I've been around enough to know that you never discount the Broncos. Absolutely. Their defense is still the best in the division. Meanwhile, the Raiders defenses has looked sorely lacking so far this pre-season. The Broncos and the Raiders both have better talent in the WR core. If Lynch is really BACK then he's scary. But let's not forget the Chiefs are on 10 game divisional winning streak. Carr is 1-5 against the Chiefs in his career, I think.

This isn't to you GH as much as it is to ST and others. But it just blows my mind how little the nation thinks of the Chiefs. They were last years divisional champs. And they've owned divisional matches over the last two seasons.

That kind of streak has to end at some point. And it wouldn't surprise me if they split with any of the AFC West teams this year. But Only giving them 6 wins? The Chiefs are gonna have to shit the bed completely to finish worst than 8-8. And I think they have just as much chance as the Broncos and Raiders of winning the division and having playoff success.

Obviously, they play the games for a reason. Anything can happen. It's just interesting to see how little regard the Chiefs get nationwide.

Brock Osweiler back to Denver?

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... 11124488=1

Everyone's going to make a much bigger deal about this than is warranted. I wouldn't be surprised if he's cut once Lynch is healthy.

The Chiefs are in a tough place as far as respect goes. They're in a small market and they don't have the recent rings that the Broncos do or the (renegade) national following that the Raiders have developed. It's a shame that local fanbase strength doesn't get more national cred, as the Chiefs are an easy top 10 and probably top 5 in that department. Lack of a superstar QB except for a very old Montana for two years doesn't help, either.

Joey, I wouldn't be surprised if the Chiefs went 8-8, but that wouldn't get them into the playoffs, so the result would be the same. I think I probably over-rated the Dolphins, so I wouldn't be averse to giving 1 or 2 of their wins to the Chiefs.

Full disclosure: I put that together in 2 minutes, and every year I do it, I get a sinkinf feeling a few minutes later that I forgot somw key player was injured somewhere. I said don't @ me!

Absolutely. Good points all around. If Mahomes can end up being something special, maybe that'll change for a while. Either way, it's fine by me. I don't mind being an underdog. Sometimes it works to your advantage when everyone underestimates you, y'know?

I'm saying I think 8-8 is their basement. And I'll be surprised if that's where they end up. It's gonna take key injuries for them to win fewer than 8 games. And I don't think 11 or 12 is out the range of outcomes.

I've got them at 12-4. And they are good enough to be 13-3 or 12-2. But if they drop a few they shouldn't, I can live with that; I won't be surprised. I really don't see them losing 6 games, though.

Any team can turn to shit if injuries hit them bad enough. Look at that one year the Packers barely won the NFC North at 8-7-1 when Rodgers got hurt. Barring injuries, I agree that 8-8 is a good floor for KC.

What's the story on Osweiller coming back to Denver? He should play cheap at this point.

Looks like he signed for about $750k.

$775k, to be precise, while Cleveland is paying $15.225M.

I'm OK with this. Much of Broncos Country is losing their shit that they may lose out on a UDFA QB that had a good preseason against 3rd stringers, and they can't get over all the nasty things they said about Osweiler when he left to Houston. In the end, he's probably getting cut once Lynch is healthy and this will just be a funny little footnote in NFL history.

Thanks, Its not that bad a move at that price if they can figure out how to get him back to where he was before he left.

With Alex Smith at QB and Andy Reid coaching? It's amazing to me people actually DO take them seriously.

the ability to score touchdowns when passing has become a crucial element of the position of quarterback

Alex Smith is great at putting his cleats on, locating his helmet. snapping the ball - all the fixings of a great NFL player.

just that when you want to elevate to that next level in the sport you just have to be able to take the ball with your hand and throw it forward to another player, who then catches the ball either while standing in the endzone, or while near enough to it in order to run into it with the ball in his hands.

it's a complicated strategy, for sure. and Smith deserves a lot of credit/patience for making it this far already - how to get to the stadium; when at the stadium, how to get into the locker room; where the pads are; where the gatorade is; where the athletic tape is. it's a lot to remember and half the games are even in an entirely different stadium, which makes it even tougher to handle.

but it's a copycat league and for all of his success in putting on uniforms and passing mandatory physicals, the forward-pass touchdown really is the skillset of the future at the QB position, and the future is now.

Right....

i know, its not like they havent won any games

they've won one playoff game with that combination, against what might honestly have been the worst playoff team of the last 20 years (the vaunted Brian Hoyer Texans)

that combination has also blown one of the biggest playoff leads in history (against Indy), and has shown even less of an ability to manage the clock than Reid's old Philly teams (have you watched their last two playoff losses?)

The only thing to take seriously about the Chiefs is the home filed advantage and noise from their crowd.

No. I've never once seen the Chiefs play a single football game. Not one.

I expected better from you Coach.