1-Denver Broncos
Offense
For better or worse, this is Jake Plummer’s team now. With the trade of Clinton Portis to the Redskins, and no clear favorite among sawed-off Quentin Griffin, ageing vet Garrison Hearst and young speedster Tatum Bell, the Broncos will relay more on the pass than in recent years. To accomplish this they need Plummer to stay healthy and effective, and the young receivers Ashley Lelie and Darius Watts need to step up. The line will be closely watched, as for the first time in years, coach Alex Gibbs is gone, now the line coach in Atlanta.
Defense
Young and deep on the line, young and speedy at linebacker, and adding quality pieces in the secondary, Denver thinks this is championship-caliber defense. They may well be right. The line will feature All-Pro Trevor Pryce and a cast of young talents like Reggie Hayward and Monsanto Pope, but losing end Bertrand Berry to the Cardinals will hurt. Al Wilson is the only returnee at linebacker; Jayshon Sykes’ll join him and rookie stud DJ Williams. And in the secondary Denver adds longtime Buccaneer great John Lynch, and All-Pro CB Champ Bailey.
Prediction
Someday Mike Shanahan will win a playoff game without John Elway. It hasn’t happened yet, but it should this year. The offense is good and the defense could be spectacular. This is New England’s biggest challenger in the AFC.
2-Kansas City Chiefs
Offense
Has there ever been a team with such a good passing offense with such lousy wideouts? Once you get past RB Priest Holmes and TE Tony Gonzalez, who might be the best in the NFL at their respective positions, you see names like Johnnie Morton, Eddie Kennison and Marc Boerigter. Not exactly, Joiner and Jefferson, Rice and Taylor or the Marks Brothers are they? Still QB Trent Green finds a way to get it done, and this offense can pile up points when it is working. Injuries hitting Green, Holmes or Gonzalez would be catastrophic.
Defense
This part…Not so good. Chief fans joined their rival Denver Bronco fans in running defensive coordinator Greg Robinson out on a rail, to be replaced by former KC head coach Gunther Cunningham. Cunningham’s first order of business was dumping Robinson’s read-and-react schemes for more aggression and more blitzing. The players appreciate this, but do they have the talent to pull it off? In a word, no. There is talent along the line, with youngsters Jimmy Wilkerson, Ryan Sims and draftee Junior Siavii joining vets Vonnie Holliday and Eric Hicks, but little production. The linebackers are young and athletic as well, especially Scott Fujita and Mike Maslowski, but again, there is very little actual production. The best part of the D is the secondary, led by Eric Warfield and Dexter McCleon, two accomplished corners. They should survive in one-on-one coverage.
Prediction
Who knows? KC should be good, could be great, but could be terrible if anything were to happen to the offensive cornerstones. The defense should be better under Cunningham, and if they continue to score points at the rate they did last year, they will qualify as a wild card.
3-Oakland Raiders
Offense
New coach Norv Turner’s offense works best with a big-armed pocket passer, able to stretch the field to open up holes for the running game, which is why Oakland signed QB Kerry Collins after the Giants released him. Rich Gannon, still a fine quarterback at the end of a good career is singularly unequipped to run this off…. Oh, Gannon is still starting. Well that makes no sense. No offense to Gannon, but he needs to be with a team that runs the West Coast. He has never been able to throw particularly deep, and at 38, the odds are long that he will improve much. The other most important position in Turner’s offense, tailback, will feature a grab bag of players: Tyrone Wheatley, Justin Fargas, Amos Zereoue, and Troy Hambrick will contend for carries. The Raiders cut ties with WR Tim Brown, leaving only one aged wideout left, the still productive Jerry Rice. He’s joined by an interesting collection of younger talent, led by Jerry Porter. The offensive line will be helped by mega-prospect Robert Gallery, providing his injury woes in the pre-season cease.
Defense
Along the line, Oakland managed to get better, but not any younger, considering the big (literally and figuratively) pickups are Ted Washington and Warren Sapp. That would be 668 pounds and 24 years experience between them. At linebacker, Bill Romanowski is gone, replaced by free-agent Dewayne Rudd, who should do fine, provided he keeps his helmet on. The team will miss Romo’s intensity, but not his foolish penalties and diminishing speed. Charles Woodson has agreed to end his holdout, and he and Phillip Buchanan form a good tandem at corner.
Prediction
What is it with this team? They were awful last year: old, slow, and prone to stupid mistakes. Instead of tearing down and accepting the need to rebuild, they patch a couple holes with fading veterans, start a possibly awful quarterback controversy and hire a coach with no record of success. If it weren’t for the Chargers in this division, the Raider would be locks for last place. Luckily for them….
4-San Diego Chargers
Offense
LaDanian Tomlinson is the best running back football. He has to be, rushing for 1,600 yards behind this line. The Chargers best lineman, center Jason Ball, a second-year undrafted free agent is currently holding out; this leaves names like Roman Oben, Courtney Van Buren, and the oft-injured Toniu Fonoti. As anyone who pays attention to the NFL knows, the QB situation is a mess, with Philip Rivers finally signing. What boggles my mind is why Rivers was a better bet than tackle Robert Gallery. Rivers and Drew Brees are the same player: young, astonishingly productive in college, brainy, not particularly good at throwing deep and with slight physical issues they will have to overcome to make it in the NFL. With Brees it’s his height. With Rivers, it’s his unorthodox throwing motion. So why have the Bolts given up on Brees? Easy, Marty doesn’t like him.
Of course, Marty won’t be coaching next year, but who gives a damn about that.
Defense
The defense isn’t much better. San Diego will operate out of a 3-4 this season; unfortunately the best DT on the roster is Jamal Williams, who isn’t a nose tackle type. The best bet for the nose is rookie Igor Olshansky. They are marginally better at linebacker. Ben Leber is a good young backer, and Donnie Edwards is one the better ILB in the league. The young secondary is the best unit, and best hope for the future. Both corners, Quinton Jammer and Sammy Davis, are big and fast. They, along with second-year safety Terrence Kiel give hope for the future.
Prediction
God, this is a bad team. The odds are at least even they end up with the first pick in the 2005 draft. Rivers will start sometime this year, sooner rather than later, but he’ll be easy meat behind the Bolts awful line. Marty Schottenheimer is gone, probably before the season ends. To make matter worse, the rumor is that new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips would be next in line. Good, cuz you know he hasn’t proven to be a miserable failure as a head coach.
Oh wait, yes he has.
Previously: AFC East, AFC South, AFC North
The Raiders are going to make you look like a fool! A fool!
Posted by: Richard at August 27, 2004 08:22 AM