Quote:
Originally Posted by TEX
All the other teams in the division should easily compete for 2nd place. They're all closer to each other than they are to KC.  |
Well, sure, KC is in the top spot until knocked from it.
I would pencil in the Chargers for 4th at this point until we see how the QB spot goes, but they were challenged to finish 2nd with Rivers. The've finished 4th in 3 of the past 5 years, finishing 2nd in '17 and '18. At this point, I don't see them challenging for 8-10 wins in 2020. Although, anything could happen, but I doubt it is too great.
Raiders, haven't finished first since the year after 9/11. However, in the last 5 years, they've been all over the map with 2nd, 3rd or 4th.
Broncos have also been all over the map the last 5 years with 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishes. The difference between them and the Raiders, they've improved by 1 win each of the last 3 seasons.
I like Lock more than Carr, but at this point they are fairly similar. It should be an interesting battle for 2nd place and we'll see if either does enough to advance as a WC.
Oak avg 19.6 PPG while Den was 17.6 -- Denver's defense was much better, so will either drop off and which offense will pick it up?
Can Denver's offense add 7-9 PPG in 2020? That's the riddle and the goal. They need to avg 24 points a game while seeing consistency in the defense playing at a high level. And, I don't think it's unrealistic to see that happen.
Broncos had a top 10 DEF in PPG last year... keep it at that level with the improved offense and things should go well.
Broncos had 5 close losses of 8 (Raiders), 2 (Bears), 2 (Jags), 2 (Colts), 4 (Vikings) - offense avg 18 PPG
Broncos had 4 close wins of 7 (Chargers), 5 (Browns), 3 (Chargers), 1 (Raiders) - offense avg 20.7 PPG
Any of those 9 games could have gone the other way.
And, Lock played in 2 of those close wins and none of the close losses. The Broncos averaged 21.4 PPG with Lock, so that's another reason why some of us have optimism.
Now, you've added Gordon, Jeudy and the others along with the OL additions. And, on DEF, yeah they lost CHJ - but let's be honest, he was getting toasted down the stretch.
Again - lots of reason for optimism and on the flipside, I think KC is still sitting pretty at the top of the division. Denver scored 9 points vs KC in 2019... gave up way too much. So, I'm certainly not projecting any type of greatness for 2020 at this point.
However, they do have their best team in quite some time - very young, lots of upside and with Shurmur calling the offense, I'm definitely looking forward to 2020.