AFC West Preview and Predictions

By: Corey Donetz

Football is back and we here at The Tales Of 2 Cities will be doing breakdowns and predictions/projections of each NFL division until the regular season begins. Check back over the weekend for another preview.

San Diego Chargers

San Diego is well known for their slow starts, and last year was no different. However, last year was the first year that the slow start eventually caught up with them, leaving them out of the playoffs. The Chargers led the league in overall offense and defense last year, but overall had abysmal special teams play that ultimately led to the team’s demise. San Diego will have Vincent Jackson suited up from the outset this time around, and will benefit from a fairly easy schedule. A lot of weight will be put on the shoulders of running back Ryan Mathews, but Philip Rivers passing attack will allow him to get off some decent runs. Rivers has been one of the more consistent quarterbacks in the league and will lead the team back to the playoffs.

Season prediction: 11-5, 1^st Place AFC West.

Leading Passer: Philip Rivers

Leading Rusher: Ryan Mathews

Leading Receiver: Vincent Jackson

Defensive Standout: Eric Weddle (FS)

Other/Surprise Standout: Bob Sanders (SS)

Kansas City Chiefs

2010 was a good year for Kansas City as they won the division and made it to the playoffs. The Chiefs are led by a young offense led by quarterback Matt Cassell at the helm. Cassell benefits from having one of the leagues best rushing attacks with Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones. The two backs combined for well over 2,000 rushing yards, which was led by Jamaal Charles near 1500 yards. Charles is one of the most explosive backs in the league, and is used very frequently in Kansas City’s passing attack as well. The Chiefs will certainly compete for the division title again this year, but San Diego just has too much fire power on both sides of the ball, and KC will come up a bit short.

Season Prediction 8-8, 2^nd Place AFC West.

Leading Passer: Matt Cassell

Leading Rusher: Jamaal Charles

Leading Receiver: Dwayne Bowe

Defensive Standout: Tamba Hali (DE/OLB)

Other/Surprise Standout: Jonathan Baldwin (WR)

Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders are a good owner away from being a playoff caliber team. There’s no other way to slice it, Al Davis has done bad for this organization for a long, long time. Oakland has fielded a solid defense the last few years, and has also made strides on the offensive side of the ball, but the coaching and ownership inconsistency has dwelled on the team for a while. There are a few games on the schedule that can go either way for the Raiders; Oakland could possibly place second in the AFC West, and maybe squeeze into the playoffs as a Wild Card team, but to do that they’d have to win those games and as of right now I don’t believe that they will. As mentioned before, Oakland's defense has played well over the years, but lot of the team's success this season will depend on the play of Jason Campbell and whether or not Darren McFadden can stay healthy. If Campbell performs well and McFadden stays healthy Oakland can surprise a lot of people.

Season Prediction: 7-9, 3^rd Place AFC West

Leading Passer: Jason Campbell

Leading Rusher: Darren McFadden

Leading Receiver: Louis Murphy

Defensive Standout: Tyvon Branch (SS)

Other/Surprise Standout: Kevin Boss (TE)

Denver Broncos

There’s no other way to say it, if you finish with the second worst record, you had a bad year. Denver switched quarterbacks last year giving then rookie Tim Tebow the opportunity to get his feet wet and start a few games. While Tebow didn't play extremely well, he didn't play extremely poor either. In the offseason there was much discussion on whether who would be the team’s starting quarterback, Tebow or veteran Kyle Orton. Orton certainly provided a much better passing attack last year, and in my opinion would be the better option going into this season. However, offseason trade talks, and “The Tebow Factor” have created a quarterback controversy in Denver. Tebow was a 1^st round draft pick just a year ago, and although he may not be ready to be the starter, the fans may pressure ownership into putting him in that role. The Broncos will finish last in the division regardless of who the starting quarterback is due to question marks throughout the offensive and defensive side of the ball, but if the team starts Tebow the win total could possibly decrease even more. Kyle Orton gives the team the best chance to win, and it's hard to argue against it.

Season Prediction: 5-11, 4^th Place AFC West

Leading Passer: Kyle Orton

Leading Rusher: Knowshon Moreno

Leading Receiver: Eddie Royal

Defensive Standout: Elvis Dumervil (DE/OLB)

Other/Surprise Standout: Ryan Clady (LT)

Fish Out Of Water

By: Corey Donetz

The 2-1 loss handed to the Marlins by in-state rival Tampa Bay extended the struggling Fish’s losing streak to 10 straight losses. Florida has only one win in June, posting an abysmal 1-18 record this month. The team has had losses off the field as well with the departures of hitting coach John Mallee and manager Edwin Rodriguez. The executives of the Marlins decided to hire former ESPN analyst and former big leaguer Eduardo Perez as new hitting coach, and to re-hire 80-year old Jack McKeon. For those who are unaware, McKeon was the manager of the 2003 Marlins team that won the World Series; he was named Manager of the Year for his efforts.

The exodus of Edwin Rodriguez wasn’t taken well in the Marlin’s clubhouse as shortstop and one of the faces of franchise, Hanley Ramirez, was not happy to say the least. Ramirez wasn’t shy about standing up for his now ex-manager, but even he wasn’t enough to keep Rodriguez around. The Chicago Tribune caught up with Ramirez to speak on the matter, "When we do good, people look at us,'' Ramirez said. "It's like Ozzie [Guillen] says, 'Yeah, when the team is winning you have to give credit to the players and when they're losing they want to fire me.' No, that's not how it [should be].”

Although they are over 12 games out of 1^st place behind the Phillies in the N.L. East, playoff hopes remain alive, as they are only 7 ½ games behind in the Wild Card race despite the team’s dreadful June. With playoff hopes still in reach, a change was definitely needed, regardless as to who is at fault for the bad play. The injury bug has obviously affected the team’s play, but injuries affect every team’s play so that can never be used as an excuse. To put it simply, a baseball executive cannot sit back and watch their team win one game in a month, lose 10 straight (It wasn’t at 10 when Rodriguez was let go, but just for the sake of being current), and not do anything about it; especially when said team is already a bottom dweller as far as game attendance goes.

However, what’s done is done, so Ramirez and the rest of his teammates will have to move on and play under the helm of McKeon. McKeon is not your typical 80 year old, he is said to have the energy of a 25 year old and the heavily respected two-time NL Manager of the Year will bring that energy back to Florida along with his 1011 career wins and his ’03 World Series ring as he hopes to bring the Fish back to their winning ways. He has a ton of young talent to work with, and although it doesn’t seem likely that his team will contend this season, there is still hope in sunshine state.

The Fightin’ Fish will have to finish the season strong, and once ace Josh Johnson comes off of the disabled list we can get a feel of what McKeon’s Marlins can do. If there is one thing that baseball has taught us (especially as far as standings in the N.L. East are concerned), anything is possible. Just ask the Mets.