It’s no secret that the AFC West — the Denver Broncos’ home — appears to be the very best division in all of football, with four high-end quarterbacks, a collection of promising coaches and rosters supremely loaded with talent across the entire division.
With that in mind, the trendiest question of the offseason has been, ‘Who do you project will win the AFC West?’
"I think any team can win the AFC West but I feel that Denver will win it" ~@danorlovsky7#PMSLive #BroncosCountry pic.twitter.com/gPmqtLxEWC
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) August 18, 2022
ESPN’s NFL Live analyst, Dan Orlovsky, shared that he believes it will be the Denver Broncos that emerge victorious.
“I agree that any of them can. The team I have said can win it – and I still feel that way – is Denver,” Orlovsky said to Pat McAfee, of the Pat McAfee Show, on Thursday.”
Russell Wilson’s clearly a big factor in the Broncos’ contender status, but Orlovsky chose to highlight the masterful job Denver has done of surrounding Wilson with terrific coaching and roster talent, rather than the quarterback himself.
In fact, Orlovsky even argued Wilson has never been set up this well for success at any point prior in his career.
“Russ[ell Wilson] is, obviously, a tremendous player. I don’t think Russ has ever had this situation offensively that he has in Denver, with elite scheme and play calling — and that’s this offense that comes from Kyle Shanahan, Mike Shanahan, Gary Kubiak, with Nathaniel Hackett. And Nathaniel Hackett, at least in Green Bay, seemed to have been a great play-caller when he had the opportunities to do that — matched with really high-end talent. I think the skill-position people in Denver are really talented,” Orlovsky told McAfee and Co. “I don’t think Russ has ever had those two together. He’s had some really high-end skill in Seattle, but I don’t think he’s had the scheme to match it at the same time.”
Orlovsky also highlighted the balance of the Denver Broncos attack, something he believes the other teams in the AFC West don’t have.
“The reason why I say Denver [is going to win it], and I have, is I think they’re the one offense in the division that can do whatever is necessary offensively,” Orlovsky elaborated. “When a defense is gonna come out and say, ‘we’re gonna force you to run the ball 40 times to beat us, and we’re not gonna give you any shots over the top and give you the chance to throw the deep ball,’ I think they’re the one team schematically that is willing and capable of calling and doing it that way. I don’t think the Chargers have proven that, I know the Chiefs haven’t proven that, and the Raiders haven’t, and that’s one of the reasons why.”
The Denver Broncos offensive balance certainly has the potential to be special this season. Hopefully, it’s enough to propel the team towards a division crown.