Each of the four NFC West teams, the San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, St. Louis Rams, and Seattle Seahawks, had disastrous weekends. The Seahawks were blown out by the Denver Broncos on the road, Arizona got pummeled by Atlanta, St. Louis lost to lowly Oakland, and the San Francisco 49ers dropped to 0-2 with a gut-wrenching loss to the New Orleans Saints. Every one of these four teams has a major flaw, and this could potentially be the first year where a division champion may achieve a losing record.
Seattle, after an impressive opening week victory over division rival San Francisco, got demolished by the Denver Broncos 31-14 at Invesco Field in Week 2. The Seahawks are extremely young and inexperienced on the offensive line, which derailed them in Denver last week. A mediocre defensive line, missing top pass-rusher Elvis Dumervil, consistently applied pressure to Hasselbeck and forced him to throw three interceptions. Granted, the offensive line was not the sole reason for all of Hasselbeck’s miscues, but the offense as a whole had tremendous difficulties moving the ball against Denver’s defense, which is not an elite group. Defensively, the Seahawks lack the personnel to apply a consistent pass rush, and they had major problems applying pressure to Denver quarterback Kyle Orton. Orton, not considered an elite quarterback, threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns against the Seahawks. The interior of the offense and defense is a major weakness for the Seahawks and will cause problems for the team as the season wears on.
Arizona, the two-time defending NFC West champions, looked even worse than the Seattle Seahawks. After an uninspiring, unimpressive 17-13 Week 1 victory over St. Louis, the Cardinals got smashed by Atlanta 41-17 in the Georgia Dome. Quarterback play remains a critical concern for this team, as Derek Anderson, who supplanted Matt Leinart as the starter in the preseason, threw two interceptions and had troubles moving the ball against an above-average Atlanta defense. Defensively, Arizona surrendered nearly 450 yards of total offense, three passing touchdowns from Matt Ryan, and two rushing touchdowns from Jason Snelling. Atlanta could not even move the ball down the field against Pittsburgh, yet the Falcons made the Cardinals look like an NCAA team. Both the rushing and passing defense was awful for Arizona, and Derek Anderson is the worst quarterback in a division full of below-average quarterbacks. In a quarterback league like the modern day NFL, Arizona will have major troubles this season.
The St. Louis Rams, the worst team in the NFL last season, showed steady improvement from 2009, but they still have ways to go before fielding a winning team. They were unable to take advantage of a favorable early schedule, as they lost to Arizona and Oakland to open the season. Rookie quarterback Sam Bradford has shown glimpses of why St. Louis made him the number one overall pick and gave him an extremely lucrative contract, but he will need more seasoning before establishing himself as a quality NFL quarterback. He has only gotten two first downs in two fourth quarters and has already thrown four interceptions against two below-average defenses. Defensively, the Rams have allowed both the Raiders and Cardinals to gain over 400 yards of total offense. They have a very light front seven and were pounded by both Arizona’s and Oakland’s offensive lines. Also, they had over 25 undrafted players on the roster last year, so they will need some time to rebuild the team. They are at least another two years away from contending in the division.
Lastly, the San Francisco 49ers relinquished a golden opportunity on Monday Night Football to establish themselves as the frontrunners in the NFC West. Though they dominated time possession and outgained the Saints by 130 yards, the 49ers committed four turnovers and quarterback Alex Smith did not show the intangibles to lead his team to a victory. As a starter, Smith has more than double the amount of losses as wins and although he has showed glimpses of potential as a starter, he threw two interceptions in or near the red zone last game against the Saints. Also, the 49ers have not shown the ability to win away from Candlestick Park, as they were 2-6 last season and were blown out by the Seattle Seahawks in Week 1 34-6. Though they are strong defensively, the road woes and inconsistent quarterback play will give these teams problems going forward.
With major flaws in each of the four NFC West teams, this could be the first time in NFL history that the division winner ends up with seven or fewer wins at the end of the season. Within the division, none of these four teams are strong enough to enough to dominate each other and with the way Arizona, St. Louis, and Seattle lost to subpar teams in Week 2 and the way San Francisco has played on the road the last few years, this division could reach a new level of futility.
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