In a game only an Area Football fan could be proud of, the Broncos hammered the clueless Chiefs 49-29 on Sunday.

Matt Cassel threw for a career-high 469 yards and four touchdowns, while Kyle Orton threw for 296 yards and four scores. Neither quarterback was picked off, although it’s important to note that they were playing against air.

Dwayne Bowe’s assault on defensive backfields continued, as he caught 13 passes for 186 yards and two scores. He now has eight touchdowns in his last five games, which is enough to make any fantasy owner who dropped or traded him earlier in the year when he was laying goose eggs want to take a bath with a toaster.

With Kansas City’s loss, the AFC West is now up for grabs. The Chiefs and Raiders are now tied for first place at 5-4, while the Chargers (who we all know will win this juggernaut of a division with a 9-7 record when it’s all said and done) are 4-5. At 3-6, even the Broncos aren’t totally out of the picture if they can string a couple of wins together, and this is a team that gave up 59 points to Oakland three weeks ago.

Speaking of bad football, the Seahawks crushed the Cardinals 36-18 on Sunday. The win, coupled with a Rams’ loss to the 49ers (23-20 in overtime), puts Seattle back in first place at 5-4 in the NFC West. If you can find a worse division in football, let me know.

Sam Bradford put together a nice drive late in the fourth quarter to push the game into overtime. Of course, had St. Louis’ defense held on to a 7-point lead with about six minutes remaining in the game, the Rams wouldn’t had needed Bradford’s heroics. The Rams remain winless on the road this year.

Troy Smith has given the 49ers new life at quarterback. He completed 17-of-28 passes for 356 yards and one touchdown, while compiling a 116.7 QB rating. He also had a couple of touchdowns wiped off the board because of penalties. Despite their back-to-back wins, San Francisco remains a poorly coached team and Mike Singletary’s in-game management should continue to draw criticism from the media.

This was supposed to be the day that we figured out whether or not the Chiefs are for real. Their 3-0 record spoke for itself, but with wins over the Chargers (who have struggled on the road), Browns (who have struggled closing out games) and 49ers (who have just flat out struggled), nobody could say for sure whether or not Kansas City’s record was a farce.

And if you ask me now, I’d say I still don’t know.

Teams usually don’t frustrate Peyton Manning the way the Chiefs did today and lose. Peyton completed 26-of-44 passes for 244 yards in the Colts’ 19-9 victory, but he was also picked off once and spent most of the afternoon being tormented by Tamba Hali. Romeo Crennel (who has always had success against Manning) put together an impressive game plan and held Peyton to only 5.5 yards per pass.

But the Chiefs’ defense couldn’t overcome the stink that is Matt Cassel and the rest of KC’s offense, which includes receivers Dwayne Bowe and Chris Chambers, as well as offensive coordinator Charlie Weis.

Cassel, who has struggled every week thus far, completed just 16-of-29 passes for 156 yards. The running game, which rushed for 84 yards in the first half, could only generate 30 yards in the second as Thomas Jones could only muster 19 yards on eight carries.

The Chiefs’ defense is good enough to keep this team in contention every week. But unless they get a remarkably better effort out of Cassel and the rest of the offense, what transpired today at the RCA Dome will probably be the norm.

I hate writing intros and I don’t think many people read them anyway. There’s a good chance you’re not even reading this write now, so let’s just get on with it.

(Side Note: This list isn’t directed at fantasy football readers. If owners want to apply this information for fantasy purposes, please, be my guest. But I encourage you to check out my TSR partner John Paulsen’s work if you’re looking specifically for fantasy-related content. Just do so after you read this piece………..you’re not even reading this, are you?)

1. Dwayne Bowe, Chiefs
I’m going to start off with a somewhat obvious candidate in Bowe based on offseason reports (he’s also already shown that he can be productive). But make a mental note (seriously, write it down) that I’ve been high on the former LSU product ever since his performance in the 2007 Sugar Bowl against Note Dame (even though he was arguably outperformed by Early Doucet). After spending a grueling offseason participating in Larry Fitzgerald’s football camp, Bowe is reportedly down to 210 pounds after showing up to camp last year at 240. After spending most of preseason in Todd Haley’s doghouse last year, Bowe is now running with the Chiefs’ first-team offense this summer. At 6’2 and 210 pounds, the problem with Bowe has never been about size or physical tools. His issues have always lied within his work ethic, or lack thereof. But if he’s focused, he could have a tremendous year in Haley’s offense and could go from a promising player to a Pro Bowler in one season.

2. Johnny Knox, Bears
As John wrote in his breakdown of sleeper fantasy receivers last week, it’s hard to pick out just one Bear receiver that could break out this season. That’s because in Mike Martz’s offense, they all could break out. But I’m going with Knox over returner-turned-receiver Devin Hester, whom some believe will be Chicago’s biggest breakout player. Knox has reportedly been targeted more than any receiver in Bears’ camp so far this offseason and he’s the perfect fit for Martz’s up-temp offense. That’s because he not only has elite speed, but he’s also a sound route-runner and he’s already drawing comparisons to Torry Holt in terms of how his game translates in Martz’s offense. Assuming Jay Cutler targets him in the regular season as much as he has so far in training camp, a 1,000-yard season is well within Knox’s reach.

Read the rest of this entry »