AFC West Breakdown: Still Broncos to Lose
The over/under for the Denver Broncos is at 11.5 games. Can Manning and Co. repeat last season’s success?
Peyton Manning, star quarterback of the Denver Broncos, is another year older. That may not bode well for the Broncos Super Bowl chances, but they still rule the AFC West by a fairly large margin. Denver has added one very potent weapon to their arsenal in former New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker. The Broncos were 13-3 a year ago and won the division by a whopping six games a year ago. Did the division make up six games? Doubtful. The Broncos will possibly be even better if Manning does not have too much drop off by adding another birthday. Welker makes the receiving corps better. They also added Montee Ball, a pretty good college running back out of Wisconsin to go with a healthy Knowshon Moreno and Willis McGahee this year.
Denver begins the season with the Baltimore Ravens and New York Giants, the last two Super Bowl winners. So they better be ready to go from the start. But after those two, the schedule softens quite a bit with the Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars the next four weeks. So they are looking at a minimum 4-2 start and possibly could be 6-0.
The second place team a year ago was the San Diego Chargers at 7-9. There is no reason to think they will not come in second again this year. The question will be can they compete for an AFC Wild Card? The Chargers have the look of a team on the decline. But they will be bringing in a new coach this season in Mike McCoy. Sometimes a coaching change breathes new life into a team. With Philip Rivers at quarterback, the Chargers have a good piece to start the rebuild. They added offensive lineman Max Starks, formerly of the Pittsburgh Steelers to bolster his protection.
The Chargers drafted Notre Dame standout linebacker Manti Te’o. Will he become another Junior Seau? Or will be be an off-field distraction? We see the Chargers missing the playoffs again.
The Kansas City Chiefs were 2-14 a year ago. But this is a fairly talented team. Now they bring in a proven winner in Andy Reid as head coach and a new quarterback who is also a winner in Alex Smith. Look for the Chiefs to challenge the Chargers for the second spot on this division. There is some talent with Eric Berry, Dexter McCluster, Jamaal Charles and company. The Chiefs could be one of the NFL’s most improved teams this year. Look for them to win between six and eight games.
The Oakland Raiders are a much of a lock for last as the Broncos are for first. At some point the Raiders will be starting Terrelle Pryor at quarterback. That’s when the white flags will be waving. They will start out with Matt Flynn. But Flynn is an unproven quarterback. The guy who may be the eventual number one is Tyler Wilson, the rookie from Arkansas. But the Raiders are just a poorly run franchise from the top down. It starts with Mark Davis, the son of the late Al Davis who can’t even get a decent haircut. Someone compared him to the Chris Farley character in “Tommy Boy.”
The Raiders will be lucky if they can duplicate their four wins from a year ago. They will be really, really bad.
