It feels like Christmas. The long seven-month layoff ends and the NFL officially returns tonight. New England will be raising the banner for its fifth championship as part of the opening night festivities. Helping the defending champs open up the season are the Kansas City Chiefs. We’ll get to my thoughts on the game in my predictions column a little later today. First, we have one more division to preview before the season kicks off.

The AFC West was without a doubt the best division in the NFL last season (sorry NFC East fans). Thanks to the surprising leap made by the Oakland Raiders, this division came down to the wire but turned due to a Derek Carr injury. Kansas City was able to take advantage, winning the regular season finale to take the division crown at the 11^th hour.

2017 figures to feature a similar story arc, but just a little more complicated. The Raiders solidified their offense and, on paper, should be the favorites in the division. Kansas City is right there, this year needing its youth to match the level of the vets to get back to the postseason. Denver’s defense is still fearsome. The real enigma of this division is the Los Angeles Chargers, where bad luck as made a home for the last few seasons, but could be in line for a turn in their fortunes.

Let’s take a look at this division in today’s first installment of “No Huddle.”

Kansas City Chiefs (last season: 12-4)

We get our first look official look at the Chiefs tonight, but for the most part we all pretty much know the story with KC. This is an Andy Reid-coached team. They’ll be conservative and opportunistic on offense and rely on their strong defense. There is a small twist heading into this season though.

Kansas City’s offense isn’t exactly what you would call exciting. Last season that changed with the arrival of Tyreek Hill, who literally burst on the season for the Chiefs. Hill showed the ability to score touchdowns whenever he touched the football. Now the Chiefs will look for Hill to be a focal point of this offense moving forward. Jeremy Maclin is out, and Hill will be the guy to fill the top receiver role.

The Chiefs struck gold with Hill last season, drafting him in the fifth round in 2016 out of West Alabama and getting an All-Pro season out of him. This season Kansas City is hoping they have struck gold for a second year in a row. Even before the Spencer Ware injury we had been hearing rumblings that Kansas City was in love with rookie running back Kareem Hunt.

As the offseason moved into the summer, the volume of those rumblings got turned up to 11. Hunt is now the lead back and will have a primary role in this offense this season. The third round pick out of Toledo could be one of the keys to the Chiefs offense finding another gear.

It’s a new year, but the same story with the Chiefs defense. They lost Dontari Poe in free agency, and aside from that nothing has really changed. An injury to Justin Houston really hampered this pass rush last season. This year, Houston is healthy and ready to get this defense back up the sack rankings, an area that must improve this season. His partner in-pressure, Tamba Hali, is a little banged up but once these two are on the field we might see the best this defense has to offer.

Part of the reason KC lost Poe in free agency was due to the negotiations with safety Eric Berry. The Chiefs wisely chose to resign Berry, keeping their best defensive playmaker in the organization. An improved pass rush will make things that much easier for Berry to disrupt and cause turnovers.

The window is closing on this current Chiefs team, but there is no reason why this team shouldn’t be in contention for a playoff spot. The head-to-head matchups with Oakland will ultimately determine which team has to go through the Wild Card and which team has home-field advantage in the Divisional Round.

Oakland Raiders (last season: 12-4)

Quick question. Who was the most fun team to watch on the Red Zone Channel last year? Most people would probably say the Oakland Raiders. This was a team that thrived on living on the edge last season, going 8-1 in games decided by seven points or less. That’s a trend that doesn’t usually carry over year-to-year, but that doesn’t mean this team is set up to fail. In fact, Oakland looks locked into a playoff spot barring another injury to Derek Carr.

If it weren’t for an injury on Christmas Eve, Carr should have been the league’s MVP last season. He virtually carried this team to a 12-3 record before his injury. That’s even more impressive when you look at their offensive and defensive split from 2016. Oakland had a top-ten offense and a bottom-ten defense. Carr throwing to Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree has been a thing of beauty the last two seasons. The three C’s will clearly be the focal point of this offense this year.

In order to win in the postseason, you need to have a changeup. Oakland’s running game was good but not great last season. Their offensive line ranks among the best in the league, but Oakland has been going through running backs with varying degrees of success. With Latavius Murray now residing in Minnesota, Oakland convinced Marshawn Lynch to come out of retirement to play for his hometown team.

