AFC West Preview – Week Twelve

Oct 23, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos running back Juwan Thompson (40) carries the ball in the third quarter against the San Diego Chargers at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The Broncos defeated the Chargers 35-21. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Due to the short week I was unable to complete my AFC West Preview before the Thursday night game between the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs.  You may or may not believe this, but I had a feeling the Raiders would get their first win of the season against the Chiefs; maybe it was just wishful thinking considering they were playing the Chiefs!  For my thoughts on the Raiders/Chiefs game, as well as the week twelve games featuring the Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers, please continue reading.

Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders:  So, what is worse than losing to a 3-6 NFC team?  Losing to a 0-10 team that is in your division; oh yeah, let’s not forget that the game was on national television!  Denver Bronco fans may not admit it, but we owe a big, old thank you to the Oakland Raiders for beating the Kansas City Chiefs 24-20 on Thursday Night Football!  Just a week ago, it seemed like the Broncos season was turned somewhat upside down when they lost in St. Louis and the Chiefs beat the Seattle Seahawks, moving into a first place tie with the Broncos.  Currently, the Broncos have a half-game lead over the Chiefs and if the Broncos beat the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, the lead will be an entire game, which is huge going into the week thirteen contest between the Broncos and Chiefs at Arrowhead.  I am not going to linger on the Raiders/Chiefs game too long, but I will add that watching the Raiders hold on to beat the Chiefs was the highlight of my day, if not my week.  When we look back on the 2014 season, it will always be noted that the Raiders losing streak of sixteen games (going back to the 2013 season) came to an end against the Kansas City Chiefs.  I am anxious to see how the loss will impact the Chiefs in the power rankings after week twelve is complete.  Last week the Chiefs climbed up the scale thanks to the Seattle win; this week the direction is obvious which way the Chiefs will go!  An impressive stat for the Chiefs defense came to an end Thursday night and that was the number of rushing touchdowns they had allowed.  Through ten games this season the Chiefs defense had allowed no rushing touchdowns; Thursday night the Chiefs defense surrendered two rushing touchdowns of 11-yards and 90-yards to Oakland running back Latavius Murray.  Thank you Oakland Raiders – this Bronco fan is happy!

Miami Dolphins at Denver Broncos: The Broncos are saying the right things following the surprising loss to the St. Louis Rams last week so now the only thing that remains is the team going out and backing up their words with actions.  Many may think that the Broncos have an “easy game” this week but that notion couldn’t be farther from the truth…. I thought last week was going to be an easy game also!  The Dolphins head to Denver sporting a 6-4 record and the number two ranked defense in the league overall (302.5 yards/game), as well as the number two passing defense (208.0 yards/game).  The Raiders gave the Broncos an early Christmas gift when they upset the Chiefs Thursday night in Oakland but it will only be beneficial if the Broncos can improve to 8-3 this weekend.  Considering the Broncos travel to Kansas City the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the game against the Dolphins is a must win for the Broncos!  Another factor that makes this a must win is the fact the Dolphins are in the AFC and with only six weeks remaining in the season, every game becomes much more important, especially games in your division and then your conference.  Obviously the Broncos must establish some sort of running game this week to ease the pressure put on Peyton Manning and the Broncos passing attack.  I am still dumbfounded that the Broncos felt like they had to throw on fourth-and-one last week in St. Louis!  It will not be hard to improve on last weeks rushing statistics (28 total yards)!  Boy, I miss the days when Terrell Davis would easily get 10+ yards on the downhill sweep!  I am still confident that Bronco fans will see more of Juwan Thompson – I have liked him ever since watching him in the preseason.  For whatever reason, Juwan Thompson has carried the ball only four times the last two games (all four carries came against the Raiders; he had no carries against St. Louis).  I guess the player carrying the ball is secondary at this point, the primary cause of the Broncos running woes seem to be pointed toward the five guys up front!  I don’t care how the Broncos do it – passing or running, I just want them to win!  That being said, they had better get the running game figured out quickly or the only thing Bronco players will be doing in Arizona come early February will be golfing!

St. Louis Rams at San Diego Chargers: After last week, there should be absolutely no question that the St. Louis Rams are a force to be reckoned with.  The Rams have beaten both teams that appeared in Super Bowl XLVIII but those games were at home.  I am interested to see how the Rams perform on the road in a game that has much less hype than the games against the Seahawks and Broncos contained.  The Chiefs proved Thursday night that things can quickly change from one week to the next in the NFL, so for that reason, I will not be a bit surprised if St. Louis heads to the west coast and gets blown out!  Considering how the Chargers played last week – winning 13-6, albeit in a very ugly fashion, over the Oakland Raiders, it does seem that this could be a blowout given the rollercoaster type performance we see so often in NFL teams.  As far as the divisional race goes, the Chargers are in the hunt sitting at 6-4 with games remaining against the Broncos and Chiefs.  As I always say, I will pull for any team that can help the Broncos – this week it’s the Rams; a Chargers loss could ultimately benefit the Broncos!

Go Broncos – beat the Dolphins!