NFL blogging at its finest
AFCW – Season Review Cliffs Notes Version
Raiders: Year 1 of 10 for Gruden was a complete dumpster fire.
Broncos: Finishing the season on a 4 game losing streak ultimately led to yet another coaching overhaul. In Elway we trust.
Chargers: Were one of the AFC’s best teams. However, Rivers clock is ticking. Better start grooming a QB.
Chiefs: Mahomes is the real deal. Congrats on 4th place.
Big week for the AFCW. Half of the division is prepping for divisional playoff games, and the most important team hired a new Head Coach. The last AFCW team is mocking everyone from the sideline.
Vic Fangio is the new man in charge. He’s a long time, respected DC, and a first time HC on any level. He’ll be 60 years next season. Lots of unknowns with Fangio, but one thing is certain: he knows how to use OLBs in a 3-4, and he has a great pair. Also Von Chubb is good.
The two most unlikable NFL QBs face off in the early Sunday game. NE has been a bit under the radar this season, and I think that works out in their favor. The Chargers give it their all, but Brady pulls it out in the end 27-24.
This is a tough game to pick. Andrew Luck’s Colts are physical and will challenge Fat Andy’s offense. Playing on the road is too much for Indy to overcome in the end as the Chiefs pull out a 37-31 victory.
Our San Diego LA Chargers face off against the Baltimore Ravens in the early Sunday playoff matchup. Ed Hochuli is coming out of retirement to ref this game, and Commissioner Goodell announced Friday morning that Chargers will not be allowed to use towels, kicking tees, Gatorade/water, and cleats. Another piece of bad news for the Chargers is that a little-known rule will be enforced before kickoff: since the Chargers did not put their required number of players on IR this season, 5 players will be randomly chosen and placed on IR a few minutes before the game begins.
But fear not, Charger faithful. Despite losing to Baltimore just a few weeks ago at “home”, LA has a unique advantage against the Ravens. Bosa’s Boys are the only team to play against LJax twice. Gus Bradley should have a solid game plan to throw at the rookie QB. Expect Derwin James to be weaponized.
But you should also be nervous, Charger faithful. The Clippers are not playing well since beating KC. Rivers has thrown 2 INTs in 3 straight games, and he’s been particularly off the last 2 games (1 TD and 4 INTs). After their biggest win of the season and with the division and possible home field advantage on the line, the Chargers got beat up by these Ravens and looked uneven in a win against a shitty Broncos (boo hoo) team.
Vegas has the Ravens as a 2.5 favorite, but I’m taking the Chargers 23-17. The Ravens are so disillusioned about losing to Rivers that Baltimore and John Harbaugh mutually part ways, and Harbaugh is hired by His Imperial Majesty Elway, and he goes to coach the Broncos to the Third Dynasty. Ok…that got away from me a little. LJax hasn’t been a consistent passer, and I think this is when it comes back to bite the Ravens. Rivers makes enough plays to win and LAC advances to the next round.
Remaining Schedule:
@ Oakland
vs Baltimore
vs Los Angeles Clippers
@ Seattle
vs Oakland
Kansas City only loses one of these games and that’s in Seattle. The Chiefs won’t have much to play for and the Seahawks will have a lot to play for. Playing in Seattle is a tough thing to do as well. The rest of this schedule, which will still probably have Lamar Jackson starting for Baltimore, seems like a cakewalk.
Remaining Schedule:
@ Pittsburgh
vs Cincinnati
@ Kansas City
Vs Baltimore
@ Denver
This is going to be ugly. The Clippers will lose 3 of these games. Basically all of the road games. Pit comes out angry and stomps them. KC in Arrowhead is a definite loss and if you can’t beat Denver at home, you won’t beat them in Mile High. LA learns you need to beat teams with winning records to succeed.
Remaining Schedule:
@ Cincinnati
@ San Francisco’s
vs Cleveland
@ Oakland
vs Los Angeles Clippers
Denver wins out. Surprisingly their toughest challenge remaining will be facing Cleveland. Both teams seem to be in similar situations with their teams coming on late in the season. While Baker will be a tough challenge for the Denver defense they will win at home. Btw with beating LAC twice they have the tie breaker over them.
