Undefeated teams in December + New York Giants = ???

Well it's that time of the year again, if you're a Giants fans, the feeling of "here we go again" comes around. However Giants fans I will deliver some facts for you to ponder about as your Giants prepare to face the NFL's best team in 2011: the Green Bay Packers. But this isn't the first time that a team who is trying its might at history, has faced a Giants team who's fighting for a playoff spot at the Meadowlands. Remember the 1998 Denver Broncos and the 2007 New England Patriots as examples of what can happen this weekend. One good, one bad, but where will the Packers fate go on Sunday?

Fact #1 - 1998 Broncos 13-0 going into the Meadowlands

The Broncos we're going into this game as favorites against the Giants, who had nothing to play for and was just waiting to end the season. Going to Giants Stadium, I am sure the Denver Broncos, let alone the whole country, wasn't expecting nothing less than the Giants winning on the road. Kent Graham game-winning drive against the King of all comebacks, John Elway, helped the Giants defeat the Broncos on that very weird December afternoon at the Meadowlands. End Result: 13-1

Fact #2 - 2007 Patriots 15-0 going to the Meadowlands

The Patriots had came into this game needing one more victory to become the 2nd NFL team in history to go perfect in the regular season. The Giants gave the Pats all they could, but at the end the Patriots were too much for the Giants on that cold December night at the Meadowlands. However, this may have come at a cost. The Patriots may have showed too much to the Giants, as they lost the the same team 4 weeks later in the Super Bowl. End Result: 16-0 (However a few short weeks later the Giants got the Patriots back in Super Bowl 42.)

Which lead me to this week's opponent: 2011 Packers 11-0. 

Well if the Giants need a win, this would be the best week to get it considering that they have a huge divisional showdown in Dallas after this game. The Packers come into this game as hot as the other two teams did, so can the Giants find a way to stop history for a 3rd time? Most would say that this is the only chance the 2011 Packers have at losing this season, as the same was said in '98 and '07. With the Packers playing a schedule that would favor history, the Giants are fighting for their playoff and division chances for 2011. Not to mention a possible coaching change if they don't make the playoffs. One thing about the Giants under Coughlin is that they usually stand up to challenges like this, so to say that they can't win this game is playing into the Giants hands.

End Result: 12-0 or 11-1??? If you doubt the Giants ability to stop history, just ask the 98 Broncos and the 07 Patriots........history could be in trouble this December weekend at the Meadowlands.

Monday Quarterback

Recap of Week 12

Brown 20 at Bengals 23
The Browns jumped out on the Bengals early, but wasn't able to keep it up as Andy Dalton and the Bengals came back late, with a TD pass to A.J. Green that was the difference in a tight match up.

Bills 24 at Jets 28
Can the real Mark Sanchez please stand up. Well the guy wearing #6 for the Jets, yea that guy did stand up. Sanchez threw for 4 TD's as he pulled a game-winning drive to help his Jets to a huge win against the slumping Bills in the battle of New York and the battle for the Playoffs.

Cardinals 23 at Rams 20
Cardinals get their 2 win in 3 weeks as they got on the back of Beanie Wells and rode him to a 23-20 win.

Texans 20 at Jaguars 13
The Texans started the game with Matt Leinart, but they ended the game with a possible QB nightmare. T.J. Yates, rookie from North Carolina, and Kellen Clemens may be the only thing that stops the Texans from a championship run. Then again these two guys could be the new Kurt Warner of this decade. But that wasn't the only QB situation in this game, Jags benched the ineffectiveness of Blaine Gabbert in favor Luke McCown and nearly came back, but fell short to the Texans at home.

Bucs 17 at Titans 23
From a 10-win team last season, the Bucs seems to be regressing and so is their QB Josh Freeman. Despite 4 Titans turnovers, they still manage to come back and win. Chris Johnson woke up and when I say woke up he woke up for 190 yards in sloppy conditions as the Titans keep up with the Texans in the AFC South race.

Panthers 27 at Colts 19
Cam Newton and the Panthers keep the Colts win-less as they win in Indy.

Vikings 14 at Falcons 24
Falcons jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, but the Vikings did stage a small comeback when Christian Ponder connected with Percy Harvin for a TD which game the Vikings some momentum. However, with the help of Matt Ryan's 3 TD day, the Falcons were able to put the Vikings away on a goal-line stand from their defense when the Vikings failed to use a 104-yard Kickoff return to its advantage, securing the game and a win 24-14.

