NFC West Week One Wrap Up

A couple of NFC West divisional games to start off the season in week one.  What more do we know about the four teams in the NFC West?  Well, we know one road team won and one home team won.  Other than that, jury is still out.

Let's take a closer look at the Seattle Seahawks victory at home against the San Francisco 49ers, the other divisional game that took place yesterday.

My initial thoughts are, I told you so.  So many people seemed to think it was a foregone conclusion that the Niners were going to win the NFC West.  Now, it is just one game, but if you listen to post game comments by the Niners coaches and players, you'd think this team is in turmoil, not about to turn the corner and go to the Super Bowl.  Some things we know:

Alex Smith is not the answer in San Francisco at quarterback.  Everyone harped on the Arizona Cardinals for Derek Anderson.  C'mon man.  Anderson played so-so on Sunday, but well enough to win.  Smith threw two interceptions.

Niners coach Mike Singletary had better come clean and stop making excuses.  He blamed some of the loss on communication problems with the headsets.  Alex Smith said it wasn't so.  Oops.

Seattle continues to prove it has the best home field advantage in the NFL.  Hands down.  They get loud and stay loud.  That will rattle the best of them.

Some things we still don't know:

We don't know if Hawks coach Pete Carroll's rah-rah rants on the sideline like he was still a college coach, will work?  It worked yesterday and the players seemed to buy in.  How long before it takes its toll on the players though and gets old?  Maybe never.  We'll see

It's one game, but clearly the 49ers have issues.  One does not a season make, so Niners fans clearly shouldn't panic yet, especially with the Cardinals and St. Louis Rams still to come up twice each.

You get the feeling with the Arizona Cardinals and St. Louis Rams, you might have to go week to week and never ultimately decide what you have.  In Arizona you have a serviceable quarterback who needs to work on timing with his receivers.  In St. Louis, you probably have the best quarterback in the division and is poised to possibly be the best in the NFL someday.

These things we know about these teams:

Arizona's defense plays hard and will be a force.  They do need to tighten up pass defense - still.

Tim Hightower still hasn't learned how to hold on to a football.

Sam Bradford is the real deal.

What we don't know:

The real Cards, who could win as many as 10, could lose as many as 10.  We don't know.

The real Rams, who will win more than one game this season, no doubt.

How long Derek Anderson can survive as the starting quarterback and get away with the mistakes he got away with on Sunday.  We should find out real quick this Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.