AFC West

[Stromile12]

lets go raiderssssss

[bwgood77]

What if Eli never pulls an Elway on San Diego? A behind the scenes look at that draft (2004).

Big Ben almost ended up with the Giants? Rivers to Pittsburgh? Really fascinating stuff.

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So happy San Diego ended up with Rivers. I can't stand the other two.

I don't blame you lol. Eli always looks miserable. I wouldn't mind Ben tho.

Nah, not a fan of what he's done off the field.

[bwgood77]

lets go raiderssssss

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[RavenMad31]

The AFC is a better place when the Raiders are good, and not in that weenie-style Gannon, Brown and Rice sort of way either. Mack and Cooper are the kind of guys on either side of the ball who can physically dominate the guy lined up across from him. I think Al Davis would appreciate that and those are the kinds of stars the Raiders should have.

[bleu]

Khalil Mack has become one of my favorite players in football. That man is a monster, I think he wins DPOY this year.

[bwgood77]

The AFC is a better place when the Raiders are good, and not in that weenie-style Gannon, Brown and Rice sort of way either. Mack and Cooper are the kind of guys on either side of the ball who can physically dominate the guy lined up across from him. I think Al Davis would appreciate that and those are the kinds of stars the Raiders should have.

They swept the Chargers for the first time in years last year. I will be interested to see if the Chargers bring it come this year.

On another note...

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[OnceUponADime]

Antonio Gates has the age to be sage.

That is good and bad for those of us who don’t want to contemplate the Chargers without him.

“It’s so hard to say,” Gates said when asked if this season would be the last before he hangs it up and awaits the call from Canton. “It’s getting close. I don’t know how close. I think about it more now than I ever did. I talk about it more now than I ever did. Days come up and I’m like, ‘Oh man, I don’t know.’ “

For now, Gates is preparing to play as well as he can as much as he can.

How long he plays will be something he determines based on how the first two go.

“If I can find some way to get the most out of me, that in my mind is efficient enough, where I feel I’m playing at a level I’m comfortable with,” he said when asked the considerations he will make in deciding whether to play beyond this season. “I’ve never come off the bench. I’ve never not contributed. So if it ever got to that point where I am not doing that, I don’t know how I would feel as a person. All that stuff is still remaining to be seen when I play.”

Gates is seven touchdowns from tying Tony Gonzalez’s career record of 111 touchdowns. He is aware of the mark, wants to set a new one. The Super Bowl ring he thought he’d long ago have is about the only other thing for which he has to strive.

But there is something else he knows he must accomplish this season. It has to come first, and it has to happen week after week.

Basically, just as was the case last year, Gates is going to have prove to himself he is still Antonio Gates.

“Sometimes understanding is the biggest thing you face -- just being able to understand what you can do and can’t do and being happy with what you’ve done,” Gates said. “… For me, it’s about still playing well and being productive. And at the same time, winning a Super Bowl is the priority. So I have some things I can get done. I feel like if I get utilized in the right way, in the right manner, the right amount of times, I can still help win football games.”

Gates, who was suspended the first four games of last season for a failed PED test and also suffered the first knee injury of his career (MCL strain) in October, played his fewest games (11) since 2010 and made the fewest starts (four) of his career. His 56 receptions and 630 yards were his lowest totals since 2012.

He still required an extra man to cover him in some situations, still outmanuevered a number of safeties and made a lot of linebackers look lumbering. He remains Philip Rivers’ intrinsic fallback and instinctive go-to.

That’s why, while Gates practiced more than usual during training camp, he did not play a single preseason snap for the first time in his career. The goal, Mike McCoy said, was to get Gates to the season opener as fresh as possible.

How long that will last can’t be predicted.

He is 36-years-old. With a lower body that feels some days the way a 70-year-old’s might. A 70-year-old crash test dummy.

His hands aren’t consistently magnetic anymore. He is sometimes a half-step behind. His body positioning, once practically indefensible, is more than occasionally neutralized.

Now, there was a period of about a decade where Gates’ ability to get open and make the improbable catch was unmatched. So any comparison to that version is going to come up lacking. And the knowledge he has amassed in 190 games and his comfortableness with Rivers and in the Chargers’ offense certainly help him maintain an edge against many opponents.

But one of Gates’s favorite sayings is about Father Time being undefeated.

Gates sometimes mentions his resepct for Jerry Rice and Darryl Green, who respectively played 21 and 20 seasons. He told Pete Metzelaars, his position coach the previous two seasons, he was going to match his 16 seasons as an NFL tight end.