Redskins 23 at Seahawks 17
Grossman bounces back from last week's tough loss with a come from behind win in Seattle.

Bears 20 at Raiders 25
Caleb Hanie would love to have the 1st half of this game back, for which he threw 3 INT's and the Raiders kicked 4 FG's, 6 in all for the whole game. The Bears couldn't use those to their advantage as the Raiders won to keep a one-game lead in the AFC West.

Broncos 16 at Chargers 13
The Broncos defense should be 2nd half MVP for this team, this defense made it rough for Philip Rivers. Tim Tebow had a career day as he had 22 rushes, most ever by any QB in NFL history. This game went to OT and the Chargers had a chance to win, but missed a FG. The Broncos we able to put a drive together and was able to make their OT FG which won the game, giving the Broncos it's 5th win in the last 6 games.

Patriots 38 at Eagles 20
Tom Brady had a field day against the Eagles Defense that's been getting torched all season long. Despite a 400-yard game fro Vince Young, the Eagles Offense were plagued by dropped TD passes and not running the ball enough, as the Patriots keep up with the Texans, Steelers, and Ravens with a 38-20 win in Philly. This lose pretty much ENDS all hopes for the "Dream Team's" chances at a Super Bowl this season.

Steelers 13 at Chiefs 9
Well this game was a defensive battle in which the difference was a TD throw from Big Ben to Weslye Saunders late in the 1st half to give the Steelers a huge road win against the Chiefs.

Turkey Day Football Games Recap

Well had a good time with family and friends yesterday. Three football games, upset stomach, and a headache later.....I am here to give a recap on the football games from Thanksgiving.

First game was the Packers vs. Lions and this game was noted more for what one player did than the whole grand scheme of the Packers winning again going 11-0 for the season. Ndamukong Suh was ejected from the game in the 3rd Quarter after an act for which I'll say is just plain "stupid", this changed the game. The Packers just got stopped on a key 3rd & Goal and should have been kicking a FG to make it 10-0, until that incident. The Packers got the ball on the 2 and scored a few plays later. From that time on, Stafford throw a few INT's and the Packers scored on those mistakes and before you knew it was 24-0 and the game was essentially over.


Second Game featured the Dolphins vs Cowboys and this game, the Dolphins effort wasn't question this time around. Matt Moore played well against Tony Romo, whom despite two 1st quarter INT's, lead the Cowboys on a few good scoring plays of his own. This game came down to a last-second FG, and no it's wasn't snowing this Thanksgiving for all of you Leon Lett fans, but Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey nailed the game-winning kick in a 20-19 victory for the streaking Cowboys.


Third and final game was between the 49ers vs Ravens, the headline of this game was the Harbaugh family, bothers Jim and John Harbaugh teams faced off against one another in a possible Super Bowl preview. This game was just a defensive battle. The Raven's defense sacked Alex Smith not 1, not 2, not 3 (okay I'll kill the Lebron James reference) but 9 times. Joe Flacco threw the only TD of this game as the Ravens won 16-6.

Happy Thanksgiving to all

Happy Thanksgiving to all

Monday Quarterback

Recap of Week 11:

Jets 13 at Broncos 17
Tebow Time continues.......Tim Tebow pulled out a win in the final minute against the Jets.

Jaguars 10 at Browns 14
Browns held off the Jags in the final seconds with a goal-line stands. Jags wasn't able to punch in the game-winning TD.

Panthers 35 at Lions 49
Lions came back from a 17-point deceit to beat the Panthers by 14.

Bucs 26 at Packers 35
Bucs really gave the Packers a battle and a possible blueprint of slowing down or controlling the Packers. But at the end, the Pack was just too much for the younger Bucs team.

Bills 8 at Dolphins 35
The Dolphins are responding after their 0-7 start, by winning their last 3 games against the slumping Bills.

Raiders 27 at Vikings 21
Well this game turned in AP went out with an ankle injury in the first quarter. The Raiders took off from there, with the help of Ponder's 3-Int game.

Cowboys 27 at Redskins 24
Good game between two NFC East Rivals, but Gano's 52-yard FG going wide right, the Cowboys we're able to win it in OT behind a good performance by Tony Romo.

