If you live and die with an AFC West team that was expected
to be competitive this year, this should feel like a rather lovely week.
Football is back, and you just experienced an extremely entertaining comeback
victory that earned your team part of a three-way tie for 1st place
in the division. What a wonderful start to the season it was, unless you’re a
Chargers fan.
The Denver Broncos
and Carolina Panthers began the
regular season in memorable fashion Thursday night as 25.4 million people watched
from home. This one-point comeback win for the defending champs in the
season-opening Super Bowl rematch only served as the first course of intense
entertainment served up by the AFC West in Week 1.
The Oakland Raiders
took their high hopes and highly regarded quarterback David Carr for a long plane ride southeast on Sunday to start their regular
season against the New Orleans Saints.
Oakland overcame a four-touchdown, 424-yard day from Drew Brees and a 14-point deficit to start their season 1-0. Carr went
blow-for-blow with Brees until the very end, when a Raiders touchdown drive, a
two-point conversion and a barely-missed 61-yard field goal attempt from New
Orleans resulted in a 25-24 comeback victory for Oakland. Viewers of that game probably
presumed nothing would top what they just watched, but as that Raiders game
wrapped up, Oakland’s greatest rival was mounting another incredible comeback
in Kansas City.
OddsShark.com gave the San
Diego Chargers 6.5 points in this matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs, but Philip Rivers and Company got off to an early 24-3 lead at
Arrowhead. The Chiefs defense then buckled down and allowed just 6 points in
the second half, and KC managed to score 17 points in the 4th
quarter's last 10 minutes to send the game to overtime. Alex
Smith then led the Chiefs on a 10-play, 75-yard drive culminating in a
game-winning, two-yard touchdown run.
The previous comeback wins for their divisional rivals must
alter the emotional flavor of this victory for the Chiefs, and vice versa. These
hard-fought games ramp up the tension and excitement within the division that
will only escalate as the season continues.
Next week, Kansas City travels to Houston where OddsShark.com
says they’ll be two-point underdogs against the Houston Texans – the same organization they thrashed and shut out
in the AFC Divisional round of last year’s playoffs. Denver will be heavily
favored against the 0-1 Indianapolis
Colts, and Oakland will reportedly give 4.5 to the 0-1 Atlanta Falcons in the Raiders’ home opener. The Chargers return to
San Diego, where they’ll try for a fresh start against the 0-1 Jacksonville Jaguars. Teams from the
AFC West won’t face off again until Week 5, when the Chargers travel to
Oakland. The Chiefs then travel to Oakland in Week 6 for what could be one of
the biggest games in this great rivalry’s recent history.
Doug LaCerte
frequently neglects his Facebook page, and he profoundly appreciates each of
the 17 people following him on Twitter @DLaC67.
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