NFL Offseason: Minority Report (NFC West)

Football is 71 days away.  Which seems really close, but honestly with both the NBA and NHL playoffs over, 71 days can seem forever.  Honestly is there not a worst time for sports? I don’t think so.  Fortunately we can spend that time postulating about who are contenders and who are pretenders. I know we’re not on the AFC East yet, that’ll be the next installment, but football can’t be brought up without at least acknowledging the ridiculous situation that is Aaron Hernandez.  It’s intriguing to me cause it’s essentially a live experiment in “innocent till prove guilty”.  I mean the guy smashed his phone, home security tapes, and got professional cleaning for his house 2 days before police showed up.  We all know he must’ve had something to do with the crime and yet he may have done a successful job of destroying all the evidence. The only thing I keep thinking is how can we tie this to the Patriots signing Tim Tebow.

Anyways, let’s get to the matter at hand.  That matter is the obvious pick for the best division in football.  Really this is largely due to two teams, the Seahawks and the Niners.  Seattle has an early lead in the primaries as the professionals have weighed in heavily already wanting to tout them as the best team in football.  Let’s just say I don’t agree.

 

Arizona Cardinals:

Arizona didn’t make all the right moves.  At least that’s what I think.  At one point Carson Palmer was a really good Quarterback.  But I think he never came back from that knee injury a while back. Don’t get me wrong, I thought that was his year to get a ring, but he just doesn’t have the same ability he used to have.  Sadly he is an upgrade from the carousel of bad QBs they had going last year. I think their backroom hating and eventual releasing of Beanie Wells may come back to bite them, as he still hadn’t reached his potential.  Will the Cardinals do better than they did last year?  Probably, they can’t get much worst.  But they already have a guaranteed 4 losses from the Niners and Seahawks as I see it and at best will split with the Rams.  And being as they won’t go undefeated for the rest of the season I see them going at best 8 and 8 which won’t be enough to get a wild card spot. Sorry fans maybe next year.

 

St. Louis Rams:

Lost Danny Amendola, but did gain some protection for Sam Bradford in the draft.  The thing is the Rams are obviously trying to rebuild, however they have Fisher on the sideline and a really good home field advantage.  If they didn’t have to play the Seahawks and Niners twice I’d maybe pick them as the team to sneak into the playoffs.  However I see them doing no better than the Cardinals and ending up 8 and 8.  But more than the Cardinals, they’ll make a lot more teams really fight for their wins against them.  I expect some excited games from them.

 

Seattle Seahawks:

The Seattle Seahawks are going to be a really tough team to beat this year.  But I don’t buy them as the best team in the NFC as most people want to anoint them. Russel Wilson is a very good quarterback, but I don’t want to give a rookie QB all the credit for what is a very solid team.  With that it’ll be interesting to see if he avoids the sophomore slump.  The addition of Percy Harvin was a great one.  Now if only someone could save Adrian Peterson from the purgatory that is the Minnesota Vikings.  But here’s my one draw back on the Seahawks.  Yes they made the playoffs, but lest not forget, they made it with a win that on it’s own ended a strike.  I don’t think any sport has had any labor agreements or disputes ever settled because of such a blatantly absurd, unearned win.  Without that win do they make the playoffs? Possibly but it’s not a forgone conclusion.  So now they get the benefit of a harder schedule, no fluke wins, and QB that will now have to perform with a lot of tape on him for defenses to study.  The Seahawks ended last season with 11 wins.  I think this year they’re looking more realistically at 9, which might be enough to get in the playoffs.

 

San Francisco 49ers:

The Niners are the best team in football.  That’s my vote.  They are under the cap, have a star QB who nearly mounted a comeback victory in the Super Bowl. Oh and he cost about dollar-fifty, in NFL starting QB dollars (that’s a thing).  You have a team that should’ve made the Super Bowl 2 years ago, and probably should’ve won this past year, all ahead of their curve.  The Niners are just hitting their stride.  They’re young EVERYWHERE, and beyond healthy.  There’s no guarantees in football but with an insanely angry coach after losing in the end, and team that now smells blood in the water, I’d say putting them in the Super Bowl again is one of the more obvious choices.  If they just returned with the same team as last year I’d say they were going to do well.  Oh wait, they got Anquan Boldin and Nandi Asomugha. SERIOUSLY.  Fuck this team. And by that I mean as a Cowboys fan and anyone else in the NFC not named the Niners, we are fucked.

 

Down to the final 2 divisions and only 71 days to go till football is back.  CANT WAIT

 

AFC WEST

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