Buffalo Bills climb AFC power rankings again, getting back into the top 5
The Buffalo Bills won a hard-fought battle against the Los Angeles Chargers, although, on paper, it shouldn't have been that difficult. Regardless, maybe in hindsight, we could have predicted this outcome a little better. The Bills were on a short week, traveling across county and the Chargers were just embarrassed by the Las Vegas Raiders the week before. Oh, and the Chargers head coach, Brandon Staley was fired, which often can reinvigorate a team, especially one that the head coach lost weeks ago. But a win is a win and Josh Allen did what he had to do to secure a victory for the third week in a row.
What about the rest of the AFC though. There were a couple of surprise losses and performances this past weekend. For example, who would have thought the Baltimore Ravens would dominate the San Francisco 49ers the way they did? Certainly not me, as I expected the game to be won in the final minutes of the game, not in the final minutes of the first half. Another surprising outcome was the Pittsburgh Steelers showing up against the Cincinnati Bengals, despite the Bengals being without Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase, I didn't see the Steelers coming out with a convincing 34 - 11 win.
What about the AFC South, wow. In a season that most expected the Jacksonville Jaguars ro run away with, they have struggled and now sit with a 8 - 7 record but the Houston Texans or Indianapolis Colts were able to capitalize, so the Jaguars are still in first place. All four teams in the division suffered embarrassing losses, with only the Tennessee Titans putting up much of a fight in their loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
We can't forget the Kansas City Chiefs either, dropping their fifth game over the last eight. This time, losing to the Raiders, giving up two defensive scores to the Raiders in a 20 - 14 loss. What's worse, the Raiders didn't complete a single pass after the first quarter yet found a way to down the Chiefs. Then of course there is the Miami Dolphins, defeating the Dallas Cowboys 22 - 20 and finally getting a win over a team with a winning record, albeit against a team with a losing road record. Something had to give.