AFC West

[Broncos6482]

Something interesting I discovered about the AFC West: since the realignment in 2002, the Chargers and Broncos have combined to win the AFC West 9 times. That will be 10 times after this season since the Chiefs and Raiders are eliminated from the AFC West race. The Chiefs (twice) and the Raiders (once) have combined to win it only 3 times.

The Raiders were the first team to win the realigned AFC West in 2002 and haven't won it since. The AFC West also had all 4 teams win the division in the first 4 years (Raiders in 2002, Chiefs in 2003, Chargers in 2004, Broncos in 2005) and was the only division to have that happen.

If the Broncos win the division this season, they will tie the Chargers with 5 division championships since realignment. All time, the Raiders and Chargers have won the AFC West 15 times, the Broncos have won it 13 times, and the Chiefs have won it 8 times.

 

[cdumler7]

A win against the Chargers also if I remember right ties us for longest win streak on the road in the division with San Fran back in the 80's. Here's to hoping we wrap up the division this week!

 

[Broncos6482]

The Broncos have officially clinched the AFC West for the 4th year in a row. John Fox becomes only the second coach to do that, joining John Madden (when the Chargers won the division 4 years in a row from 2006-2009, they did it with two different coaches). Additionally, this is the first time in their history that the Broncos have made the playoffs 4 straight years. John Fox has now won the division more times than Mike Shanahan and is second to Dan Reeves (5 division championships) all time in team history.

 

[cdumler7]

Yet about half the fan base wants the guy fired if we don't win the Super Bowl this year. Honestly the year the fans loved him most was the Tebow year as they thought he was a genius in how he handled that whole situation and got us to the playoffs. Now pretty much all success is given to Manning and Elway.


To me I think you see Fox's genius in player development more than anything. Look at how well all these young players are performing for this team. That doesn't just happen out of the blue. Yes the Broncos have drafted well since Elway came to town but I think Fox has been great about getting a coaching staff together and he himself helping coach up these guys to step in and perform right away. Brandon Marshall is a great example. Cut by the Jaguars of all teams yet comes to Denver and performs at a Pro Bowl level.

 

[randymon]

Yet about half the fan base wants the guy fired if we don't win the Super Bowl this year. Honestly the year the fans loved him most was the Tebow year as they thought he was a genius in how he handled that whole situation and got us to the playoffs. Now pretty much all success is given to Manning and Elway.


To me I think you see Fox's genius in player development more than anything. Look at how well all these young players are performing for this team. That doesn't just happen out of the blue. Yes the Broncos have drafted well since Elway came to town but I think Fox has been great about getting a coaching staff together and he himself helping coach up these guys to step in and perform right away. Brandon Marshall is a great example. Cut by the Jaguars of all teams yet comes to Denver and performs at a Pro Bowl level.

I think McCoy should get alot of that credit ( Tebow time ) also. It is hard to find a good coahing staff like Bowlen and Elway have put together. I think alot of credit should be also given to the behind the scene guys that fly under the radar but play huge roles in player development, scouting,conditioning, support, friendship,etc and that, combined with the the Elways,Foxes and Rios, is what really defines a teams succsess. To be able to put that all together is very hard to accomplish in the NFL and Denver as a whole should be very proud.

 

[Broncos6482]

Great point about Fox, and I think he gets way too much grief from Broncos fans. Some of his game day decisions are questionable (to put it kindly), but overall I think he's a very good coach. Really the only thing missing from his resume is a Lombardi, which hopefully he'll get this year.

 

[cdumler7]

I think McCoy should get alot of that credit ( Tebow time ) also. It is hard to find a good coahing staff like Bowlen and Elway have put together. I think alot of credit should be also given to the behind the scene guys that fly under the radar but play huge roles in player development, scouting,conditioning, support, friendship,etc and that, combined with the the Elways,Foxes and Rios, is what really defines a teams succsess. To be able to put that all together is very hard to accomplish in the NFL and Denver as a whole should be very proud.

McCoy did a good job with Tebow. I will give him some of the credit. I will also though say I thought he held back the first year of the Manning era. We had an explosive offense yet there were many times he would just rather do the run it up the middle twice and then throw on 3rd down. He was just too predictable. We are seeing the same thing now with San Diego where they are more comfortable just playing the run run pass and trying to keep games close. Now I realize we are starting to do a little more of that lately but I just like Gase and his aggressive style a lot more.