AFC West: Are the Raiders the Team to Beat?

It's that time of year again when the weather gets cooler and America's greatest sport begins.

There is a bunch of new talent coming to the NFL this year (i.e. Matt Ryan, Darren McFadden). A lot of players have moved around and a lot of teams have changed for both good and bad.

The team that is the most impressive through all of this, though, might be the Oakland Raiders.

During the offseason, the Raiders obtained big-name players such as DeAngelo Hall and Darren McFadden.

Adding Hall gives the Raiders a 1-2 punch for cornerbacks, since they already have Pro-Bowler Nmadi Asoumgha. Now that the Raiders have Hall, it will be real hard for teams to go with the deep ball. And since nobody will throw over to Asoumgha's direction, they are going to have to deal with Hall there.

McFadden will give the Raiders the ground game they need to make up for the fact they are having an issue with signing another quarterback. Even though the Raiders have Justin Fargas at running back, there are rumors circulating around the fact that McFadden is going to be the opening-day starter.

Since Josh McCown signed with Miami and Daunte Culpepper is a free agent, look for the Raiders to re-sign the veteran Culpepper and have him fight for the starting job with JaMarcus Russell until the second-year player can become the franchise quarterback.

Another key player added by the Raiders was safety Gibril Wilson from the world-champion Giants. Wilson plays strong safety, but so does Michael Huff, so look for either Wilson or Huff to switch from strong safety to free safety.

Oakland also added a deep threat in Javon Walker, a former Pro-Bowler, and you have a Raiders team that is poised to climb atop the AFC West.

Lastly to Raiders fans, your team is going to go somewhere this year and be a .500-plus team. Look for your Raiders to make the playoffs this year because, after all, "offense wins games, but defense wins championships."