Beast Mode has looked good so far this preseason, and looks fresh after his year-long sabbatical. If Lynch stays healthy, I don’t know how opposing defenses will be able to stop this offense. The run/pass combination will present a “pick your poison” dilemma.

The Raiders will need the offense to be that good because this defense might be that bad. If it weren’t for the presence of reigning Defensive Player of the Year Khalil Mack, this defense would probably rank even worse. Mack has to be otherworldly in order for this team to have any chance to stay in the top-tier of the AFC. There isn’t much of any proven talent outside of him. I wish there was more to say but that’s pretty much the book on the Oakland defense.

It will be another year of games coming down to the wire for the Raiders. My biggest worry for this team is this defense but the offense has plenty of firepower to overcome that issue though. Thankfully they play in the AFC, which should mean a return trip to the postseason for the Raiders.

Denver Broncos (last season: 9-7)

Last season wasn’t quite the encore that the Broncos were hoping for following a Super Bowl 50 victory. Denver lost “The Sheriff” to retirement and in stepped Trevor Siemian to lead the offense. What followed was a series of ups and downs that led to the Broncos ultimately missing the postseason. 2017 is setting up for a similar story.

Siemian won the battle for the starting QB job in training camp and will get another crack at proving he is a viable NFL starter. If that’s the case, he will have to get the ball to Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders with more consistency. These two are still one of the best receiver tandems in the league, which should help the young Siemian.

An improved rushing attack could also help out a young quarterback. C.J. Anderson’s injury sent this running game into a tailspin as Devantae Booker and Kapri Bibbs couldn’t get any consistent production. Most of the blame could fall on this offensive line, which was pretty subpar last season. Unfortunately, we won’t know for sure if this reconfigured line will be a big improvement on last season. If so, then Denver could have something with this offense.

Denver’s defense needs this offense to improve. While they were able to win one Super Bowl with this defense doing all of the work, that just isn’t a formula you can sustain year-to-year. This is still a top-three defense led by Von Miller and the best cornerback tandem in the league. This modern “Orange Crush” will have to do without defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, who is now the DC for the Rams.

Any way you slice it, the path to the postseason for Denver is led by the defense. They are tough to score points on consistency while they harass your quarterback and take the football away. It’s all about pressure and being right up in your face all the time.

As far as playoff hopes go, you have to give the Broncos a puncher’s chance. This defense is too good and the offense just has to show signs of life to win some ball games. In a thin AFC wild card race, this is not the team you want to see sneak in as the sixth seed. The numbers game could be the problem, as only two Wild Card spots are available for this division.

Los Angeles Chargers (last season: 5-11)

2016 turned into another series of unfortunate events for the Chargers in what turned out to be their final season in San Diego. Now playing in Carson for the next two seasons, the Chargers are hoping a change of scenery will be the spark for a return to the postseason. If anyone on this team could just stay healthy, this would be a really interesting team. In fact, since all of the key veterans, the Chargers are actually a trendy pick to win this division.

Philip Rivers has been stuck in neutral for years, saddled with an offense that just can’t make it through the full season. Most of it has been bad luck and some freak injuries. Melvin Gordon and Keenan Allen are both healthy once again and as long as that stays that way this offense will be in business. Add in Hunter Henry, Tyrell Williams, Antonio Gates, and the eventual debut of the currently injured Mike Williams and this offense really has a chance to be special.

Gordon really broke out last season after a disappointing rookie campaign. He gives this offense the steady rushing attack that it needs for Rivers to air it out without issues. This can be a highly productive unit overall, but we kind of already knew that. So why is this team becoming a trendy pick in the division?

Well it’s the potential of this defense. Joey Bosa didn’t get to play the entire season, but once he got going he proved that he could become a dominant pass rusher. Paired with Melvin Ingram, Bosa could take an even bigger step forward this season. Ingram and Bosa could be a lethal combination in the pass rush, which will allow Jason Verette to finally realize his potential. Expect a lot of sacks from this defense, and that could mean more turnovers as well.

The Chargers might be a trendy pick in this division, however I’m pumping the brakes on that. Los Angeles has a lot working for them, but luck doesn’t seem to be on their side. However, if this team stays healthy they can make a strong push to be the third playoff team from this division.

Stay tuned to Shooting the Moon for my 2017 NFL Predictions column. I’ll also preview the opener between New England and Kansas City and make my first ATS pick of the season. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.