NFC West: Powerhouse No More?

[DCH]

At the beginning of 2014, people expected - rightly - the NFC West to be THE POWER OF THE NFC™. The '9ers and 'Hawks were the class of the NFC - expected to be the two to fight it out for the NFC championship - and the Cardinals and Rams were up-and-coming teams that nobody wanted to play.

Now, the '9ers are basically disintegrating. Bernie seems to think the 'Hawks might have a GSOT-after-2002 meltdown (which I would enjoy thoroughly). The Rams and Cardinals both have excellent defenses and nothing but question marks at QB.

What do we think of the NFC West's status going into 2015? Is it still the best division in the NFC, if not the NFL?

 

[Dxmissile]

Yes, I find it very hard to believe that Seattle will just fall apart one of the main reasons our team fell apart is because we didn't retain any of our key players. Seattle has basically signed their entire defense, working on Lynch and Russel. Their receivers has never been great. Arizona is very good and we know what our Rams need. The weakest team in the west looks to be the 9ers but even they can turn it around if kaepernick gets his act together. When you can run the ball and play good strong D then you will be in almost every game

 

[Faceplant]

No reason to think the damn squawks are going away any time soon. Too loaded and young and they do NOT have a battered QB like the Rams did in 2002. He will only get better. The damn Cards will be good again as well and I doubt the whiners crumble quite the way we want them to. Still a strong division. I see it going as follows unfortunately....

Squawks
Shitbirds
Whiners
Rams

Unless we can solidify that OL and keep Sam healthy, I just don't see how they get more than 8 wins next year. Even with a healthy Sam and OL, I don't see more than 10....which would be awesome BTW. Maybe Cigs comes in here and changes my opinion though....

 

[Rmfnlt]

I don't try to figure out how other teams might do anymore. It rarely works out for me... especially before the draft and free agency.

But a few facts:
* Seattle did experience a traumatic loss in the biggest game there is. That could be either motivating or de-motivating. Personnel-wise, they have work to do, but the nucleus appears that it will remain intact.

* San Francisco has a new coaching staff. I have no idea if that will work or not.

* Arizona has Palmer coming back after a second ACL injury (I believe it's his second?). Sound familiar?


The one constant in the NFL is change. No telling if these changes in the NFC West will help or hurt the Rams.

I'll concentrate on changes on the Rams. We now know who the OC is. Not sure how I feel about him but there's as much of a chance he'll succeed than fail so it will be fun to see what he can do.

The draft... free agency... this is shaping up to be one of the most interesting off seasons I can remember in a long time.

Very exciting!

 

[DaveFan'51]

What do we think of the NFC West's status going into 2015? Is it still the best division in the NFC, if not the NFL?

As Far as their D's are concerned, YES on both counts! And, to me, that's where it all starts! IF other Teams fear what your D will do to them, the game is well toward being in the Bag! JMHO

 

[Robocop]

every team in the division still as of now has a legit top 10 defense so nothing can be ruled out at this point.

 

[TheDYVKX]

I definitely think it's going to be weaker, but it still won't be easy.

every team in the division still as of now has a legit top 10 defense so nothing can be ruled out at this point.

They also all lost their elite DCs for other jobs, something that could affect their defenses.

 

[mr.stlouis]

Seahawks were far and away the healthiest NFCW team. Devastating injuries plagued the other three, especially ARZ and STL.

We are still the beast division in football.