Tuesday, September 6, 2011

NFL: NFC West preview

At last, the last two divisions to preview, are by far the worst ones in the NFL, both West divisions. And, to give you an idea at how bad these divisions are, the NFC West winner had a losing record last season. While the AFC was better and had the Chiefs nailing down the four seed, but had a worst record than either wild card entry. So, I'm not going to bother with too much time on either division, as both conferences West divisions will only have one entry in the playoffs and neither winner will make it to the Super Bowl. But, I must preview these divisions. Today comes the NFC and tomorrow comes the AFC, along with my 10 best football games of the weekend.

Seattle Seahawks

Granted, this team won the division last year, but also, now they got rid of their quarterback from last season, Matt Hasselbeck, and the fact that every other team is better. Plus, Hasselbeck was the franchise quarterback in Seattle for so many seasons, and now to get rid of him for a worse quarterback in Tarvaris Jackson just seems silly to me. Plus, while Marshawn Lynch did have an amazing run in the playoffs against the Saints last year, he's not that good of a running back. Plus, their defense is one of the weakest in the division. So, to sum it all up, they've taken multiple steps back and now they're trying to rebuild.

Prediction: 4-12

Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals are looking to bounce back to contender status in year two without Kurt Warner as their quarterback. Arizona went to the Super Bowl for the first time with Warner at the helm in 2008, and returned to the playoffs in 2009 with him there. Arizona has been a moribound franchise ever since they arrived in the desert more than a quarter century ago. So, to make the playoffs in back to back years was something very special for them. Plus, since they didn't really have a good quarterback to take over once Warner retired, they were doomed to fail. Now, this year, the Cardinals traded for the best quarterback available in Kevin Kolb, once believed to be the successor to Donovan McNabb in Philadelphia. Kolb shined in his first two professional starts, going 1-1 and throwing for over 300 yards in both of those games. However, he has struggled in the three starts since, throwing more interceptions than touchdowns and having a losing record. Kolb and the Cardinals should be much improved this year, as Kolb probably needed a change of scenery and the Cardinals needed a quarterback better than Max Hall. But, with the lockout, Kolb still probably hasn't mastered the Cardinals offense, so it could be a struggle the first few games. But, they will still miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

Prediction: 7-9

San Francisco 49ers

San Francisco had big aspirations last year of winning the division and possibly going to even the NFC Championship game for the first time since the 1994 season. But, those plans quickly got derailed once the 49ers got off to an 0-5 start. So, things didn't quite work out in Mike Singletary's second full season coaching the team. So, over the offseason, the 49ers went out and lured Jim Harbaugh from Stanford and the college ranks to the NFL. Over the years, the transition hasn't been too good for most coaches. San Francisco is hoping that Harbaugh can turn the 49ers around like he did with the Cardinal. It may take him a year or two to do so, having to implement everything, and it may take the players a while to learn his system, with the lockout and everything. But, I think he will turn out to be a decent coach in the NFL, but not one that can lead this team back to its glory days.

Prediction: 6-10

St. Louis Rams

Sam Bradford stepped right into the starting job last year and did a fantastic job up until the final game in Seattle, where the Rams barely lost the division. Bradford was definitely the right choice for the Rams to spend their first overall pick on in 2010, as Bradford didn't get injured miraculously. The Rams did upgrade a little bit at their wide receiver spot, getting a big tall guy like Mike Sims-Walker who can go up and grab so errant throws. But, again, the Rams will be relying on their running game and Steven Jackson to grind it out and help Bradford in his transition from the college to the pro game. The Rams also will be getting better defensively as they have Chris Long and James Laurinatis returning to be better on that side of the ball. Overall, I think the Rams have a solid team which can win the division can continue to get better.

Prediction: 9-7, fourth seed.

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