Hello my people. Breaking AFC West news:
The San Diego Chargers have won their 4th straight AFC West title! Congratulations! As jbox and dex would say, hi-fives all around!
In light of this information, I'm going to shorten this column until the off-season, at which time I will probably update bi-weekly or so to all the big news going on in conference. Further, I'm going to come up with some other columns and editorials to do, if anyone has any suggestions or requests let me know in the comments. There may be a hint on this post about my next one.
Let's talk about the bottom two teams in the division first. Ok, the Chiefs are just awful. Any momentum they might have had from their big win over the Steelers is gone. Yeah, their offense put up big numbers this week, but it came against a very lousy Browns defense. Not only that, Brady Quinn had only 66 yards passing and two interceptions and the Chiefs still lost. The best receiver EVAR, Chris Chambers, had another big game for the team that leads the NFL in drops. The return of Dwayne Bowe, who led the team with 3 drops on Sunday, didn't help matters much. So yeah, the Chiefs are looking at another high round draft pick. They better hope that pick makes a bigger impact than Tyson Jackson who has been nearly invisible. The Chiefs gave up THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY ONE yards rushing. Oh ya, Josh Cribbs had TWO 100 yard+ kick returns.
The Raiders. Their WRs drop a lot of passes too. It doesn't help that they have 13 different QBs who all may play at any given moment. To tell you the truth, I think the Raiders are playing the best football in the division out of all teams not named the Chargers. They are really streaky and inconsistent, but I think they are only a few pieces away from being competitive. I don't think they are as far away as people might think. They really need a franchise QB that isn't a bust; perhaps Sam Bradford will be in their future. Knowing Al Davis though, he'll probably draft Tim Tebow. Or Ryan Leaf. The Raiders had 241 yards rushing against the vaunted Denver defense; they probably need a few big pieces on defense still, but I don't think they'll be pushovers next season.
The other trendy, inconsistent team in the division is the Broncos. Except of course, they are trending downward not upward. Surprised? I thought this Broncos team was different than last year. I thought they weren't going to choke this year. New coach, new QB; same old Broncos. The passing was average and they weren't able to get any rushing game going against the Raiders. The Raiders ran the ball down their throats. The Broncos will probably sneak into the playoffs by the skins of their teeth, but I don't think their is anyway they win a road playoff game. The defense is old and has gotten weak and tired as the season dragged on like I expected. This was a division game and they are generally tougher than usual, but I just don't see it happening. The defense is built to compete this year and the offense, while decent, just isn't good enough to outscore any good offensive teams; and the Raiders aren't a good offensive team. Just sayin.
Ya'll know what's up with the Bolts. The game on Christmas is a must win for the Titans but is not a must win for the Bolts. I wouldn't be too upset if we lost. I don't except us to lose though, because of the history between the teams and what I've heard from the players. It seems like the players want to win this game just as bad as any other and this isn't a team that is going to back down or not give it 100% just because it isn't a must-win game. The Titans defense is terrible and I expect CJ to get a lot of yards but I also expect for the Chargers to trade FGs for TDs just like the strategy has been for every other game.