Taking the Pulse of the 2010 NFC West
By Scott Allen
Former San Francisco 49ers running back Roger Craig said this weekend that the 49ers will “annihilate” the NFC West. Is he right? Has the loss of several key players enough to knock the Arizona Cardinals from the top spot? Have the 49ers done enough to catch up? Everyone thought last year that would happen and that was when Kurt Warner was still playing.
Has the move to hire Pete Carroll in Seattle not been enough to jolt the struggling franchise awake from its three year drought? Have the St. Louis Rams, ok just kidding, we know the Rams have years of work ahead of them.
Clearly, the 49ers are getting closer. The Cardinals, I think, aren’t going to just fall off the face of the NFC West map though, with or without Matt Leinart. There is too much talent on roster for them to just all of a sudden be “annihilated”. The 49ers could win the division, no doubt. I think the one thing that keeps it closer than Craig thinks is the fact the 49ers still aren’t solid at their quarterback position either. Let’s be honest, Alex Smith doesn’t make one go out and jump for joy in the bay area, does it? David Carr I’m sure isn’t the answer to paradise either. That experiment failed in Houston and New York.
I still am a ways from making any final predictions about this division because I want to see how everything progresses with draft picks being signed (or not signed), and then what transpires once training camps get going. I will say this, don’t rule the Cardinals or Seahawks out of this race just yet. This truly could be the year where “anything” can happen.