get better.

[crispystl]

Originally Posted by Ocotillo

There should be a banhammer for any Chiefs fan on this forum that gives praise to the Donkeys. One month first offense, lifetime on the second.

Seconded

[jjchieffan]

I don't mind the Chargers being good. But I would prefer the Cheating Donks to stay bad forever. They deserve nothing but misery for all of their cheating.