The Buffalo News from Buffalo, New York • 82

1 TRANSMISSION Continued rom Page 19 WESTERN DIVISION 874 0800 634 2444 Item No 53088 Mode of Incredibly tough Cordura' nylon More than twice the life with less than half the weight of leather Will not rot crack harden or mildew Cooler wearing machine wasnaoie LEAKING? SLIPPING? DON'T PANIC OUR AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION TVM UP MAY AU THAT'S MCOCD Chk luid ll Drop Pon internal lnptond Adfutt son standout and will take over at free safety Holdout No 1 pick Rickey Dixon help cornerback situation Bengals have played hard ball with holdouts New aces: Ickey Woods MIA: Dave Rimington (waived after holdout) OUTLOOK: Bengals certainly have the tal ent to win the division but the cynical atmo sphere surrounding management player relations lend itself to winning Wyche probably will last the season but if he get this team to the playoffs he will be unemployed in 1989 DENVER BRONCOS (10 4 1) CAN A finesse team win the Big One? The evidence sup plied by the Denver Broncos in the last two Super Bowls says no Dan Reeves' team though is plenty good enough to capture another AC West title and get to Miami The odds are against it all Outside of the Miami Dol phins (1972 74) no team has gone to the Super Bowl three years in a row With John Elway at quarterback Denver led the AC in total offense last season and figures to do so again The Broncos have added former Dallas RB Tony Dorsett That should bring some excitement to a running game that produced no run longer than 29 yards last season Dorsett can contribute even if it's only as a third down specialist Elway will be throwing again to the Three Amigos (Vance Johnson Mark Jackson and Ricky Nattiel) This year however watch for Nattiel to jump into role of Amigo Numero Uno Defensive coordi nator Joe Collier manages to mask defensive weaknesses with a lot of trickery Truth is the Broncos can be blown away by a physically strong opponent that manages to un SPORTS CENTER 10295 MAIN ST CLARENCE NY 759 6837 THE YAMAHA PHAZER'S It's versatile and has performance to add It's the number one selling snowmobile in the world GO GET 'EM BILLS Available at all: smarts SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (9 6) THE SEAHAWKS made a brief visit to the playoffs a year ago but that fool Chuck Knox He knows it often that the 22nd best defense in the NL is going to get into championship play Thus Knox and defensive coordinator Tom Catlin revamped the defensive scheme The Hawks will do more attacking and less sit ting and reacting With that in mind the plan was to move Pro Bowler redd Young from inside to outside linebacker and slide Brian Bos worth over from the strong to weak slot inside Young though held out the entire preseason before returning over the weekend Another holdout was unsigned defensive end Jeff Bryant Bosworth may become the new defensive leader with the departure of safety Kenny Eas ley Veteran Paul Moyer takes over spot Offensively the Seahawks have three players WR Steve Largent QB Dave Krieg and RB Curt Warner with great individual stats As a team though Seattle was only 17th in the league in offense Largent caught 58 passes and became pro football's all time leader in receptions This season he should move to the top in reception yardage too Warner ran for 985 yards before a late season injury knocked him out Krieg threw for 23 TDs and only Dan Marino has thrown for more scores in the last five seasons than the Seattle veteran The offense doesn't figure to get much better unless rookie receivers Brian Blades and Tommy Kane become major contributors right away New aces: Ex Ea gles NT Ken Clarke Blades Kane QB Kelly Stouffer former Pats NT Lester Williams MIA: Easley ex Bills WR Byron ranklin OUTLOOK: Seattle and Denver have been waging combat for the division title the last two seasons and look like solid contenders again They tee it up opening day in Denver and on Dec 11 in Kingdome Last year there were guffaws and giggles but Bosworth is ready to become a dominant defender Seattle can hit double digits in wins Name with the Guaranty" URBANIK AVTO TRAMSMISSKM SPECIALISTS 4041 DELAWARE AVE 3625 GENESEE 50 IS TU TOTBS' In Line Cordless Screw driver Holster Wil Amerlcan CO A A 0 SNOWMOBHf ACCESSORIES Illi REE WITH THE PURCHASE A faW YAMAHA SNOWMOBILE United Press