This is the fourth post of a two-week series I will be doing, discussing every team by division and how I see their 2008 NFL season playing out. Today, we are discussing the AFC West division, which is populated by the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers. Let’s get started!

San Diego Chargers
Right now, I don’t know what to make of Philip Rivers. He can throw you a perfect pass in the first quarter, and fall apart by halftime. He needs to get his consistency under control and keep his mouth shut.
LT has to be one of the top MVP pre-season candidates. He won’t start of cold again like he did last season; I believe then he was just trying to adjust himself to Norv Turner’s style of offense. Now that they put together quite a run using that offensive system, I expect him to have a 1,600+ yard season with 16-19 TDs.
Chris Chambers and Antonio Gates will put together good years, even though nobody seems to want to predict so. If Rivers and LT have problems with chemistry this season like they did last year, it will hurt the offensive production. But, if the they can keep their heads as a team, I expect them to work together and make this offense one of the strongest in the league.
Shawne Merriman is just asking to retire. I can’t believe he’s going to forgo the knee surgery that he needs and play this season. The Chargers have plenty of years left in the tank, and Merriman should get this surgery done now so he can come back next year and dominate. It’s not like this is the Chargers’ final year of contention or anything. Assuming everyone stays healthy, this team will be a force for years to come. However, I’m predicting Merriman’s injury will get worse, and the defense won’t be able to compensate for his absence. But it shouldn’t hurt their playoff hopes. With or without Merriman, the Chargers are still better than the Chiefs, Raiders and Broncos.

Regular Season Prediction: 9-7, 1st in AFC West, #4 seed in AFC playoffs

Denver Broncos
Everyone thinks this is the years Jay Cutler comes out of his shell and emerges as an elite QB. I respectfully disagree. He is good, and has a cannon arm, but until the offense, and the entire team for that matter, is serious about winning, I don’t see him becoming great anytime soon. He needs that one wide receiver who can step up and be the leader on the field. He doesn’t have that in his limited arsenal yet.
Travis Henry was cut from the team in the off-season. And I thought that Shanahan said he believed him! They say that he was cut for lack of production. Okay, so apparently, in Denver they want you to do and, and if you do that, you can stick around. What? Henry was their most productive RB of last season, despite his absence. Now who do they have? I suppose I shouldn’t let them have it, yet, Denver has a weird way of producing high caliber running backs every year. Something in the air up there?
One of my good friends, Jake, who is a Broncos fan thinks that Mike Shanahan should be fired if they don’t make it to the playoffs this season. I was shocked. Are you really ready to turn your back on a guy who has always had you in position to win the division, Broncos fans? He hasn’t won the West lately because his players are no good. But, then again, as the saying goes, the coach is only as good as his players.

Regular Season Prediction: 8-8, 2nd in AFC West, no playoffs

Oakland Raiders
The Raiders finally took the steps necessary to becoming a perennial contender, starting with the draft. Darren McFadden was their first-round pick. He and Fargas will be a scary backfield duo to go up against for defenses. Michael Bush also is showing good running ability. The RB corps in Oakland is one of, if not the best in the league.
The Raiders might not have to rely on JaMarcus Russell as much as previously thought. As long as he can still take a snap and give the ball on a hand-off, this team should win some great games. Although, I doubt the Raiders are going to go either one way or the other with their offensive attack. Why dominate one when you’re great at both? The past two seasons, the Raiders have lost 2 of the top 20 wideouts in the league. First Randy Moss to New England, second, Jerry Porter to Jacksonville. However, they did pick up Javon Walker from Denver. Russell can’t be blamed for lack of production this season when the Raiders have traded away all his targets and got none to replace them.

Regular Season Prediction: 6-10, 3rd in AFC West, no playoffs

Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs are just pitiful. After starting 4-3, and defeating the defending AFC West champion Chargers, they lost all of their remaining 9 games. That’s hard to do.
The QB incompetence in that system is absolutely repelling to even think about, but for you, Bloggers, I will do it. Damon Huard and Brodie Croyle are atrocious excuses for quarterbacks, and neither have a popsicle’s chance in hell of leading their team to even a .500 record.
The draft brought evidently good things, but we can never be sure until they play, can we, Mr. Alex Smith of San Fran?
Glenn Dorsey is the only bright spot on the defense, and even with him, the Chiefs won’t win many games. He had a monster college career, capping it off with a national title. Whether he’ll have the same success in the Pros is yet to be seen, but I highly doubt a ring will be coming his way while he’s with the Chiefs.
Larry Johnson had a poor year last year because he finally got that huge contract he wanted, and once he got it, he didn’t have to work for it anymore, so he slacked off. That cost him the season when he went down with an injury against the Packers.
The Chiefs are horrible all over the place, and right now I’m giving them 2 more victories than they deserve.