Bengals 24 at Ravens 31
Bengals comeback came up short, but there was a controversial call that could have made this game a lot closer. The Ravens D at the end was just too much, even without their leader Ray Lewis.

Seahawks 24 at Rams 7
Seahawks won a easy game against the Rams to keep their somewhat playoff hopes alive.

Cardinals 7 at Niners 23
Niners are one game closer to winning the NFC West, they could as early as next week.

Titans 17 at Falcons 23
A few interesting things happened in this game, Hasselback was knocked out of the game with a elbow injury and Jake Locker looked REALLY good in this first ever appearance in the NFL. But they came up short to the Falcons at the end.

Chargers 20 at Bears 31
This game showed how two teams are traveling in different directions. It also renewed a rivalry of QB's between Rivers and Cutler. However it's after this game that could be a problem, for the Bears. Cutler was reported to have broken his thumb and could miss the rest of the season. Although he played the whole game without telling anyone about this injury, this could hurt the Bears chances for a wild-card.


Eagles 17 at Giants 10
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and will the Giants go through their yearly end of year slump again? Well after watching this game, you might think that the Giants would come out and play well and put away the team who "eliminated" them from the playoff race last year? No, Vince Young had a good game and really put the Eagles back into the division race with this win. Could this be the beginning of a QB controversy in Philly?

What Was Week 12 in College Football

This may have been one of the most craziest weekends of College Football in a long time. The BCS standings as of Thursday, November 17th was the following:

1. LSU

2. Oklahoma St.

3. Alabama

4. Oregon

5. Oklahoma

Well if you thought everything was going to be routine, you was in for one BIG surprise after Saturday night. 3 of the top 5 teams fell and fell hard! This crazy weekend started Friday night in Ames, Iowa, with the Iowa St. Cyclones upset over the OSU Cowboys in double OT.

That lost was to have hurt the chances of Oklahoma, who would of needed to beat an us undefeated Okla. St. team to climb over an Alabama and Oregon. Well that was until they lost at Baylor (For the first time in school history), which pretty much knocks them from any National Championship chance they had this year.

This set the stage up for an Oregon team, who fought they way back to the top 3 and could make a big argument about why they should be #2 team playing in the National Championship game. All they had to do was win out and hope that they convince the voters to choose them, but then USC destroyed all hopes of that with a 35-32 win in Eugene. Chip Kelly and crew will be kicking themselves for this lost.

As for LSU and Alabama, this was the only thing routine on Saturday as both teams won easily in mist of their huge showdown games next week against Arkansas and Auburn.

But even then, I wouldn't put anything past me that the upsets are gone.........as Chris Berman would say "THAT'S WHY THEY PLAY THE GAME!!!!"

Busy Week

I do apologize for not writing the normal weekly stuff on this site. I've been busy, but I'll try to catch up today.

Mid-season NFL Playoff Predictions

Well this is the time that we start to look at who's gonna be playing in January and who's "Goin' Fishin" (In the words of NBA Analyst Kenny Smith). I'll do these often as the season progress, but this is my initial one......So here's who I think will be in the playoffs:

AFC

1. Baltimore Ravens

2. New York Jets

3. Houston Texans

4. Kansas City Chiefs

5. Pittsburgh Steelers

6. New England Patriots

With the Ravens big win over the Steelers, thus winning the season series, and beating the Jets earlier this year will help this team retain the #1 seed in the AFC and its up to them to lose it. The Jets should round out the AFC North division, unless the Pats beat them at MetLife this weekend, Texans will win the South by default and the Chiefs as of right now, will win the West, but that could come down the the final two weekends of the season (see schedule on ESPN.com). Steelers and Pats will make two very tough wild-cards for the AFC.

NFC

1. Green Bay Packers

2. San Francisco 49ers

3. New York Giants

4. Tampa Bay Bucs

5. New Orleans Saints

6. Chicago Bears

Green Bay Packers will have the #1 spot....period! However, at #2 things can get interesting as the Giants vs. 49ers match-up this weekend will pretty much decide this seed. Huge game for both teams, but I do believe that the 49ers will put this one out. Tampa Bay will round out the division (only person who still believe that the Bucs can win the NFC South). I know that the Bucs schedule is pretty tough, I still think they can pull out some wins and since they have 2 divisional wins already, that should help them out with tie-breakers. The Saints can easily be the #2, #3, or #4 but I think they would be a wild-card again. Huge win from the Bears yesterday. As they beat the Eagles, Falcons, and Bucs, the Bears put themselves in GREAT position for one of the wild-card and possibly the NFC North.

