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NFL Pro Football 2008 NFC West Preview
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Fearless Rick's NFL Preview - NFC WEST
Rick Gagliano | 8/4/2008
NFC WEST - Predicted order of finish and (predicted record)
This season could be the one for long-suffering Cardinals fans. Leinart is back and healthy, and the team is exploring options to signing Kurt Warner, who actually had an excellent season in the pocket in 2007, but looks to be the backup in 2008.
Arizona has a great deal of talent in running back Eggerin James, wide receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. If Leinart lives up to his potential, the Cardinals may have one of the most explosive offenses in the league. The Cardinals finished third in the conference in points, behind Dallas and Green Bay, so they're pretty well established in that regard.
As for the defense that ranked 12th of 16 in the conference, improvement is a must to get to the next level. The focus of the draft was on the defense, with Tennessee State's Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie expected to fit right into a starting role at one corner position. The Cardinals also took Calais Campbell (DE, Miami, FL) and Chris Harrington (DE, Texas A&M) to bolster a defensive line which recorded 36 sacks in 2007. The Cardinals may have pulled off the steal of the draft, picking LSU wideout Early Doucett with the 81st pick. He could become an excellent slot and possession receiver.
Should the defense improve and the offensive stars remain healthy, the Cardinals should win the NFC West, ending the era of mediocrity that kept Seattle on top for most of the 2000s.
This team is well past its prime and nagging injuries to players like Nate Burleson and QB Matt Hasselbeck could slow them down even more in the coming year. The release of running back Shaun Alexander is very telling when it comes to age issues on the Seahawks.
Seattle finished 10-6 in 2007, but were dispatched in the playoffs by Green Bay after a dominating win over the Redskins. Alexander gained only 66 yards in those two games, showing the wear of the regular season. He has a history of falling apart at just the wrong time, but the Seahawks haven't found a suitable replacement. As usual, the Seahawks dominated their divisional games (5-1) and were stellar at home (7-1), but the division was weak and the schedule not very challenging.
2008 may be different. The Seahawks tangle at Buffalo in the opener, then, after home games with division rivals San Fran and St. Louis and a bye week, they play at the Giants, Green Bay and at Tampa Bay. That's a lot of travel and a very good chance at three losses. Near the end of November and into December, another tough stretch has games at home vs. Arizona and Washington, then at Dallas, followed by a visit by New England. If that doesn't decimate this squad, the season finale is at Arizona, which should be the final nail in the coffin and keep Seattle out of the playoffs for the first time since 2002.
Let's face it, the Seahawks were robbed in the Super Bowl loss to the Steelers following the 2005 season, and you only get so many chances in the NFL. Their time has run out.
The 49ers have the makings of a quality defense, but the lack of a premier running back (apologies to Frank Gore) and better pass protection from the offensive line are areas they need to address. San Francisco QBs were sacked 55 times in 2007, or an average of 3 1/2 times per game. Of course, that stat doesn't take into account how many times the quarterback was harassed, hurried or had passes knocked down or deflected. Whoever finds themselves in the pocket - be it Shaun Hill, J. T. O'Sullivan or Smith - should be aware that they have just 3 seconds to release the ball because the draft - which included guard Chilo Rachal from USC and center Cody Wallace from Texas A&M - isn't going to produce results overnight.
The 49ers are going to be relatively easy marks for the rest of the league, but may surprise a few times in their own division.
We are now light years past the "Greatest Show on Turf" era of Mike Martz and Kurt Warner, and the team is a shadow of what they once were. Only one team in the entire league allowed more points per game (27.4) than the Rams, and that was Detroit. At least they have some kind of offense. This St. Louis unit inspires nothing but the blues.
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Arizona Cardinals (10-6) - The Cardinals were on the verge of a playoff appearance in 2007, with all the elements in place, but things unraveled early on, with the season-ending injury to Matt Leinart followed quickly by the implosion of the defense after a 3-2 start.
Seattle Seahawks (8-8) - With Mike Holmgren already having announced his exit, the Seahawks would love to send him off with a Super Bowl ring, but that's not likely to happen. Besides, Holmgren already has one that he earned in Green Bay.
San Francisco 49ers (6-10) - Defensively, San Francisco finished roughly in the middle of the league in 2007, allowing 22.8 points and 346.2 yards per outing. Unfortunately, the 'Niners were dead last in scoring, at an average of 13.7 and 237.3 yards per game. Surely, the injury to quarterback Alex Smith had an influence on those numbers, but Smith was only a 48% passer when healthy, so maybe he isn't the second coming of Joe Montana after all.
St. Louis Rams (5-11) - Does it really matter whether the Rams win 3, 4, 6 or 8 games? In any case, they're not going to make the playoffs. These are the new cellar-dwellers of the NFC, with a smattering of offense and a defense that sometimes resembles a Chinese fire drill.