NFL Reset: AFC West Outlook for the Upcoming Season (Part Four)

With the preseason finally underway, it’s almost time for yet another season of football.  It’s the time of year when every team is 0-0, and each team has the chance to win the Super Bowl (Well, except for the Browns, but we will get to that later).

A lot of teams have the potential to make the playoffs, so here’s how it might just go down: (Part three of this series looks at the AFC West.)

Denver Broncos – This has been one of the most interesting teams in the offseason.  With a new quarterback, a new coach, and a grumpy wide receiver, this team has seen it all.  With one of the most tension filled offseason’s a team can see, it will be interesting to see how that translates on to the field.  So far, the team has struggled this preseason but we will wait and see, as the Lions showed us last year, if the preseason is any indication of how the real season will go.

Of course, the biggest thing that happened to this team is Brandon Marshall.  Marshall has been very unhappy with the team this offseason, to say the least.  He has wanted a trade or a new contract extension, and the Broncos have not given it to him. 

However, rather than just going out on the field and playing football, he is acting like a prima donna. Batting down and punting balls, he was not even trying on the field anymore until the team suspended him. 

He will be back in the first week of the regular season, and it will be interesting to see how he acts with the lights on and when the games matter.

Also, one of the big offseason moves was a new head coach in Josh McDaniels.  He has huge shoes to fill after Mike Shanahan left, and hopefully, he has some big feet.  If this offseason is any indication of how he will handle the pressure this season, then he should be just fine. 

One of the biggest things that he did was the draft.  He made some good pickups through the draft with Knowshon Moreno and Robert Ayers. 

Moreno brings a starter to a floundering Broncos rushing game that went through many running backs last season, and with Ayers they get a first-year player who will be ready to play. 

Hopefully, with a steady running game and figuring out what do with Marshall, they can right the ship and make a run for the AFC West Crown.

Kansas City Chiefs – What else is there to say? This team was just terrible last season. 

They couldn’t buy a win, and they were near the bottom of the stat book in just about every category.  However, this team made some great moves in the offseason.  They got a new head coach, a new quarterback, and several more veteran players. 

This team may not be ready for the top of the division this season, but hopefully they can show us that they one day will be ready.

One of the best moves the Chiefs made in the offseason was acquiring Matt Cassel.  Matt Cassel led a great offensive last year with New England, but now we will really see if he is as good as people say he is. With him at the helm last year, the team still soared, but that is because he has superstar wide receivers in Randy Moss and Wes Welker. 

Now, he will have Dwayne Bowe and Bobby Engram, who are just not on the same level as Moss and Welker.  This is the season where Matt Cassel can stamp his mark in the NFL or become a bust.

Lining up behind Cassel is the biggest play-maker of the team, Larry Johnson.  Larry Johnson has been a streaky player.  He can rush for over 1,750 yards in a season but then struggle for only 560 the next year. 

Last season, he ran for just under 875 yards, and they need more production out of him.  He can be the star player that he team really needs, but only if he is consistent.  If he struggles, then the team struggles.

And the team could find themselves struggling yet again this season.

Oakland Raiders – Yet another struggling team out of the AFC West, this team only scrounged together five wins last season.  This team has been struggling since their 2003 Super Bowl appearance.  The team just hasn’t found a star on offense. However, with a new coach (sort of) and a great first-round draft pick, things are looking up for this team.

Halfway through the year last season, this team decided to make a coaching change.  They went with Tom Cable, and he did a pretty good job.  He went 4-8, which isn’t bad for a midseason replacement.  Now that he has been at the helm for the offseason, he is ready to put his guys out there and hopefully put up some better numbers. 

It really all starts with the play of their quarterback, Jeff Garcia or JaMarcus Russell, whoever they decide to go with.  It’s really a toss-up.  Russell could prove himself to be the quarterback of the future, or Garcia could show that he has another good season left in him.

One of the great points of the offseason for the Raiders was their draft.  They took a gamble by taking Darrius Heyward-Bey with their first pick. A lot of people had them taking Michael Crabtree, but they felt that Heyward-Bey was a better fit for their team.  With all the offseason antics involving Crabtree, Heyward-Bey is looking to be a good choice. 

He gives them unquestionable speed for the long bombs, but he also gives them a playmaker at wide receiver that they so desperately need. They have not had a good playmaker there since Jerry Rice.  Now with Heyward-Bey, the Raiders get a star who will hopefully be an elite receiver and rookie of year candidate.

San Diego Chargers – This was a breakout team in at the end of the 2008 season.  They barely squeaked into the playoffs and made a run. 

Now, they are hungry for another run this season, and they look like the front-runners to win this division.  With an elite running back looking for another great season and an elite quarterback on the rise, this team has all the tools to be a successful team and go farther in the playoffs.

Since they drafted him in 2001, LaDainian Tomlinson has been a great running back for this team.  He has been one of the most productive backs over that time period, and he is poised and ready for another great season.  He has been the heart and soul of this team, and he will only be more important as the season rolls on. 

However, one of the surprises last year was the rise of Darren Sproles. He carried this team during the playoffs, coming up huge in their games. It will be interesting to see how they use him and Tomlinson together during the season.  Don’t be surprised if you see one of them complain that they are not seeing enough playing time, since they both want to basically run the offense.

While they already have two great running backs, they have been waiting for Phillip Rivers to breakout.  Now this season, he is more than ready to breakout like they want.  He shows great heart during games and has been up there in terms of passing yards and touchdowns year after year. 

With a great receiving tight end in Antonio Gates and a rising star Malcom Floyd, Rivers will finally have the great wide receivers around him.  With all the weapons around him, he will finally explode onto the field and be one of the best quarterbacks this year. 

If that happens, look for the Chargers to possibly make the trip across the country in February to play football in Miami.