Remove JaMarcus from that team last year, and they have 8 wins easily

The Raiders scare me a bit this year. I was hoping for a combination of A) another wasted draft and B) Jamarcus remaining the starting QB. Neither happened, and in fact, the Raiders actually improved.

Now, I don’t expect them to go 10-6 this year, but I would not be shocked with an 8-8 season out of them, including a win against the Chargers this year. This is the first year that I’m legitimately worried the winning streak over the Raiders will end.

the best offseason improvements of any AFCW team IMO – including us.

Am I scared? Absolutely not. But I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see our string of consecutive wins vs. them end this year. Give them almost any QB but Russell & they would have kicked our asses last year in the opener.

KC is headed in the right direction but they aren’t there yet. Frankly, I don’t have all that much faith in Haley as a HC & even less in Cassell as a franchise QB.

Denver? They aren’t even close to being a mile high, regardless of the altitude. Little Hoodie is every other AFCW team’s dream HC for them. Maybe he can make his next stop USC after Kiffin craps the bed there.

If we had like 8 Daffy’s in a circle jerk.

I do not fear the Chiefs nor the Raiders.

Have you guys heard smacksaw stumping for the chargers to sign TO? That’s even more unlikely than AJ putting the original 3 million back on the table for VJ.

Kyle Orton really loves him some Jack Daniels. Maybe he is preparing to market a steak marinade?

There isn’t a reason to fear. Part of this confident attitude should be attributed to Josh McDaniels and Pat Bowlen. The Broncos were a few players from becoming an elite team and Pat brought in Al Davis’ youger genetic twin. Whom then proceded to systematically dismantle the team piece by piece like some sort of GM Terminator. You know what? The praise you gave Al got me thinking? Maybe Al contructed McDaniels in his mansion’s garage and sent him as a sleeper agent to Bowlen’s HQ.

It mainly comes down to schedule combined with its calculations that the Chiefs are better than the Raiders and Broncos. The FBO projections come out with the Chiefs having the easiest schedule in the NFL. Like I said, it projects the Chiefs as better than the Broncos and Raiders so they get slightly better odds at beating those teams than the other way around. On top of that, they get to play the NFC West and its crappy teams, since it doesn’t take much to be a likely victor against those teams I assume it gives them similar odds of winning those games as it does the Chargers. On top of that they get to play Cleveland and Buffalo instead of New England and Cincinnati (who the Chargers play).

What I’m saying is that what happened is that their schedule is so easy that it projects them to beat all the teams the Chargers beat, plus 2 more likely wins. The projections are somewhat down on the Chargers since we have a lot to prove to keep ourselves elite, which I think is logical to expect from something that can’t make subjection decisions (passing game is likely to regress to the mean so we have to make up for it in ways we haven’t done in years, we are replacing a left tackle and our defense only played well toward the end of the season all make up obvious problems for an objective-based system).

It also appears that some of the variables seem to go in the Chiefs favor for them to improve. DVOA loved Jamaal Charles’ performances and it likes the additions of Berry and Weigmann addressing their two biggest needs. There also are some indicators that point to Tamba Hali being a breakout candidate as a pass rusher. All that gives the Chiefs the slight uptick they need to be considered the second best team in the division.

So, combine the easiness of schedules, the Chargers two tougher games, a slightly optimistic projection for the Chiefs and a slightly pessimistic projection for the Chargers to get a projected photo finish.

There’s too many if, ands, buts and what-have-yous to really put much stock in it. They even mention in the article that any health issues for the Chiefs would sabotage them because they aren’t terribly deep at any position. As John also mentioned it could be tough to overcome Matt Cassell. I think the projection wants you to believe that Jamaal Charles’ running will protect him, but if that’s even a little off then Cassell could crush this team’s offense.

Don’t worry Chargers fans, the projections are perfectly legit, but not much to worry about. We just need to beat the a couple of the tougher teams on the schedule and we’ll cruise by those suckers. And, if we can’t beat the Colts, Patriots, Bengals, etc. of the NFL we probably can’t win it all anyway.

I fear the first game of the season.

-Their LT and WR will more than likely hold out. Even if they don’t Jackson will still be suspended for the MNF opener at Arrowhead.
-Your last 3 draft picks prior to Matthews look like bust or mediocre players. (Davis, English, and Cason)
-You don’t have an elite defender anymore (Merriman is washed up)
-Running game may be legit, but it will take some time for your rookie runner to become comfortable
-Gates may be legit, but in case you haven’t noticed we have been drafting to specifically beat your team. Mr. Gates, meet Eric Berry.
-Rivers may be legit, but lets be honest, the guy is a douche and a half.

We are going to kick your ass in front of the whole country on MNF. Just wait and see.

Chargers
 Instead of the post-season they will extend their choking abilities to the regular season this year.

Broncos
McD will keep running them into the ground. Enough said.

Raiders
Too much speed, not enough football IQ.

The AFC West is wide open this year. Don’t fool yourself Chargers you are a worst team than last year and yet couldn’t win one game int he playoffs. Yeah, I know the Chiefs haven’t made the playoffs in forever but we are talking about this year. This year you are worst than last year. We are much better. The Broncos are worst and the Raiders are better. It’s wide open and that’s what you are really afraid of so stop talking tough the door is closing on you guys fast. You can’t put everything on Rivers shoulders. He isn’t Peyton Manning and you guys are far from being the Colts.

