MVN - Most Valuable Network

AFC West or Bust

This is not Broncos football.  There really is no simpler response to a 2007 season that has seen several embarrassments, typified by the massacre at Detroit last weekend.  Being 3-5 at the midpoint is just not what is supposed to happen in Denver, especially with a team that typically starts off the season strong.

Things get murkier when you consider the Broncos play in the strong AFC, who have the following teams with a winning record ahead of them at this point:

New England: 9-0
Indianapolis: 7-1
Pittsburgh: 6-2
Tennessee: 6-2
Jacksonville: 5-3
Cleveland: 5-3

Not good news chasing for a wild card.  Yet at this point, the Broncos are amazingly still in play thanks to an unusually weak AFC West.  Thanks to losses by the Chiefs and the Chargers against the Packers and Vikings (with Brett Favre and Adrian Peterson setting records), the Broncos are still only one game back from the division lead.  Winning the division is the only likely way to the playoffs.

Of course, it won’t be easy, given the last meeting with the Chargers and the typical record at Kansas City.  However, the Chargers could be running into a buzzsaw this weekend as they have to host a Colts team that came off of a blown lead loss against the Patriots.  Peyton Manning and crew could be looking to get back on track with attitude in San Diego.

Combine that with the Broncos somehow finally getting a road win against the Chiefs, and the AFC West is even more up for grabs.  Gotta grab for that shred of optimism, right?

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 7:38 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.