NFC West Looks Like the NFL’s Trash Again

With the exception of the San Francisco 49’ers, the NFC West looks like total garbage once again.  I don’t know what it is?  You are talking about four well established franchises who have all had some success, with the exception of the 49’ers over the past 10 years.  Now, the Niners are starting to get theirs while the rest of the division plays like it has nothing to play for except a paycheck.  Who would have thunk it?  The Niners are in first place after seven weeks at 5-1.  The St. Louis Rams are sitting in dead last without a single win.  The Arizona Cardinals are 1-5 and the Seattle Seahawks are 2-4.  Ugly football people.

Let’s start from the bottom up.  What has happened to the Rams?  Here they sit winless in a year many, including yours truly, picked them to actually improve over their 7-9 just playoff miss from a year ago.  Sure, they’ve been hit with injuries, but the problem is inherently deeper.  They did almost nothing to improve their offense.  They added a couple of receivers, but nothing to write home about.  At this pace, they appear headed straight for a winless season – well they still have the Cards to play.  Anything can happen there.

How about them Cardinals?  Well, we know the story pretty much don’t we?  Disappointing to say the least, given the talent, or at least the perceived talent, they have on the roster.  Looking at the schedule, they still have the potential for a number of wins, but that’s all it is, potential.  They’ve lived nothing up to it at all at any point so far this season.

As for the Hawks, well, they’ve looked decent at times but seem to be more a by-product of what’s going on with their opponent at the time.  They caught they New York Giants at a time when things are kind of screwy over there personnel wise.  They defeated the Cards by a field goal in a very sloppy game by both teams.  Then they lose a 6-3 contest this week to the Cleveland Browns.  Sad.  Just plain sad.

Then there are the Niners who have pretty much shocked everyone at this point.  Road wins against the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles were quite impressive.  Then there was also the whipping they put on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home.  Their only loss has been to the Dallas Cowboys and the Cowboys had to work some magic to pull that one out.  They are a FG shy of being undefeated.  Impressive and at this point they don’t even need to be given the state of the NFC West.  They still have five division games left, but who at this point doesn’t think they have this thing wrapped up?