The Monday Quarterback for Week 8

Here's week 8 MQ:

Seahawks 13 at Cowboys 23
Turnover fest in the 1st half for the Cowboys, settled down in the 2nd half.

Browns 12 at Texans 30
Texans run their way to a win against the Browns.

Falcons 31 at Colts 7
Matt Ryan throws a few TD's, two to his new target Julio Jones. As for the Colts, the suck for luck campaign unfortunately continues.

Buccaneers 16 at Saints 27
This game was filled with plenty of mistakes by the Bucs, with untimely penalties, undisciplined play and not really knowing the where too line up on offense. Defense had some poor tackles toward the end of that game, which helped the Saints ice the game with a FG to make it an 11 point lead. Huge win for the Saints as they go into Atlanta next weekend for a Huge NFC South showdown.

Dolphins 31 at Chiefs 3
Dolphins won their first game, as they should have last week. But the Chiefs fell back down to earth after having their 4 game losing streak snapped.

49ers 19 at Redskins 11
Niners win another game on the East Coast as Frank Gore goes wild again.

Jets 27 at Bills 11
Jets may have saved their season and not only playoffs hopes, but division hopes as well. This win sets up a huge showdown at MetLife next Sunday night against the Pats.

Broncos 38 at Raiders 24
Tebow wins another start as he runs wild on the Raiders D with over 100 yards on the ground. Willis McGhee had a good game as well.

Bengals 24 at Titans 17
Dalton does it again. Winning a big game on the road, but now they'll face a huge divisional test next week against the Steelers.

Packers 45 at Chargers 38
Aaron Rodgers throws for 4 TD's and Philip Rivers throws 2 pick 6's to the Packer D, which may have been the difference of the game.

Rams 13 at Cardinals 19
Patrick Peterson tops off his big weekend (LSU) as he returned a 99-yard TD to end the game in OT.

Giants 24 at Patriots 20
Eli Manning does it again to the Patriots. Come from behind with a game-winning drive to win and put his Giants in a GREAT position heading into their toughest part of their schedule.

Ravens 23 at Steelers 20
Joe Flacco answered the critics with a game-winning drive of his own (second straight year he did this at Hines Field). Ravens sweep the Steelers and have a huge leg up in the AFC North title race.

This Week's Top 5

Top 5 Stories of the Week:

This is a brief one this week, since I'll be on vacation all weekend.

1. LSU vs Alabama: In this corner, we have the #1 team in the country with a "Crazy-like a fox" Head Coach.....from Baton Rouge, LA the Bayou Bengals, Geaux Tigers, The LSU Tigers! And in this corner, we have the #2 team in the country with a "Very demanding, strict and detailed" Head Coach......from Tuscloosa, AL, Rooooooollllllllllll-Tide, The Alabama Crimson Tide! Okay maybe I over did it with the "Michael Buffer" intros, but this is like a heavyweight match-up in the eyes of college football. 

2. Ravens vs Steelers: Just to simply put it, these two teams just don't like each other. Just for the record, I don't think you'll see any of those guys holding hands, singing Kumbaya anytime soon!

3. NFL Mid-season review: This week marks the mid-way point of the season.

4. Mayweather vs Pacquiao: Could this "fight of the century" finally happen? 

5. NBA Lockout continues: From the people of the " Please Please Please, stop the lockout" foundation (no such organization)

Friday's Confidence Picks for Week 9

Away                              Home                  Pick                     Confidence #

New York Jets                 Buffalo                New York Jets       1

Seattle                             Dallas                  Dallas                    14

Atlanta                            Indianapolis          Atlanta                  12

Miami                             Kansas City          Kansas City           11

Tampa Bay                     New Orleans         Tampa Bay            3

San Francisco                  Washington           San Francisco        10

Cleveland                        Houston                Houston                13

Cinncinnati                     Tennessee              Cinncinnati           6

Denver                            Oakland                Oakland                9

New York Giants             New England         New England         4

St. Louis                         Arizona                 St. Louis               8

Green Bay                       San Diego             San Diego             2

Baltimore                        Pittsburgh              Pittsburgh             5

Chicago                           Philadelphia           Philadelphia          7

What is the Best Rivalry in NFL?

