ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — While preseason favorites Kansas City and Baltimore stumble along, the Denver Broncos are tied with fellow upstarts New England and Indianapolis for the best record in the NFL at 7-2.

The Broncos are a game ahead of the Chargers and two ahead of the Chiefs in their quest to end Kansas City's nine-year reign atop the AFC West. But they haven't collected many style points in winning six straight games for the first time in a decade.

Darren Rizzi's special teams units are error-prone and cost the Broncos a win at Indianapolis in Week 2, and their offense is often out-of-sync, at least until the fourth quarter.

Their defense is top notch in almost every category except for a dearth of takeaways and star Pat Surtain II (strained chest muscle) will miss key division matchup

See Full Page