Remaining Schedule:
vs Kansas City
vs Pittsburgh
@ Cincinnati
vs Denver
@ Kansas City
The only win I see here is Cincinnati. And that’s if Driskel is still starting. The rest of this schedule will be a rough stretch for Oakland. Although there is a chance they face a backup QB in KC week 17, I’m assuming Fat will be trying to get a #1 seed at that point. Will this be enough for the #1 pick?
We’re already halfway through the NFL season, and the AFCW is a 2 horse race, and unfortunately, one of those horses isn’t the Broncos.
Broncos: D+
The good: Bradley Chubb and Von Miller are going to be really scary if Denver can play with a lead. The rookies are a good group to build around.
The bad: Only road win was against a truly awful Cardinal squad. Case Keenum is not the short or long term answer. Denver’s OL continues to struggle.
The ugly: Garrett Bolles 
KC Chiefs: A
The good: Their video game offense. Tyreek “It’s OK because I married her” Hill has been nothing short of amazing.
The bad: Their video game defense is gonna get them in trouble at some point.
The ugly: Sammy Watkin’s contract
Las Vegas Raiders: F
The good: Got a 1st for Amari!
The bad: Nothing. All going to plan.
The ugly: Mark Davis.
Los Angeles Chargers: B+
The good: Philip Rivers should be in the MVP conversation, and Derwin James looks like a perennial Pro Bowler.
The bad: Bosa getting hurt.
The ugly: The IR is lurking…
We needed a new article. That last one was getting stale. Here’s my betting lines for the weeks games. Mind you I have no real knowledge of betting games and have not looked at any of the lines. But whatever.
KC vs DEN
Line: KC -14
O/U: 66
Tons of offense. KC wins huge in a high scoring game (for KC they may get 50 of the 66 points)
CLE vs OAK
Line: Even
O/U: 30
Baker struggles from nerves in his first real start that he has time to think about. Cleveland’s defense is enough to keep Carr and Co in check. I’d give the line -7 for Cleveland if they were at home but OAK has home dirt advantage.
SF vs LAC
Line: LAC -7
O/U: 52
Neither team really living up to preseason hype. SF will be with a backup QB in Beat Hard who is an INT machine. But both defenses give up points. I’d favor more for LAC but do they really have a home field advantage?
Everyone here knows how much I loathe Jon Gruden, although getting us a Lombardi would earn him forgiveness of course. Him coming back for a 2nd go around as our coach was not a happy development for me, and I feel like I owe my fellow Raider Nation residents an explanation. Now I realize that all you non-Raider fans and hell even most Raider fans probably don’t really care, but fuck you I am telling the story anyway.
The scene is the end of the 1996 NFL season, one that saw the Raiders finish up a disappointing 2nd season back in Oakland at 7-9, which would cost coach Mike White his job and spell the end of Jeff Hostetler’s time with the Raiders. The ensuing search for the next coach would include a certain young up and coming OC from Philly, and by all accounts made quite an impression on Al Davis during his interview.. But ultimately the job went to Joe Bugel, who promised “multiple Super Bowls” at his introductory press conference. Well, that did not work out so well for him or the team as he lasted one miserable season, finishing 4-12 despite some gaudy stats from QB Jeff George. The lowlight came in week 2, a MNF game in Oakland against the Chiefs where the Raiders led for pretty much the entire game and were up by 5 in the waning seconds when Terry McDaniel somehow let Andre Rison get behind him for a long TD with 3 seconds left to lose. After the game Bugel did not even come out to face the press, leaving McDaniel to cover for his gutless coach. It was all downhill from there.