Being audacious enough to read between the lines, though, it seems clear Gates won’t challenge any of those marks.

“I’m on third base coming home,” he said. “Last year was one of those years I didn’t know what the year was going to be like, whether I was going to come back or not. A lot of it has to do with the process – Do I enjoy going through the process to play? … If ever I get to the point where I’m just here, that’s probably the calling to the end – if I am ever OK just being a guy.”

The Chargers drafted Hunter Henry in the second round and his spring and summer performance has everyone, including Gates, excited about his being the tight end of the future. Henry will play a lot this season. If that ends up being in place of Gates rather than as a complement, there will be little need to ask Gates about 2017.

“Some guys still play and they get paid and yet they don’t have the same role,” he said. “I don’t know if I can actually do that.”

To be ready, Gates will do as he always has. A man doesn’t play this long through the injuries Gates has without knowing his body. He will not practice some days. His snaps will be limited in some fashion.

“It’s all about me being able to be ready and do the things I do,” he said. “Or that I’m hoping I can still do.”

That is the wisdom that comes with age. Unfortunately.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/sep/05/gates-only-committed-to-playing-at-a-high-level/

I'm excited for Gates to mentor Hunter Henry. I think Henry can be a Jason Witten type TE eventually. Effective in both blocking and catching.

[bluejerseyjinx]

Chargers need all the help they can get.

[bwgood77]

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[bwgood77]

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[GoRapstheoriginal]

GO RAIDERS GO!!! WOOOOOOOOOOO!

[bluejerseyjinx]

Still taking Kansas City to win the west and go very deep in the playoffs. This is the year and I look for them to put up a lot of points and look for Alex Smith to open things up more and throw downfield a lot more this year. They were just a bad break and a bad call from upsetting New England last year with an under manned team on the road in New England. Berry is back and I am a bit concerned Houston won't be back till late October or November.

[bleu]

Weird, weird week for the AFC West...it's definitely proving to be one of the NFL's most exciting divisions though!

[GoRapstheoriginal]

Lol! No doubt about it! Def gotta keep tabs from week to week 4 sho! ! ! !

GO RAIDERS GO!

[bluejerseyjinx]

How about them CHIEF'S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ErnieDiGregorio]

How about them CHIEF'S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woopee....
They barely beat a team not that good who lost a weapon. Don't by any KC hype,ever.
This might be the division this year where everyone is 9-7 to 7-9

[bluejerseyjinx]

So does that mean we write off a team like Seattle because they barely beat a crappy Dolphins team also? And do we then crown the Raiders division champs because they beat the Saints by 1 point?

[bwgood77]

I feel stronger with my picks of Kansas City and Cincinnati winning their divisions and going farther in the playoffs vs. your picks of the Dolts and Buffalo.

KC struggled a bit for a home game against the Chargers. If not an injury to Keenan Allen and the conservative "sit on a big lead" for McCoy, KC likely loses, and it probably isn't close.

It was a brutal and heartbreaking loss as a Chargers fan, but a road loss to KC in the big picture was expected.

I think the division is going to be a dog fight and I wouldn't count anyone out or deem anyone a clear winner. The Broncos just beat Carolina, and the Raiders won a big road game playing early which is tough for a west coast team. SD played early too and it took KC OT to beat them at home.

[bwgood77]

How about them CHIEF'S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woopee....
They barely beat a team not that good who lost a weapon. Don't by any KC hype,ever.
This might be the division this year where everyone is 9-7 to 7-9

I was reading ESPN magazine projections and it was exactly that. Two teams were 9-7, one 8-8 and one 7-9.

[bluejerseyjinx]

I feel stronger with my picks of Kansas City and Cincinnati winning their divisions and going farther in the playoffs vs. your picks of the Dolts and Buffalo.

KC struggled a bit for a home game against the Chargers. If not an injury to Keenan Allen and the conservative "sit on a big lead" for McCoy, KC likely loses, and it probably isn't close.

It was a brutal and heartbreaking loss as a Chargers fan, but a road loss to KC in the big picture was expected.

I think the division is going to be a dog fight and I wouldn't count anyone out or deem anyone a clear winner. The Broncos just beat Carolina, and the Raiders won a big road game playing early which is tough for a west coast team. SD played early too and it took KC OT to beat them at home.

I agree with you totally. I just have a few prop bets on kansas City and have stuck my neck on the line in this early season going with the Chiefs. Gotta at least root for them to make some $$$$$$ at the end of the season.