As we're dawning on a weekend of big rivals playing one another. Which has me thinking, what is the best NFL rivalry in the game? I'll give you a few to choose from:

Bears vs Packers
This by far is the oldest rivalry in the NFL, but it's not as big as it was back in the glory days of the NFL (Before all of the "Rules" we have in today's NFL). But last year's NFC Championship game may have brought this rivalry back to life in the 2010s. Being two hours away from each other helps fuel this rivalry too. Bears coach Lovie Smith said in his first press conference that he has to win a championship and beat the Packers each season. That says a lot about this rivalry

Colts vs Patriots
This could be the best non-divisional rivalry over the last 9 years (Since the new division alignment in 2002). Brady vs Manning has brought some good regular season and playoff games. No other than the 2006 AFC Championship game, which could be, in my eyes, the best game of this rivalry. Even though this rivalry has simmered down a bit, it's still one of the more intriguing match up.

Cowboys vs Redskins
Yea this could be considered the craziest rivalry in the NFL. Especially in the 2000's, which included one wild Monday Night game in 2005 that Cowboys Fans would love for me not to mention. Lately games in this series have gone to the final play or have been very close.

Steelers vs Ravens
This may be the best rivalry going right now in the NFL. These two teams we're former division rivals (the old AFC Central) and this rivalry has spun off from that. From 2000 on until today, these games have been promising the worth of admission when it comes to watching these two teams battle on the gridiron. Three tightly contested playoff games (2001, 2008, and 2010) all won by the Steelers. But the Ravens have had some big regular-season against this team as well.

Packers vs Vikings
Yea I had to put this one in the mix (homer pick). This rivalry, known as the Border Battle, has had some good games in the past. But this rivalry never took a national stage until the late 90's. Since the 2000's, this rivalry has taken off. With a few great game: 2000 Monday Night Game, Favre to Freeman in OT; 2004 two games that ended 34-31, Ryan Longwell (Kicker for GB 98-04, MIN 05-present) kicking two game-winning FG, only to lose a few weeks later in the NFC Wild Card game; 2009 then Vikings QB Brett Favre plays his old team and beat them twice; 2010 Aaron Rodgers finally beats Favre....twice. The Border Battle continues.......

Jaguars vs Steelers
This is one of the over-looked rivalries, but they have played some great games in this series. These two teams we're former rivals of the old AFC Central division and they hit it off right away when the Jags entered into the NFL in 1995. The first true test of this physical battle happened on one Monday Night in Jacksonville when the Jags won a game off a blocked FG and then Head Coach Bill Cowher seems as if he wanted to "punch" a Jags player after he ran past him during the recovery of that blocked FG. These two teams only met once in the playoffs, 2008 AFC Wild Card, and the Jags won that game in Pittsburgh. These two teams play close games every time they see the field.

Chiefs vs Raiders
Rivals during the AFL days and still at it now. These two teams, just flat out don't like each other. This rivalry began fro the old AFL and continued when both owners, the late Lamar Hunt for the Chiefs and the late Al Davis helped upstart the merger with the NFL. The rivalry lives on but the ironic thing about this is that both owners we're best friends.

Patriots vs Jets
This rivalry took off after Bill Parcells left the Patriots to handle the duties of the New York Jets. Named the "Tuna Bowl". This rivalry is known more for what happens off the field then what happens on it. In 2000, when Parcells stepped down from coaching, he turned the ranks over to his assistant Bill Belichiek, that only lasted two days. Belichick resigned and took the job as Patriots Head Coach. Not the most popular move in the eyes of Parcells. This rivalry may have aided one of the best dynasties in sports. 2001, Jets LB Mo Lewis knocks, then Pats QB Drew Bledsoe out of bounds giving him a chest contusion. Then enters Tom Brady and the rest, as they say, is history. Spy-gate was discovered during the course of this series, when Jets coach (former Pats Defensive Coach Eric Mangini) told the NFL that the Pats videotape other teams practices and stole signals teams used in games for their advantage. Now the rivalry has taken a very comedic approach with Belichick vs Rex Ryan. Stayed tuned.......

