Billick: AFC West the ‘deepest division’ in the NFL right now

There was no possible way for the AFC West to escape the first weekend of the NFL regular season without at least one loss or tie, but, certainly, it seems the division made a statement to the effect that it might be the strongest in the conference, if not the league.

Only one other division in Week 1 had a combined record that included at three or more wins — the NFC North — and no other AFC division fared as well as the West.

The slate of games included a road win for the Oakland Raiders, a statement win over the defending Super Bowl champions for the Kansas City Chiefs, and a nail-biter between the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos.

So, could the AFC West be the strong division in the NFL? Could it send three teams to the playoffs?

“I’ve been doing radio shows all week and everybody’s talking about the strength of the AFC clearly is the AFC West,” NFL Network analyst Brian Billick told “Schlereth & Evans” on Thursday.

The Chiefs appears to be tops among the group, Billick said, and the Raiders have a newfound physicality on offense thanks to running back Marshawn Lynch, Billick said.

In any case, whoever wins the division — the Broncos, Chiefs, Chargers, or Raiders — finds themselves outside an AFC wild card race that could be competitive.

“… Is it Pittsburgh or Baltimore that doesn’t win the division and therefore is in that wild card hunt? How good is Miami going to be?” Billick said. “There’s any number of teams that could fit into that void, so it does become very competitive.”

In any case, Billick said that after just one week, it appears the AFC playoffs will run through its West division.

“I think most would agree that the AFC West is the deepest division in the league right now,” Billick said.

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.