Can You Finally Be Wild About The NFC West?

Even as a baseball romantic, I’m willing to accept the fact that football is now our national pastime.

The logic, most would agree, is that the NFL is not only television friendly, but perhaps each and every fan of their respective team can come up with a halfway reasonable thesis as to why they will make the playoffs in the upcoming season.

In the baseball world, we’re only in May, and diehards of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals have already begun peeking at minor league stats in hopes of satisfying their optimistic deficiency.

In the football world, with the draft now over and all the big name free agents signed, the average NFL fan can begin filling out his/her respective depth chart, study the schedule, and perhaps even plot a Super Bowl run.

This is especially true if your pigskin allegiance is in direct association with the NFC West.

Take San Francisco, for example. I can come up with five substantial reasons as to why the 49ers have no shot at making the playoffs. Then I have to remind myself that, after all, the Arizona Cardinals are considered the class of this division.

Common epithets football pundits use to label the NFC West throughout the regular season include: unappealing, stale, weak, an afterthought. It arguably has only one marquee quarterback and irrefutably falls short of offering any compelling, intra-divisional rivalry. A 9-7 team, on occasion, has had a better chance of winning this division than any 10-6 team outside of it.

But despite its lack of cachet during the season, there is nothing bland about playing virtual GM for each of the four teams during the off-season. In 2009, the NFC West will once again be anyone’s division.

Arizona Cardinals

What to like: A proven winner manning the sidelines, while the pieces on the playing field are there.

What not to like: Playing role of the hunted in the NFC, contract disputes with key players.

The Arizona Cardinals proved everyone wrong last season, while their personnel and coaching staff proved that it was possible to develop a juggernaut in the desert.

But the Cardinals’ penny-pinching ownership will not let that happen. For goodness sakes, they almost let Kurt Warner go. Now three more of the franchise cornerstones, Darnell Dockett, Anquan Boldin, and Carlos Dansby are unhappy with their current contract situations (and rightly so). Dockett and Boldin, especially, deserve the money they seek. They are bonafide playmakers that have the ability to change the complexion of a game with one play. No, you don’t want that kind of player!

So on top of carrying the Super Bowl loser burden (and history proves it is just that) the Cardinals will have to deal with the rigors of in house contract disputes with players they need to make it back to the playoffs.

So if not the Cardinals, who has the best chance of representing this division in the playoffs?

Seattle Seahawks

What to like: Impact draft picks Aaron Curry, Max Unger, the return of QB Matt Hasselbeck and DE Patrick Kerney, the signing of WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

What not to like: Underachieving, inconsistent players in key positions, Mike Holmgren’s absence.

Judging by their draft, the return of key players, and overall expectations, conventional wisdom probably would have to point to the Seahawks making the playoffs. The Seahawks made a habit out of winning this division before slamming into the wall of bad luck last season with injuries.

But Seattle has as many question marks as any other team in this division. And I couldn’t help but notice that those question marks are in all the wrong places.

Aging franchise quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is recovering from a back injury that essentially sacked his entire season, as is pass rushing specialist Patrick Kerney.

One of the best evaluators of talent the NFL has ever had to offer, Mike Holmgren, has retired. His head coaching replacement, Jim Mora, Jr., is fun to listen to. He could sell ice to an Eskimo in front of the camera, but will his coaching style work in leading Seattle back to the top?

San Francisco 49ers

What to like: Mike Singletary’s passion, underachieving talent with something to prove, running game, Michael Crabtree, a rational offensive system.

What not to like: Mike Singletary’s passion, uncertainty at starting quarterback, offensive line, overall depth, lack of pass rush, team speed.

Frank Gore and Alex Smith are now surrounded with enough help. If they can both return to their sophomore season form, and Andre Davis can finally live up to expectations, the 49ers could win this division.

There are just too many “ifs” associated with this team, however. So many components must not only synchronize on the field of play, but stay on the field of play as well.

They don’t blow you away with team speed, but they make up for it with smart, powerful, and opportunistic players on the defensive side of the ball.

For some reason, the draft jury was out longer than expected on WR Michael Crabtree, the best wide receiver college football had to offer. For a guy who’s been compared to Larry Fitzgerald and Andre Johnson, with the resume he brings to the table, I can’t believe so many teams passed on him. All that over a little hairline fracture? If he indeed has the strength to get separation, he will make an impact immediately.

St. Louis Rams

What to like: Talented defensive line that’s ready to break out, running game, new leadership on the sidelines, speed.

What not to like: inconsistent play at quarterback, WR Torry Holt is gone, overall depth.

New head coach Steve Spagnuolo, Tom Coughlin’s main defensive henchmen in New York, is best known for helping dismantle the previously undefeated Patriots and its record-setting offense in the Giants’ Super Bowl upset two seasons ago.

In order to lead the Rams back to the playoffs, “The Greatest Show on Turf” identity will have to evolve to the defensive side of the ball, where three former first round picks in Leonard Little, Adam Carriker, and Chris Long will be depended on heavily to control the line of scrimmage.

If the offensive line can improve in protecting Marc Bulger, and Steven Jackson can stay healthy, the Rams could give teams fits the way they did against Dallas and Washington last season.


The 2009 NFC West: while it might be anyone’s division to win, its public response will still prove it’s not for everyone. (Until Los Angeles is granted a franchise, anyways.)

And unless Cardinal franchise staples Boldin, Dockett, and Dansby kiss and make up with the Bidwell’s, the chances this division represents the NFC in the Super Bowl again aren’t likely either.