Giants vs 49ers
This rivalry is a mostly a playoff rivalry and we're there some GREAT games to this!!! As of the start of the 2011 season, the Giants are 14-13 vs the 49ers. Big playoff games included the 1990 NFC Championship game, which was won by the Giants. Most noticeable for the big hit that Giants LB Lenard Marshall put on 49ers QB Joe Montana, which essentially ended his years with the 49ers.

Cowboys vs Steelers
This is a old-school reference. These two teams are just seem to put the R in Rivalry and with the all-time series tied up at 15-15, you can see why. 3 Super Bowl match-ups and 11 Super Bowls between the two. Yea I would say that this is a good, non-conference rival.

So, what would you say it the NFL's best rivalry???

What could be.......

I've decided to write this morning. Remember the 2005 NFL Draft? It wasn't that eventful, but I'll just take two players from that draft for the purpose of this blog entry. Aaron Rodgers and Alex Smith will forever be linked to this day, in which two franchises took two different paths to a run at a championship.

Before this draft most people, including myself, believed that Aaron Rodgers would be the #1 pick to the San Francisco 49ers, but the 49ers took a different approach that day. They took Alex Smith at #1. Keep in mind that this year's draft wasn't the most Quarterback-friendly drafts, considering that the new wave of QB's were still a few years away and the previous draft had Eli Manning, Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger.

As for Alex Smith, being the #1 pick, he hasn't lived up to that standard and has plenty of times come very very close to having his career ended by inconsistent play and injuries. However, this could be the comeback of all comebacks if Smith can pull off the unthinkable by getting the 49ers back to the Super Bowl.

As for Aaron Rodgers, he's gone from rags to riches over the years. From being snubbed by this favorite team, the 49ers, to winning a championship with his current team. He was protected from early failures by being the backup to one Brett Favre, before he was inserted into the lineup at the start of the 2008 season. 3 years later, Rodgers is arguably one of the top 5 QB in the league. Coming off of a Super Bowl win, most could say that the Packers made a great choice that day in 2005, when it picked Rodgers at 24th in the draft.

Now the true reason why I am writing this is because both the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers are on a collision course to see each other sometime in the playoffs, particularly in the NFC Championship game. This would be the 1st time that Alex Smith will make the playoffs (considering that he gets in as to date) and for Aaron Rodgers, this is his first time defending a Super Bowl title and could be his first time winning the MVP.

As I said before, these two men will be forever linked with each other, but they could start up a late rivalry against one another if both teams stay young (Packers are the 2nd youngest team in the league and the 49ers are the 9th youngest).

#1 vs #2

We're T-minus 3 days until the Showdown in T-town. What's at stake for this game: Well for starters, the National Championship. But before we start thinking about that, there's another Championship to be won and that's to take place December 4th and it's called the SEC Championship in Atlanta.

If LSU wins: This wouldn't entirely lock down the SEC west yet, but this could leave LSU in the drivers seat for the road to Atlanta in SEC Championship Game. However, LSU would have another big game in Baton Rouge on Black Friday against Arkansas (who's likely to come into Death Valley as a top 10 team) as a winner takes all game.

If Alabama wins: This pretty much seals the deal for Roll Tide, as they would have both tie-breakers over Arkansas and LSU. They would await either Georgia/South Carolina from the SEC East in the SEC Championship game and pretty much will be a shoe-in for the BCS Championship game.

This game has a lot riding on it, not only for the National landscape, but as for the SEC title game. As for the game of the century, (as Lee Corso would say) NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND!!!! Remember, just 5 years ago we called the Michigan/Ohio State the game of the century. Although, it lived up to it, I wouldn't be so fast to call it the game of the "Century". But this game will be as good as the game 5 years ago, then Saturday night will bring in so huge ratings.

So sit back and enjoy, watch the Showdown in T-Town, Armageddon in Tuscaloosa, or simply #1 vs #2.

Monday Night Recap

Chargers 20 at Chiefs 23

Well this game was a pretty good game, until the end. Chargers had a chance to win this game until Philip Rivers fumbled a snap from under center while killing the clock for a game-winning FG. The Chiefs are on a 4 game winning streak and have climbed back into the AFC West division race, with the Chiefs, Chargers and Raiders all tied at 4-3. The Chiefs, however, by virtue of having a better division record, would be the division winner if the season ended today.