The AFC West is solely in the hands of the Denver Broncos after their 44-24 victory against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 8. As of Monday morning, Denver remains a game ahead of the Los Angeles Chargers and a game and a half ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs for first place in the division. The Broncos now move to a 6-2 record and remain undefeated at home in four games.

After its most recent win, Denver may have finally solidified itself as a legitimate contender in the league. The Bleacher Report NFL Staff are certainly believers of the Broncos' legitimacy in the AFC.

“While any offensive performance against Dallas should be taken with a grain of salt, the Broncos are starting to figure out who their playmakers on offense are,” the B/R NFL Staff wrote in a recent article. “That, combined with a top-five defense, is enough to think that Denver will be a factor in the AFC the rest of the way.”

The Cowboys aren’t a good defensive team by any means, as evidenced by their 31.3 points per game allowed, but the Week 8 blowout looked more like it was due to the hot Denver offense rather than the poor Dallas defense. 

Denver scored six offensive touchdowns on Sunday, four of which came from quarterback Bo Nix and two came from the hands of running back RJ Harvey in the ground game. Nix threw for 247 yards on 19 completions against the Dallas secondary to go with his four touchdowns. The second-year quarterback showed up once again and led the Denver offense down the field possession after possession. Still, the Broncos' rushing game may have stolen the spotlight from a great passing game from Nix.

As a team, the Broncos rushed for 179 yards, 111 of which came from J.K. Dobbins. It’s now the second time in 2025 that Dobbins has surpassed 100 rushing yards, this time getting it done on just 15 attempts for an average of 7.4 yards per carry. Rookie back Harvey was the one who tallied the touchdowns from the ground, however, scoring one of his two touchdowns on a 40-yard toss. He finished with 46 rushing yards on the day.

Every football fan already understands how dominant the Broncos’ defense is. There’s no doubt that the defense is that of a contender, but the offense was always the question for Denver. After Week 8, many of those questions have seemingly been answered. The offense looks to finally be clicking after an up-and-down start to the season. 

While a dominant performance against the Cowboys was fairly convincing, the real test comes next week against the Houston Texans. The Texans have allowed the fewest points per game in the NFL through eight weeks. If the Broncos want to cement themselves as a top contender in the AFC, they need to have a statement game against the top defense in the league.