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You gotta love this time of year ... wild bickering between fans of teams that have done nothing in recent years and both have huge hills to climb to get better.
Bottom line - SD still has the most proven talent in the division. That being said, winning the AFCW is fine - but it is not as difficult as it has been in previous decades. The division as a whole has been terribly down, but injuries aside ... I do think that the other 3 have been making strong moves to improve.
Denver had another makeover (trading players, older FAs, new DC) and now with injuries to key players ... they're road is more difficult now.
Orton, Campbell and Cassel are essentially the same guys right now. I think they're all in that middle range of QB. If the right weapons are around them, they'll do fine - but neither of them is an elite player that puts a team on his back when all else fails. You just hope they don't make bonehead plays that cost your team a W in a tight game.
WRs - another group that is pretty equal in my opinion. Bowe is likely the more proven name at this point, but that's really not saying much. I like Denver's depth at that position more than the others, but again... it remains to be seen what any of the WR groups can do, but I think they're each pretty solid. I'm interested to see what the young WRs in OAK do now with a legit QB.
RBs - no doubt that KC has the most proven duo in the division right now. I would rank SD next, followed by Denver and Oakland in a dead heat. Bush/McFadden get the nod with the injuries to Moreno and Buckhalter, but we'll see what happens when the season starts.
OL - if Clady can return quickly, he's the key to making this group (potentially) the best in the division. I don't know enough really about the other guys on the other 3 teams, but I think each of the 4 teams has concerns, neither has an elite OL right now.
Defense - the biggest crapshoot of them all... the loss of Doom really stings for Denver because he was the rock of stability with all the change and now he's gone. I don't think Denver is void of talent though, but they've done nothing consistently good for several years, so the jury is still out. I think things are pretty even defensively within the division.
Honestly, I think it's all a bit pointless at this time to get too caught up with projected finishes for the AFCW teams. But, it's a message board, we're all diehard fans, so it's cool.
SD is the team to beat, even with the issues they have... and I think it's going to be asking a lot for either of the other 3 teams to hit 9 wins. Could 1 or 2 get there - maybe, but this division is still 1-2 years away from being considered a strong division.
Ok - you can get back to kicking KnowMo in the nuts...
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