NFL Standings: Raiders Sit 4-4 and Ninth in the AFC After Week 8 — Denver Leads the West and the Chargers Are 0-7
Halfway home, the table tells Las Vegas' story plainly. The Raiders' win at the Jets pulled them to 4-4 and ninth in the AFC playoff order, two games behind 6-2 Denver in the AFC West, a half-game behind 5-2 Kansas City — and four games clear of a winless Chargers team at the bottom.
The AFC West has a new order at the halfway point. Denver's 28-24 win over Kansas City on Sunday moved the Broncos to 6-2 with a four-game win streak and first place in the division, a half-game ahead of the 5-2 Chiefs, who have lost two straight. Las Vegas sits third at 4-4 after the 38-33 win at the Jets — 221 points scored against 230 allowed, a 1-3 home record balanced by 3-1 on the road — and the Los Angeles Chargers are last and winless at 0-7, with the league's quietest offense at 99 points through seven games, according to the Sports Illustrated standings table read by the desk.
The conference picture is where the Raiders' win actually paid. Las Vegas stands ninth in the AFC playoff order at 4-4, holding the conference-record tiebreaker over 4-4 Baltimore at 3-3 in AFC games, behind a top eight led by 6-1 Buffalo, 6-2 Denver and 6-2 Pittsburgh, with 5-2 Jacksonville, Kansas City and Cincinnati and 5-3 Cleveland filling the current field, according to the playoff-picture reports read by the desk. Ninth is not a playoff place — but it is two places and one tiebreaker better than where a fifth straight loss on Sunday would have left this team.
The road from ninth runs through the division. The Raiders still face both teams above them, and the standings say the 49ers come first: Las Vegas plays at San Francisco next Sunday, November 8, in the 1:25 p.m. Pacific kickoff the league moved earlier this fall. Denver and Kansas City, meanwhile, have built their cushion on opposite profiles — the Broncos on a plus-seven point differential ground out week after week, the Chiefs on the conference's best AFC record at 5-1 despite the two-game skid. For Las Vegas, .500 in November is a live season. The standings make the next month simple: beat the teams in front of you, starting Sunday.
