2014 NFC West preview

Andy: I beat the drum ad nauseum last year and I’m coming strong on this division again in 2014. Seattle and San Francisco are, in my opinion, the two best teams in football and the other two – Arizona and St. Louis – could very well be top five teams in the NFC.

I’m not sure who slots where just yet, but I will tune in every chance I get to watch the divisional match-ups these teams play. For the most part this is going to be hard-core, old-school, smash-mouth football. Sign me up.

Tony: The problem with this division, or any division that ends up being this strong, is that teams may end up beating each other up to the point that none of them end up with a high seed in the playoffs, which could end up letting a team like the Packers or Bears get home field advantage—which could play havoc with these West Coast teams.

Fortunately (I guess), it didn’t happen last year with the Seahawks grabbing the #1 overall seed. The 49ers ended up as the 5 seed, even though they tied for the second best record in the conference. And the Cardinals missed out on the playoffs, despite a better record than the NFC North champion Packers, and possibly a better team than the NFC East champion Eagles.

The scariest part for the rest of the conference (and league)? It could be argued that all four teams are better this year than last. The Seahawks lost some key cogs (Golden Tate, Brandon Browner, Walter Thurmond), but their backups in the defensive backfield were better than most team’s starters, and having Percy Harvin for a full year (and the addition of Paul Richardson and Kevin Norwood should more than make up for the loss of Tate (and retirement of perennial injury report occupant Sidney Rice).

The Cardinals will have a second season under Bruce Arians to improve, and for the most part where they didn’t add talent in the offseason, they possibly improved via subtraction with the surprise retirement of Rashad Mendenhall opening the door wide open for Andre Ellington.

The Rams were a chic pick last year, but all hopes for a playoff run went out the door when Sam Bradford went down. Add a healthy Bradford back in the mix, and two more top-13 selections in the draft, and barring another severe injury, it would seem almost impossible for the Rams not to improve their record.

The 49ers are possibly the only team in the West that may have had a trying offseason—from the rumors of Jim Harbaugh’s dissatisfaction, to Aldon Smith’s ongoing legal woes, to NaVorro Bowman probably missing at least the first part of the season, and fans in San Francisco might be a bit more pessimistic than their NFC West cohorts. But Harbaugh always seems to pull a rabbit out of his hat, and there’s no reason to believe that he won’t have this team playing strong still in 2014.

Andy: The receivers you mention are the reason I think Seattle is better than last year. They were dominant, winning it all, with Percy Harvin playing one regular season game. I think he’s going to have a monster 2014.

The Rams intrigue me. They might still finish fourth in the West – but I think they’re going to be better on offense with Greg Robinson on the line and Tre Mason joining Zac Stacy in the backfield. I thought they might take Sammy Watkins – I think they still need a big WR to help open things up for Tavon Austin. Maybe Kenny Britt can make a comeback.

Aaron Donald also improves what already had been one of the best D-lines in the league. Whether it’s this year or the next couple, this is definitely a team on the rise.

The biggest problem I have with Arizona is that they don’t seem to have any urgency to find a QB. Carson Palmer is … okay, I guess. Better than the collection of stiffs they’d been running out there for several years before they got him. But he’s definitely on the downside. Luckily for the Cards the defense is still top notch.

Tony: The Cardinals defense is actually a bit of a concern in my eyes, if only because they lost the heart of their LB corps. You can’t just replace Jasper Brinkley at the drop of a…wait, I mean Karlos Dansby.

I think the Cardinals plan is to have Arians groom Logan Thomas to be the heir (at least as of right now)—I’ve read they’re impressed by him. And Drew Stanton is more than enough to absorb some body blows if Palmer goes down—Stanton won’t take them to the promise land, but he might hold things together for long enough.

I still think that Sam Bradford might be the weak spot in the Rams plans, although he looked better last year when he got hurt than he previously had in his career. Interestingly enough, if he has recovered and really has taken a step forward, from a talent perspective, the Rams might have the best QB situation in the division.

As you mentioned, Palmer is on the wrong side of his career. Colin Kaepernick is still a giant question mark in my mind, as to whether or not he will truly become a legit starting QB in the league—he really seemed to struggle last year when teams started to take away the read option. And we can talk about the intangibles of Russell Wilson all we want, but without that defense, he’s a middle of the pack QB at best.

Andy: Well, I kind of agree with you on Bradford – he could be the most talented. I think Wilson could probably produce bigger numbers if he had to, but with the running game and defense they have, why bother? That’s a dominant group right there.

I’ll cut Kaepernick a bit of slack. Michael Crabtree was gone most of the regular season last year and was probably never full strength. Anquan Boldin is probably better suited to be a complementary player at this stage of his career than a number one WR. But you’re right – Kaepernick needs to take a step forward in order to make the next level.

As for the Cardinals, Logan Thomas … I’ll believe it when I see it. I do think the Cardinals are in the upper half of the NFC – but I think that’s good enough for last place this season in the NFC West.

Predicted order of finish

	Andy	Tony
1	Seahawks	Seahawks
2	49ers	Cardinals
3	Rams	49ers
4	Cardinals	Rams

Other division previews:

AFC East
AFC North
AFC South
AFC West
NFC East
NFC North
NFC South