NFL Week 8: Notes and observations
The Kansas City Chiefs are really good. The Oakland Raiders are really bad.
This is the main observation of the AFC West through eight weeks, something that few sa coming at the beginning of the season.
It’s easy to look back now and wonder how so many could have been so wrong. The Raiders were supposed to enjoy a bounce-back year under Jon Gruden, who came into the summer with all the hype imaginable. Gruden was fresh off signing a 10-year, $100 million deal that would basically make him the face of the franchise, while the Chiefs were rebuilding on the fly, trading away Alex Smith and Marcus Peters.
The results, of course, have been wild for both teams.
Oakland is a complete and utter disaster, something that started to become a reality when the team dealt away star outside linebacker Khalil Mack for 25 cents on the dollar only days before the season began. In the weeks since, the Raiders have won just a single game on their way to a 1-6 start, only a half-game from the worst in the NFL.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs are putting forth a generational offense behind Patrick Mahomes, the second-year man who replaced Smith at the helm. Mahomes, 23, has become an overnight sensation, leading the league with 2,526 passing yards and 26 touchdowns against only six interceptions. Kansas City has four different players on pace to rack up more than 1,000 offensive yards including Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, Kareem Hunt and Sammy Watkins, while Mahomes has an outside shot of setting the single-season passing touchdown record.
Elsewhere around the NFL, the Washington Redskins continued to roll through the early portion of the schedule with a win over the hapless New York Giants, putting them at 5-2 for the year. Washington doesn’t play a fun style of football, but it continues to win based on a solid defense, Alex Smith not turning the ball over an Adrian Peterson turning back the hands of time.
If Washington can keep its formula going, the Philadelphia Eagles may have a tough time catching up. The Eagles took care of the Jacksonville Jaguars in London, 24-18, on Sunday morning, but still trail in the NFC East by 1.5 games.
Finally, give credit to the Carolina Panthers. Nobody ever seems to talk about them, but al they do is win football games. At 5-2, the Panthers are in firm control of an NFC wild card spot and are just a game back of the New Orleans Saints in the NFC South.
Carolina was able to score 36 points on the Baltimore Ravens, the league’s top-ranked unit in most categories including yards and points. The Panthers have to feel very good about where they are at this stage in the season.
