AFC West Preview

Montreal Machine

Last year the Machine made the playoffs yet again and won the AFC West but failed at the first hurdle with a surprise loss to Birmingham. The previous two years Montreal have failed to make the FWL Bowl which by their high standards isnt good. 4 out of the previous 5 seasons Montreal were in the final so Machine expectations are huge.

Offensively the team ranked just 13th overall on offense. QB Danny Wuerffel played well but not up to his usual high level and finished 8th overall in the league, he simply didnt throw enough yards and finished with less than 3000. Young backup Dave Ragone had one start and played very well to show that he will be the future after Wuerrfel. The question is if veteran legend Wuerrfel doesnt make the playoffs this year will GM David Harwood start Ragone instead ?

At HB Corey Walker is very good when healthy but often misses games due to injuries. Last year he ran for over 800 yards at a good average and scored 9 td's and 4 in the air. For Montreal to win the division again he has to stay healthy. FB Ricky Brown is one of the best in the business and the former 7th round draft pick played well at FB also when Walker was injured.

Montreal WR's dont often put up big numbers and last year was no exception, Marc Lester had over 1000 yards but only a long of 37. Carlos Rosado had most of the reps at WR2 but didnt impress too much. At TE Rod Monroe is excellent as is his backup Daniel Wilcox who form a great 1-2 at TE.

Defensively Montreal ranked 8th, they failed however to make one interception last year and the secondary has to force more plays. As always the Montreal defense came up with a ton of sacks, 67 in fact. The front line is one of the best in the business and at LB Dave Moretti came through with a huge year with 72 tackles and 10 sacks. Fellow LB Tim Johnson led the team with 102 and also made 4 sacks.

The secondary as mentioned has to make interceptions but they have a good group even though age is catching up with them.

Montreal are a team in transition as they have a lot of veteran players, however they have a lot of draft picks coming up and if used well the transition wont be bad at all. David Harwood is one of the top GM's in the league and the Machine have been to the playoffs 9 straight years. The teams in the AFC West are getting tougher however and Montreal will have to have a fine year to win the division again.

Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks

GM Mark Munro has done a great job the last few seasons transforming his side. They now have stars at QB and HB and a lot of talent on defense when the injury bug isnt around. At QB Aaron Rodgers was benched early on but returned to play some brilliant football, it was then a surprise when Munro mentioned that Rodgers might be traded. Rodgers threw for just under 3000 yards, 14 td's and 7 ints and looked very good late in the season. The reason was HB Curtis Alexander, probably the best Skyhawks RB ever. Alexander came over from San Antonio in a huge blockbuster trade, to be fair his figures werent brilliant but defenses focused on him in most games, however it made it easier for Rodgers who performed well with Alexander in the lineup. With a record of 2-6 Alexander came on board and Raleigh finished 4-2 with some impressive wins late in the year.

At WR Robert Baker had a good year but needs to make more long catches as he finished just under 1000 yards. Latef Frim came over from London and despite having no speed Frim is a great possession WR and made a lot of catches. TE Bobby Blizzard won the job back from Tony Donald and had some big games later in the year. Veteran Ricky Hall played well and the speedster might take Frims job back.

Defensively the team ranked a surprising 7th, the best Skyhawks defense in many years. They were still very poor against the run finishing 17th but they had lost a lot of players to injury. With star DE Greg White, tough DT Matt Sweeney and other players returning from injury they should be even better. White has great skills and his injury as well as Sweeneys hurt the front line badly.

LB Mawuko Tugbenyoh had a good season with 73 tackles and 6 sacks and team defensive captain Rocky Bleker had 95 tackles and 4 sacks. The secondary needs more speed though, the reason they finished high last year was because teams ran on the injury riddled front line not because the secondary was that good. Newcomer Calvin Spears from Austria should start immediately, he is the fastest so far on the team. Projected starting safeties Kevin Knight and Dwayne Stukes are very slow and will be picked on.

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