So now the next search gets underway with most correctly assuming Gruden would get the job, Al hired him even after his agent opened the interview with the following statement – “This team is not one win from the Super Bowl it is 4 games away from zero wins”, something Al normally would not tolerate under any circumstances. Despite a DUI in Pleasanton during October of that year the worship starts when he somehow got the team to 7-3 with Donald Hollas at QB after George was injured early in the season, but they lost 5 of their final 6 games to finish 8-8. Then Gruden talks Al into signing a journeyman QB in Rich Gannon, and another 8-8 season follows. But the direction of the team was changing, punctuated by a week 17 win at Arrowhead where the Raiders wiped out an early 17-0 deficit and knocked the Chiefs out of the playoffs. 2000 saw a return to glory, the Raiders finish 12-4, win the AFC West to return to the playoffs for the first time in 7 tears. A 27-0 romp over Miami in the divisional round had everyone talking Super Bowl, but a turbulent loss to the Ravens in the AFC title game ended that dream. But optimism remained high, and in May of 2001 Gruden somehow earns a spot in People magazine’s 50 most beautiful people. But even after a very successful start to the 2001 season the tide was once again changing, Gruden’s name becoming linked to every major job opening in the college ranks, most notably Notre Dame where Gruden himself has to address the constant rumors. The team wins the AFC West for the 2nd year in a row but loses their last 3 games to cost them a bye. They beat the Jets in the Wild Card round but then they go to Foxboro and lose a certain infamous snow game there. In the aftermath of that bitter moment that his agent calls a press conference to announce that despite Gruden saying many times he wants to coach the Raiders for years he is going to leave after the 2002 season when his contract expired, the agent making another ballsy statement saying that there was zero percent chance he coaches the Raiders beyond next year, this is not a leverage play here. The fact that all this is aired publicly was bad enough, but to do this only days after the most bitter moment in franchise history was especially galling. So Al does the only thing he can, trading him to TB for 2 1st rounders, 2 2nd rounders and $8M in cash. He proceeds to go 12-4 and then beating the Raiders in the Super Bowl, a moment I am sure he savors to this day. But after that he is very mediocre, only making the playoffs twice in the next 6 years, losing his 1st game both times. We all know his antics in the MNF booth, and nothing he did inspired any confidence that he was ready to lead anyone back to glory. What will happen? Guess we’ll see.
Well, cuts will start rolling in as early as tomorrow morning, and I’d have a few names I would recommend ASAP. Lets try to narrow down the Oakland Raiders roster to the final 53 players. Not an easy chore, as there is plenty to debate regarding the quality of the top of this roster, but the bottom of the roster is full of tough decisions to be made.
Quarterbacks:
Derek Carr, Connor Cook, EJ Manuel
I hate carrying 1 bad backup QB, and especially hate carrying 2, but there is just enough questions regarding the position in it’s entirety, that I think the Raiders carry all 3.
Running Back/Fullback:
Marshawn Lynch, Keith Smith, Doug Martin, Jalen Richard
A bit of a surprise, but no DeAndre Washington and no Chris Warren. Washington gets cut given the new competition in the room and after a lackluster showing in week 3-4 of preseason the Raiders hope to stash Warren on the practice squad.
Wide Receivers:
Amari Cooper, Jordy Nelson, Martavis Bryant, Seth Roberts, Dwayne Harris, Johnny Holton
One of the tougher decisions to make, Holton vs. Marcell Ateman. Ateman to the practice squad.
Tight Ends
Jared Cook, Lee Smith, Derek Carrier
Easiest decision on the roster, Paul Butler to the practice squad.
Offensive Linemen
Kolton Miller, Kelechi Osemele, Rodney Hudson, Gabe Jackson, Donald Penn, Jon Feliciano, Brandon Parker, David Sharpe, and Ian Silberman.
Another tough call, but I think Silberman, Felciano, and Sharpe provide the versatility to cut a Jordan Simmons.
Defensive Linemen
Bruce Irvin, Justin Ellis, PJ Hall, Maurice Hurst, Arden Key, Mario Edwards Jr, Tank Carradine, Fadol Brown, and Shilique Calhoun.
Linebackers:
Tahir Whitehead, Marquel Lee, Derrick Johnson, Nicholas Morrow, and Emmanuel Lamur.
Short on linebackers, but I think a combination of versatility and this being a pass happy league makes getting by with a couple fewer linebackers possible.
Cornerbacks:
Rashaan Melvin, Gareon Conley, Daryl Worley, Nick Nelson, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and Leon Hall.
Going into the Raiders final preseason game I hated the idea of cutting Antonio Hamilton in favor of 56 year old Leon Hall. However, Hamilton go beat just enough tonight that I’ve come around to the idea of keeping another coach in the DB room in Hall.
Safeties:
Karl Joseph, Marcus Gilchrist, Reggie Nelson, Erik Harris, and Shalom Luani
11 defensive backs, that’s quite a few, but I think that is by design. I elected to cut the RB/OL room a little short to try to give the secondary room some options.
Special Teams:
K Eddie Piniero, P Johnny Townsend, LS Andrew Depaola
