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This is a critical week for the four teams in the AFC West, as Denver travels to San Diego and Oakland hosts Kansas City. The Raiders gave themselves an opportunity to catch the Broncos by beating them last Sunday night, but Denver can still move into a tie for the division lead with a win. The first three injuries on the list all come from the AFC West, all of which could impact the outcome of this weekend's games and the playoff race.

Here is a list of six injured players, their prognosis and their replacement:

Prognosis: Welbourn had been nursing a knee injury for much of the year, and Kansas City placed him on injured reserve following its game against New England.
Replacement: Chris Bober.
Impact on this week's game: The loss of Welbourn could have a significant impact on this week's game at Oakland. With the Raider faithful making it harder to communicate on offense and QB Trent Green banged up, Kansas City will want to run early and often. The problem is Bober lacks ideal strength and will have some trouble sealing the edge working against two-gap LDE Bobby Hamilton. Priest Holmes is still out with a knee injury.
Impact down the road: The Chiefs play Tennessee following the Raiders game, and they should have success running the ball against a Titans' defense that has been decimated by injury. But Bober could struggle mightily in Kansas City's last three games – at home against Denver and Oakland, then at San Diego. Broncos LDE Marco Coleman does a good job of holding his ground at the point of attack and, much-like the Raiders, the Chargers have good size at defensive end.

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