AFC West Mid-Season Review

Denver Broncos (6-2)
Jake Plummer is keeping is job thus far, leading his Denver Broncos to a 6-2 record including solid victories against New England and Baltimore that may help them come playoff time. Mike Shanahan's defense is almost as dominating as his running game. The trade for JeVon Walker has certainly paid out and Denver sits tied with San Diego for the division lead. Take a way their first week hiccup against St. Louis and Denver has been playing spectacular football.
They still have to play the San Diego Chargers twice in four weeks in what will probably decide the division. The road may not be as easy as some other AFC 6-2 teams, but it certainly isn't that difficult either.

San Diego Chargers (6-2)
Philip Rivers wins football games. He leads a San Diego offense that is 3rd in the league. Not bad for his first year as a starter. Of course he does have help in the form of Ladainian Tomlinson behind him. Their defense has suffered some setback with injuries and Shawne Merriman's four game suspension for substance abuse. He will be out for the first of two meetings with Denver. The San Diego Chargers will have to find a way to win down the stretch because it is going to take 12 wins to take this division.
Two games against Denver will decide the division but they will need to keep putting up W's just to get a wild card.

Kansas City Chiefs (5-3)
Damon Huard is starting at quarterback and Larry Johnson is starting at running back. First year coach Herman Edwards may have stumbled across "something special" in Kansas City. At 5-3, the Kansas City Chief are very much in the playoff hunt with games remaining against Denver, San Diego, Baltimore, and Jacksonville. Their defense is not spectacular but as long as they keep scoring, they seem to keep winning.
They will need big wins down the stretch to catch San Diego or Denver, not to mention a playoff spot. It will take 11 wins and a tiebreaker to grab a wild card this year so hopefully Damon Huard is not finished proving the skeptics wrong.

Oakland Raiders (2-6)
It's a miracle that team won two games. Luckily this Art Shell team doesn't have anymore games on Monday night because they are awful under the lights. Than again, they aren't much better in the daylight either. Randy Moss has had some uncharacteristic drops from new starter Andrew Walter. There is a bit of a quarterback controversy between quarterbacks Aaron Brooks and Andrew Walter but the real problem lies in an offensive line that is giving up more than five sacks a game. Their defense has won two games for them.
If their lucky, Oakland can sneak one more win down the line but Oakland Raider fans are already checking the college talent pool for the upcoming draft.