1. Philadelphia Eagles– They continue to roll and impress me. Carson Wentz is a legit MVP candidate in just his second year in the league as he leads the league in touchdown passes with 17. He had 16 all of last season. Carson has also led the Eagles to their best start in a season since 2004 back when the team had a guy named Donovan McNabb as their starting quarterback and some receiver named Terrell Owens and they made it to the Super Bowl that year. They are in great shape to control the division for the rest of the season.
2. New England Patriots– You all knew they’d be here sooner or later. They’ve looked good in their last three games, especially last week in the Super Bowl rematch against the Atlanta Falcons. Each week, the defense has improved and they gave up their lowest point total all year long (7) and finally held a quarterback under 300 yards passing. We’ll see just how much better they can get without Dont’a Hightower who’s out for the rest of the year with a torn pectoral muscle. They face the Chargers today before their bye week next week and they’ll look for their fourth victory in a row.
3. Pittsburgh Steelers– When they are having fun and focused on everything from a football standpoint, they are a hard team to beat. When they decide to feed Le’Veon Bell the football early and often, better things happen and their offense is scarier. It doesn’t matter who’s the guy leading the stats, what matters is the result at the end of the game and they’re winning. They’ve played three division games so far and have won all three and they are the only team in the division with a winning record in division play. They have a chance at winning back to back division titles for the first time since 2007-08.
4. Kansas City Chiefs– For a vast majority of the season, they have claimed the top spot. After two straight losses, they dropped down to the fourth spot on my list. That was a heartbreaker that they dropped last Thursday night in Oakland. Despite the two losses, this is still the favorite to win the AFC West, especially with Denver struggling and collapsing before our very eyes, Oakland not playing as well as many expected and the Chargers improved. I expect the Chiefs to bounce back in a big way on Monday night.
5. Los Angeles Rams– Another impressive win for the Rams last week across the pond against the Arizona Cardinals. Jared Goff is taking tremendous strides in his first full year as a starting quarterback, a consistent performance by Todd Gurley and the Wade Phillips coached defense pitched a shutout. This NFC West race could be a really tight one all the way to the end of the season when it’s all said and done
