Whose team can stay focused, line up and challenge for the AFC championship? Somebody needs to show that they can put a team on the field to contend with the likes of Pittsburgh, Baltimore and or Indianapolis. So far it doesn't look like it will come from the AFC Western Division. The Oakland Raiders are too busy fighting amongst themselves to get in the ring with anybody else. The Denver Broncos seem to be willing to let all their productive players go to someone else's backyard. Hint we will probably see a trade soon that sends Brandon Marshall to the Jets or even the Vikings. Who knows he may end up in Chicago with his old pal Jay Cutler. The San Diego Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs are bathing in the fracas of the other two teams. So it might seem safe to say that one of these two could win the division, but in reality all four teams have a chance to win the division, just not the conference championship.
If LaDanian Tomlinson can stay healthy and once again become the running back he was in 2003 and 2006 when he was a threat as a dominating runner and showed us he could also catch the ball, then San Diego should settle down and be a contender. As for the Chiefs they appear to be a team that wants to contend by getting rid of Carl Peterson, Herm Edwards and bringing in the new faces of Scott Pioli and Todd Haley. Though Haley seems to be having difficulty in making the transition from offensive coordinator to head coach. I mean, I'm not sure he has the patience he's going to need to survive an unproductive year if in fact the Chiefs have one. You might see an explosion in their backyard not unlike what we see going on in Oakland. Not that he will allegedly punch anyone. I won't go so far as to say that. But it will take some patience if he wants to gain the respect of the players on that team. Sometimes when you tear somebody down they can only go so far, you have to realize that and go the other direction and build them back up. We are talking about esteem here. Can Haley give his team the confidence they'll need to be a contender? I think he has the players with Matt Cassel, Larry Johnson and Dwayne Bowe if he can do that. Pioli has shown he's not afraid to go out and get new players and let the others go as well. For the sake of the Chiefs let's hope that letting Tony Gonzalez go wasn't their biggest mistake. Someone will need to take the focus off their young receiver and maybe that player will need to be their running back. When it's crunch time, I believe that the finishing order will be like this. San Diego wins the division with the Chiefs finishing second followed by the Raiders then Bronco's. And Baltimore wins the Conference championship and plays for the Superbowl. Too early. Yeah, way too early but then again, what's the fun of watching if you can't rub your crystal ball. photo courtesy of sportslogo.net