I’m going to save that one.

Now, coming from a Chiefs fan here, I believe the Chargers are bound to drop off. This is a team that went 8-8 two seasons ago, and I don’t see how the ‘10 iteration is any better than that ’08 version. Then again, maybe the 13-3 team from last season is true to the talent…I don’t know. I just feel that your team is too dependent on Rivers, and with your (very good) LT and (great) WR out, there’s going to be a negative affect on his production. Matthews may be the real deal at RB, but he’s coming from a relatively minor college conference & there is bound to be some addition to the learning curve because of that. Honestly, beyond Rivers and Gates, who can you count on? On defense, you have Jammer & a pretty good safety (can’t recall his name). You also have some talent at LB, but there’s a lot riding on Merriman coming back to his old form…which he’s 2 years removed from. The SD defense could be ok, or it could be awful…it’s hard for me to guess.

As for KC fans, yes we are excited, for a lot of reasons. I won’t go into detail here, but we now have a proven coaching staff (who can gameplan) and a lot of young talent installed since 2008. Our success is dependent on these young players making incremental improvements this year, and for some of the rookie class to step in and play like professionals. It’s probably too much to ask, but we are “fans” so we are hopeful.

As for Cassel, I don’t think he’s nearly as bad as what you think…he did play poorly 2x vs. SD, so that’s probably where the impressions come from. No, his overall numbers weren’t very good last year, but had the receivers had the league average in drops (as opposed to nearly setting an NFL record in the category) his stats would have been significantly better. His sack rate was also 50% lower over the second half of the season…he and his OL are learning the system, and improving. The main thing I like about Cassel is that he doesn’t panic under pressure. I believe he was one of the best red zone QBs last season, and he made good decisions when it was most important. He’ll be working with an improved OL, along with two additional legit receiving targets this season, so we should know what he’s all about over the next few months.

In any case, certainly looking forward to the Monday Night Opener…!

You can get by with out Jackson, but not with out McNeill. Rivers is good….but EVERY great QB had a a very good LT. I laugh at the arrogance of AJ Smith…the guy is a peanut.
Unfortunately for all of us, the AFC West is the WEAKEST division in all of football….except maybe the NFC West. If you put any of the AFC West teams in the AFC East, fro example, they would be lucky to finish 3rd.

It seems like you have the facts down pretty well. Your grades on the new defensive three are even fair. I’m impressed, even, that you didn’t call Jamal old and injury prone (he was elite last time he was on the field, an arm injury and a vacation shouldn’t change that).

Here’s where you’re off: The defense. We Bronco fans are much more concerned with our offense. Even after the epic collapse last year, we had the 7th ranked defense… 3rd ranked pass defense (only gave up one 300 yard passing game). You saw the problem at the back end of the season. So you must have seen that the problem was stopping the run when our line wore down. But you also saw our FA pickups… the entire line. Plus, we’ve got last year’s starters as this year’s backups. That’s a fix, IMO. I don’t expect you to say it’s an awesome fix, but when you acknowledge the problem late, you see that the problem was stopping the run, and you acknowledge that the entire line has been upgraded by a large margin… well, how can you not take from that that the defense will be better or even the same (7th)?

The offense has questions. We think D. Thomas and Eric Decker will be stud receivers. We think that our early round draft picks will provide us with a bigger push on the interior OL to help our running game get back on track this year. And we think that Orton will be slightly impoved (at least) in his 2nd year in this complicated system. But…….. We do realize that the new receivers taking up for losing Marshall could take time. And we do realize that an offensive line with potentially two rookies will take time to get gelling.

In short, I liked the post. And I rec’d it. I think you have the details pretty much on and you’ve done your homework. It’s the opinion on the defense, the big picture, that I think is off.

This author gave a shallow analysis of a pretty stellar 2009 Broncos Defense. Especially considering how we played on that side of the ball the last couple of years. Our defense was shutting down team completely in the beginning of the season, but just didn’t have the size or energy to hold up against the run as the season dragged on. Teams were able to run down the clock on our… less than explosive (to put it nicely) offense. Without the ability to score a lot of point quickly, we just couldn’t win our games, even though many of them were close – even against very good teams (Philly and Indy). So although you (John the Author) had some fair things to say about Denver, the fact that everyone keeps saying she should have used our high-end draft picks on Defense just keeps stumping me. It just shows how shallow the analysis is on opposing teams – which is pretty disappointing considering we are your division rivals. I sure hope your team thinks like you do though, I love it when you guys underestimate us. We won’t be doing the same for you. Vincent’s hold-out (although not at all surprising) isn’t going to affect your game plan too much, but your LT putting on the brakes could really jack some stuff up unless you’ve got a young guy ready to step up (much like our O-Line will be needing this year). Honestly the toughest thing I see the Chargers dealing with is getting a good running game going. The line hasn’t shown much of any push the last couple years (which is why I think LT declined there and will have a good season in NY) especially with that rookie RB still needing to adjust to the speed of the progame. The LB and Secondary in college move in slow motion compared to the NFL. We’ll see how long it takes him to find his nich, especially if your O-line can’t step it up.

The Broncos, Chiefs and tRaiders all have SuperBowl wins. Until you get one I wouldn’t gloat too much…

Are giving me a headache.

I will give advice that a wise sage once told me: Paragraphs.