International Can quarterback John Elway get the Broncos off the deck after two straight Super Bowl losses? i fl "xx scramble the Denver tendencies You can tell the Broncos happy with their defense Defensive end Rulon Jones a starter any more They cut loose linebacker Ricky Hunley and dealt first draft pick Ted Gregory to Saints for DE Shawn Knight a disappointment thus far They also dealt for Andy Provence of the al cons New aces: Provence Dorsett David Treadwell MIA: Hunley OT Dave Studdard OUTLOOK: Broncos always have a shot as long as Elway is healthy but Denver just flex enough muscle to be a champion Anoth er 10 victory season but no cigar LOS ANGELES RAIDERS (5 10) THE BOLD Raiders keep on making the quickest recover ies in pro football If Al Da vis can make a trade for QB Jay Schroeder and Bo Jack son rejoins the Silver and Black after the American League season Raiders could steal AC West title No team in football made more significant off season acquisitions than the Raiders who picked up OT Jim Lachey WR Willie Gault and three fii'st round draft choices WR Tim Brown CB Terence McDaniel and DE Scott Davis Without a quarterback though all Davis' wheel ing and deallng is fruitless Right now unproven Steve Beuerlein appears to have beaten out a mob for the job Receiving trio of Gault Lofton and Brown could be scary with Schroeder to to them and Marcus Allen and Bo Jackson running out of backfield New look to OL finds Lachey at LT Don Mosebar moving to RT Bill Lewis taking over at and Bruce Wilkerson moving to RG from RT May have to patch defense The linebackers are aging and despite fact LA had 53 sacks Howie Long and Bill Pickel are coming off poor seasons McDan iel replaces Mike Haynes as starter at right corner New aces: Coach Mike Shanahan Gault Lachey McDaniel LB Eric Snelson LB Matt McColl LB Norwood Vann MIA: Sean Jones John Clay Marc Wilson Dokie Williams Jessie Hester OUTLOOK: The suspicion is that with or without Schroeder Raiders will be on the up swing the second half of the season and could even sneak into playoffs with defensive resur gence Will add shifts and motion to offense but vertical passing game remains a Raider trademark Watch for a 9 7 season because schedule is not that difficult KANSAS CITY CHIES (4 11) CHIES LOPPED badly in 1987 possible coach rank Gansz is in over his head Talent may have been oversold Bill Kenney and Steve DeBerg split quarter backing in preseason Paul Palmer the top '87 pick was outstanding in preseason and is developing as impact player Drafted DE Neil Smith of Nebraska with first '88 pick then traded veteran Art Still to Bills However holdover Ike Griffin not Smith who started in Still's LE spot in preseason Defense slumped badly in '87 allowing 25 pass ing TDs and a 576 percent completion rate as well as a 44 rushing average KC weapon still is Nick Lowery best kicker in the New aces: Smith DeBerg James Saxon MIA: Still TE Paul Coffman Glenn Hyde OUTLOOK: Chiefs made playoffs two years ago based on play of special teams They could challenge again Need decent start but first three games are against Cleveland Seattle and Denver Struggle to reach 500 SAN DIEGO CHARGERS (8 7) NOT ONLY do Chargers ap pear to be standing still they may be losing ground in their first year of the post outs era They traded away their best offensive lineman Jim Lachey OLB Chip Banks was a preseason holdout Babe Laufenberg apparently will open season as starting quarter back ahead of Mark Malone Rookies Antho ny Miller and Quinn Early are being counted on to come through at WR TE Kellen Winslow led team with 53 receptions in '87 but he has slowed considerably His catches averaged only 98 yards Rod Bernstine last No 1 pick figures to get more time this year Chargers averaged only 33 yards running the ball last season and that figure to improve Defense tightened up a year ago Chargers had 45 sacks and allowed only 515 percent to be completed and just 19 TD passes San Diego actually has some defensive stars now Billy Ray Smith Lee Williams Vencie Glenn New aces: Malone Miller Early MIA: outs Lach ey WR Wes Chandler LB Thomas Benson OUTLOOK: LJeSKy oui can i sianu up iu Broncos and Seahawks If Lightning Bolts Bop coach Al Saunders could be in difficulty he would do well to get this team home at 500 Page 20 The Buffalo NewsThursday September 1 1988 WESTERN DIVISION Wore 9.