Regular Season Prediction: 2-14, 4th in AFC West, no playoffs

I read a post by jaguarjoe72 that gave me the idea to throw out my picks for the 2008 NFL season. We are all bored, and most of us have to put up with our teams losing all summer in baseball (unless you're a D-Backs or Rays fan. Lucky dogs!), so here they are as of right now!

AFC East
New England---------13-3
Buffalo------------------6-10
New York Jets--------5-11
Miami-------------------4-12

AFC North
Pittsburgh--------------11-5
Cleveland---------------7-9
Baltimore---------------5-11
Cincinnati--------------4-12

AFC South
Jacksonville-----------12-4
Indianapolis-----------11-5
Tennessee------------10-6
Houston----------------6-10

AFC West
San Diego-------------13-3
Oakland----------------10-6
Denver------------------7-9
Kansas City-----------3-13

NFC East
Dallas------------------12-4
New York Giants----11-5
Philadelphia----------10-6
Washington-----------7-9

NFC North
Minnesota------------11-5
Green Bay------------9-7
Chicago---------------7-9
Detroit-----------------6-10

NFC South
New Orleans--------10-6
Atlanta-----------------9-7
Tampa Bay-----------9-7
Carolina---------------8-8

NFC West
Seattle-----------------12-4
San Francisco--------10-6
Arizona------------------9-7
St. Louis---------------2-14

So here are the standings after the regular season in playoff contention:

AFC
1. San Diego
2. New England
3. Jacksonville
4. Pittsburgh
5. Indianapolis
6. Oakland

NFC
1. Dallas
2. Seattle
3. Minnesota
4. New Orleans
5. New York Giants
6. San Francisco

Super Bowl XLIII
Dallas Cowboys vs. San Diego Chargers

Final Score = San Diego-23 Dallas-21

Let me know what you think!

-Mike Greenspire

The Oakland Raiders, that is.

That's right, the Raiders manager, Al Davis, has reportedly asked head coach, Lane Kiffin, to step down from his position.

This comes after a 4-12 season in 2007, with wins over only Kansas City, Cleveland, Miami, and Denver. Not exactly elite teams, but the Raiders have had to take what they can these past few seasons. They have only won 19 games since their loss in Super Bowl 37, to Tampa Bay back in 2003. Just to give you an idea of how many that is, the Patriots have won 18 this season alone. Ouch!

Al Davis likes doing his own thing with his head coaches. He obviously likes to run things, and anyone who doesn't do things his way is wrong, and should be fired.

Lane Kiffin has actually made this team competitive for a change, considering what these guys have to work with. Basically nothing.

The Raiders invested in JaMarcus Russell, one of the biggest chokes of the year. This guy just couldn't adjust very well from college to pros. Something went wrong this year witht he QB situation in Oakland.

Firing Kiffin is not the answer, though, at least in my opinion. I believe that this guy has potential, but Davis didn't do much to improve Lane's chances.

Davis has asked Kiffin to resign because Kiffin is on a 3-year contract, with two years remaining. He doens't want to have to pay the man his entire contract, which is required if a coach is fired before his contract is up.

Listen, if you don't want the guy that badly, but you are willing to let him hang around because you don't want to pay the contract, then just back off, and let him do his work. I'm not even so sure how long Kiffin would want to be in Oakland after this. He coudl give you guys a real chance at winning next season. The Raiders schedule contains:

AFC East- New England, Miami, Buffalo, New York (NYJ)

NFC South- Tampa Bay, New Orleans, Atlanta, Carolina

AFC West- @SD, vs. SD, @ DEN, vs. DEN, @KC, vs. KC

AFC 3rd Place Teams- Cincinnati, Tennessee

The schedult looks to have about 7-8 wins on it as of right now. That's bound to change, but I wonder how well Davis thinks his team can do with a likeable leader, instead of the rumored next head coach of the Oakland Raiders.

The Raiders have another Top 5 draft pick. Rumors are that they are going to draft Arkansas RB, Darren McFadden. We'll see.

Now, to explain the title of my blog.

The rumors are that the front-runner for the job, if Kiffin decides to comply and leave the Raiders is former Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals head coach, Denny Green.

Remember last year's explosion?

THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE! AND WE LET 'EM OFF THE HOOK! IF YOU WANNA POP 'EM, THEN POP THEIR ####! BUT THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE!

Yeah, not exactly what I thought justifies a great cool-headed leader, like Kiffin is.

I doubt that Kiffin stays, but I also doubt that Green's the man to lead them. We'll see.

-Mike Greenspire

PS- Hey, Mr. Davis, um, if you looking for a coach, there's always me! Kidding, kidding!