AFC West

This was the season that almost was for the Oakland Raiders with their customary ill-discipline and inconsistency preventing them from clinching their first in nearly a decade. A new regime and a new head coach are in place for, but will this be a bright new dawn building on the positives of 2011 or a reset on new values that extends the road back to past glories? The Raiders had positive performers in almost every area of their defense in 2011, but also had complete letdowns in the same areas, finding the right players to achieve better balance will be crucial to the Raiders taking the next step in 2012.

New leadership at the top brings the potential for scheme changes which could, in turn, lead to a vast overhaul in personnel for the Raiders. Their ability to build through the draft is limited by the king’s ransom that they have surrendered for three different quarterbacks, so shrewd signings in free agency will be pivotal for their short term development. Late round pickups have proven to be solid contributors in the past but they can’t be relied upon to move the Raiders forward, so they will be judged and defined by their offseason decisions.   Read the rest of this entry »

When you look at the San Diego Chargers, it’s frustrating that they still can’t seem to put it together and given the lack of overall quality in the AFC West the past few seasons, you have to wonder if they’ll look back on these years as missed opportunities. Many people, including PFF founder Neil Hornsby, predicted that Philip Rivers (+23.9) would have a season that would be up there with the best in the league. He finished the season as our fifth-highest graded QB, but was never close to the level of Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees.

So where do the Chargers go from here? They have a lot of the pieces in place to make the playoffs, but then we say that every year. They don’t have a lot of needs, but filling those they do have would turn them into a real contender, in my opinion. Let’s take a look at the biggest question marks on the San Diego roster, and who best to fill the roles.   Read the rest of this entry »

As we move into the AFC West we continue our look at Help Wanted pages of the NFL with the Denver Broncos. Denver was a playoff team last year, and yet strangely in a league where success is determined by the strength of one’s quarterback, they may not have a viable one for the long-term. Tim Tebow was able to get just enough done on the back of the Denver option offense to get them to the playoffs (with a very strong assist from the defense). They ultimately flamed out against a disciplined defense in the form of the Patriots.

So what else could the Broncos do with as we run headlong towards free agency and then the draft? Below are three suggestions.

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It’s AFC West time in our Trending series which can only mean one thing: it most definitely isn’t Tebow time.

Instead it’s time to look at some of the players who stood out with good and bad turnarounds and to speculate on which others are deserving of more playing time. That means digging into the Denver Broncos and letting you know what unsung heroes pushed them to the playoffs and finding out which player the Kansas City Chiefs might feel most disappointed by after struggling so much. It will also see us sort out which Oakland Raider needs more playing time, and it will also give us a chance to say which San Diego Charger can be happy with his change in form.

Without further ado, the AFC West:

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Our Off-season Depth Chart Outlook series continues today with the AFC West division.

What I’m doing here is going team-by-team and taking a look at each team’s roster situation at the four key offensive Fantasy Football positions (QB RB WR TE). I’ll also be speculating on a few potential off-season moves we could see each of these teams make.

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The fourth stop on our all division tour of the 2011 season (AFC East, AFC North, AFC South) sees us head out West as we tip our hat to the top individual performers from the AFC West. In a season when no team could sustain a high level of play throughout, there were both some tough choices due to excellent play and some tough choices due to a distinct lack of quality.

As with the other All-Division Teams that we’ve presented this week, some discretion was required for defensive personnel to ensure the best players make the team rather than the best players that fit a certain scheme.

Here, then, is PFF’s All-AFC West Team for the 2011 season:

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Tim Tebow brought his Denver Broncos to Foxboro hoping to shock the world twice this postseason, but that plan was left in tatters by the wayside as the Patriots strolled to an easy win. The Broncos have a remarkably good record against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick but all of that was well before Tebow was involved, and the New England pair moved to 2-0 against Denver this season with a result that was never in doubt.

Denver came out and made an early decision to treat Aaron Hernandez as a receiver and play in nickel formations when he was on the field. The Patriots then simply used him as a running back and dominated against the light fronts and smaller personnel that Denver had on the field. Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski combined to destroy the Denver defense and New England romped to a five-score lead by the time the half arrived. The second half was largely a procession as Denver just tried to get back on the scoreboard and the Patriots simply tried not to give them any reason to think there was any way back. Read the rest of this entry »

The seeding might suggest otherwise, but make no mistake, the Denver Broncos pulled off a huge upset last week when they took down the Steelers. Tim Tebow furthered his own enigmatic legacy by finally showing some ability as a passer, and made Pittsburgh look foolish for daring him to beat them through the air.

Tebow notched over 300 passing yards on just 10 completions, most of which went to Demaryius Thomas as the pair victimized Ike Taylor, and the Broncos earned themselves a rematch with the Patriots in the Divisional round of the playoffs.

The Patriots, by virtue of locking up the No. 1 seed in the AFC, earned themselves a bye for the Wild Card weekend along with the benefit of facing a team they have already defeated this season. Read the rest of this entry »

Pittsburgh traveled to Denver to take on the Broncos sporting a record that was four wins better than their adversaries over the regular season. It stood to reason that the Steelers were expected to walk away from this game the victors after proving to the league why Tim Tebow can’t get it done on the big stage. As usual, it just didn’t work out like that.

The Pittsburgh offense was able to overcome injuries (and a clearly restricted Ben Roethlisberger) to score 23 points and move the ball pretty well, but for once they were let down by their defense–a D that sold out against the run more than we can ever remember seeing a team do before, daring Tim Tebow to beat them deep. Unfortunately for them, he obliged, and ultimately it cost them the win with one play in overtime that encapsulated the encounter.

Tebow was able to hit the deep passes against man coverage all night and the Steelers never backed off their aggressive game plan. As a result, Denver now moves on to play the New England Patriots, while the Pittsburgh Steelers move on home.

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Pittsburgh may have won 12 games, but they did not take the AFC North and, as such, they travel to the heights of Mile High where they face the AFC West winners, the 8-8 Denver Broncos. The home field advantage at Mile High is a significant one, claiming its first victim even before the teams have arrived to play. Steelers’ safety Ryan Clark has been told by his head coach that he will not be playing in this game, after the last trip to Denver caused him to have a nasty medical reaction to the rarified air that resulted in a hospital stint and a serious risk to his health.

Pittsburgh is reeling from several injuries in recent weeks that have robbed them of some of their better players, and they have struggled in their past few games because of this. They may be, in theory, the much better side, but they showed last week against Cleveland that they are unlikely to blow anybody away, let alone a playoff team. 

The Steelers are four wins better than the Broncos this season, but this is the playoffs where anything can happen, and if there is any time for Tim Tebow to prove that he really does just get the job done, this would be a pretty good stage to prove it on. Read the rest of this entry »