The Patriots have issues, and we saw that this past weekend, when they were torn apart at home by the Dolphins. I don't think that was a one-time deal: The Pats' defense is old, and it's finally starting to show, and I don't know if the Patriots will be able to outscore teams the way they did last year.

The Steelers were blitzed to death by the Eagles, and as I mentioned in the preseason, Pittsburgh's offensive line is going to be an issue all season long. Big Ben is beaten up and both Willie Parker and Casey Hampton are out this week. The Steelerrs also play a brutal schedule, which will make it very tough for them to stay at the top.

The Colts just look plain bad. There's nothing like starting out 0-2 at your brand new home, right? In all honesty, the bye week comes at a great time for these guys and they should be alright, but they are two games out of first place and are way out of sync offensively. Not to mention, as overplayed as it's been, Bob Sanders has a HUGE impact on this defense. He is a true catalyst, and without him for the next month, the Indy defense will clearly struggle.

Now, back to the Chargers. They're a last-second touchdown against the Panthers and a blown Ed Hochuli call away from being 3-0. Outside of the Broncos, the AFC West isn't tough at all, and San Diego has been able to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks even without Shawne Merriman. That shows me that they are deep, they have drafted well and they have several playmakers at multiple positions.

The one guy that stands out on this team is a guy I've ripped apart over the past two seasons. It takes a bigger man to admit he is wrong, and I was wrong about Philip Rivers. When he was drafted, I thought he was one of those guys that benefited from a huge Senior Bowl performance and a good combine workout, causing him to get drafted much higher than he should have.

The reality is that LaDainian Tomlinson has been just OK over the first three weeks, and Rivers has been lights out. He has nine touchdown passes, and he's beginning to look like one of the NFL's elite quarterbacks. Last year I mentioned on our old buddy Zach Baker's blog that Rivers was the problem during their early season slump and I wasn't sure if he was going to make the appropriate adjustments to be a star. Two years ago, his quarterback rating was great at the beginning, but once defenses figured him out, it dropped significantly. Fast forward one year: In 2007, he made the adjustments in the second half and was huge for them down the stretch and is off to a hot start this year.

Tomlinson is averaging 3.3 yards per carry with a pair of touchdowns and he's been a non-factor in the passing game, with eight receptions for just 49 yards. Rivers is getting it done through the air with Antonio Gates, Vincent Jackson and Chris Chambers, the latter of whom has already found the end zone four times. It's amazing to me that they've been as great as they've been offensively with LT not putting up LT-type numbers.

Monday night's game against the Jets gave me a pretty good indication as to just how powerful this team will be. Defensively, they're allowing teams to convert 30 percent of their third-down conversions, fifth-best in the NFL, and while they've registered just five sacks, they've still been disruptive to opposing quarterbacks by making them get rid of the ball faster than they'd like.

In the coming weeks, they'll face the Raiders, Dolphins and the Brady-less Patriots, and they'll head to both Buffalo and New Orleans before their bye week in early November. The first three games are all very winnable games, while the next two on the road will be somewhat challenging. However, there is a very realistic chance that Bolts could be 5-3 or perhaps 6-2 going into their bye week. As I mentioned earlier, with the other top dogs in the AFC down this year, 5-3 or 6-2 will look pretty good in early November.

Before the year, I thought San Diego was the second-most talented team on paper behind the Cowboys. After starting the year 0-2, people were beginning to panic and ready to shove these guys aside; I don't think they're done yet, and if Monday's game was any indication, they will be right where they were last year come January. They may actually take that next step and get to a place they haven't been since Junior Seau was their stud linebacker, Natrone Means was their flash tailback and Stan Humphries was behind center.

It's too early to start talking Super Bowl, but right now, even though they are 1-2, they are still in a great position to start the march while the AFC appears to be down. It's all about how you finish, and I expect a strong finish from the Chargers.