As Peter King, Sports Illustrated’s most popular writer, takes a closer look at the weekend’s slate of NFL games, he takes note of the mess that is the AFC West and the Kansas City Chiefs’ “flickering” playoff chances. The Chiefs are going to have to come up with a big win in the next week or two against either the Patriots or the Steelers to keep pace with the Raiders and Broncos (and Chargers), and that’s a tall order for a team with a first-time starter at quarterback.
“In the AFC West by weekend’s end, every team will have played 10 games,” writes King. "As of this morning, Oakland and Denver have five wins, San Diego and Kansas City four. There is, of course a chance they could all finish the weekend with five wins, but that would entail Christian Ponder playing the game of his professional life against the hard-charging Raid-uhs, and Tyler Palko pulling off a quite the unlikely feat Monday night at New England. Speaking of that…
“What a story,” King continues. “Two years Palko was cut by the California Redwoods. You know, the United Football League Redwoods. Now he takes the 4-5 Chiefs’ flickering (and that’s putting it optimistically) playoff hopes into his hands at Foxboro Monday night. I believe Bill Belichick might throw a couple of looks at Palko the young man has never seen.”