The AFC West has tricked many of us into thinking they have the best teams in the NFL and that their's is the best division. However, if we look deeper and actually watch their games, we can see the truth. They not not among the NFL's elite.
Here's the proof:
Face it. The AFC West's schedule is the easiest. They get to play all the teams from the two worst divisions in the NFL: The AFC South and NFC South. Playing bad teams all season = good records. They get to beat up on bad teams like the Titans, Jaguars, Buccaneers, Saints, etc. For reference: The NFC South is the only NFC division without an 8 win team, and the AFC South is the only division that doesn't have a team with a winning record.
None of them have played a top tier NFL team (Dallas, New England, Seattle, etc.) except when Kansas City got destroyed by the Steelers. And whenever they play a second tier NFL team, they've never won by more than one score. Have you watched an full game of either Oakland or Kansas City? They haven't looked like the "better team" in a lot of their games.
W Saints 35-34
Their records are good because the easy out-of-conference schedule.
Face it. The AFC West's schedule is the easiest. They get to play all the teams from the two worst divisions in the NFL: The AFC South and NFC South. Playing bad teams all season = good records. They get to beat up on bad teams like the Titans, Jaguars, Buccaneers, Saints, etc. For reference: The NFC South is the only NFC division without an 8 win team, and the AFC South is the only division that doesn't have a team with a winning record.Oakland and Kansas City both keep winning close games to average teams.
None of them have played a top tier NFL team (Dallas, New England, Seattle, etc.) except when Kansas City got destroyed by the Steelers. And whenever they play a second tier NFL team, they've never won by more than one score. Have you watched an full game of either Oakland or Kansas City? They haven't looked like the "better team" in a lot of their games.
Here's a look at the best out-of-conference teams the Raiders have played:
W Saints 35-34
L Falcons 35-28
W Ravens 28-27
W Texans 27-20
W Panthers 35-32
L Texans 19-12
Here's a look at the best "out of conference" teams the Chiefs have played:
L Texans 19-12
L Steelers 43-14
W Saints 27-21
W Panthers 20-17
W Falcons 29-28
Not one convincing win against a good opponent. Notice that every win against a decent team came by 7 points or less. And the best team either one of them have played (the Steelers) destroyed them 43-17.
Not one convincing win against a good opponent. Notice that every win against a decent team came by 7 points or less. And the best team either one of them have played (the Steelers) destroyed them 43-17.
Neither AFC West team is a tier 1 team. Whichever one wins that conference will be relying heavily on home field advantage to get them to the superbowl. They are tier 2 teams with good records because of an easy schedule and winning close games to other tier 2 teams.
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