AFC West Preview

Monte Ball is being viewed as a fantasy football stud this year because he is starting next to Peyton Manning. Can Monte Ball and the other running backs on the Broncos fill the pass protection void left by Knowshon Moreno?
Peyton Manning is now 38 and continues to succeed in spite of his diminishing physical skills. Can Peyton Manning be Peyton Manning for another year and lead the Broncos to another prolific offensive year?
John Fox is a man about defense. Can Fox put together a defense capable of setting the tone and most importantly getting to the QB?

The Andy Reid era couldn’t have begun any better than it did last year with a 9-0 start. Is Andy Reid a QB guru or will Alex Smith prove him wrong?
The 2013 Chiefs defense were a product of their pass rush and it’s easy to note that in their 5 losses they only got to the QB 6 times. Have the Chiefs done enough to compliment Ali and Houston(Dee Ford)? Will their pass rush stay consistent this year?
Special Teams isn’t going to carry a team to the promise land, but it certainly can make an average team into a playoff team. Can D’Anthony Thomas step right in and replace the insane production the team got from Dexter McCluster last year on punt returns?

Matt Schuab has moved on from arguably one of the worst seasons for a quarterback that had a solid team around him. He now goes to a team with much lesser talent. Can we really expect Matt Schuab to get better in a new system surrounded by 4 win talent?
The Raiders spent a good amount of money in the offseason on average, aging talent on both sides of the ball. Can the gang of dinosaurs stay healthy and effective and help lead the Raiders to a surprising resurgence?
Dennis Allen and Reggie Mckenzie have done nothing but disappoint to date. To be fair Mckenzie didn’t have much to work with especially losing a 1st and 2nd round pick in the awful Carson Palmer deal. Are we looking at a dead man walking situation in Oakland this year, as we certainly know the ‘culture’ is built for it?

2013 was the year of Phillip Rivers, effectively rising from the ashes under the watch of Mike McCoy and Ken Whisenhunt. Was this resurgence the outlier or has McCoy fixed Rivers?
Flat out the defense under Pagano was just awful (32nd Def DVOA). Will the offseason additions be enough to solidify this defense and help support this now somewhat prolific offense?
One could argue that the Chargers were a product of their schedule in 2013. The AFC West picked up the NFC West and AFC East this year as opposed to the NFC East and AFC South. Will this team improve enough to actually show an improvement in the win column?

Ryan Kramer and Sean Green are writers and co-hosts for the Sports Gambling Podcast. Follow the show on twitter @GamblingPodcast.
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