NFC West Preview

By Steve Herzog
Don Best Associate Editor

The Seattle Seahawks have been the best team in the NFC West for some time and they should remain atop the division again this year. The Cardinals are always a trendy pick, and while they will be competitive, they still have a lot to prove.

The Rams will be bad again, but not as bad as last season when injuries really hurt their chances. And in San Francisco, the 49ers hope new offensive coordinator Mike Martz can inject some life into the team and its young quarterback Alex Smith.

Seattle Seahawks
Projected Record: 9-7

The Seattle Seahawks used a 7-1 home record and a 5-1 record against divisional opponents to go 10-6 and win the NFC West for the fourth straight season and make their fifth playoff appearance in a row.

Through much of that stretch, the Seahawks offense was predicated on running back Shaun Alexander, but the former MVP was let go in the offseason and the burden will now fall on quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and his receivers to score points.

Alexander was never right last season and the Seahawks became a throw-first team in 2007. Hasselbeck had arguably the best season of his underrated career, completing nearly 63 percent of his 562 passes for 3,966 yards and 28 touchdowns while throwing just 12 interceptions for a 91.4 QB rating.

Veteran wideout Bobby Engram was his favorite target last year and he had a career year, catching 94 balls for 1,147 yards. Engram will be joined by Nate Burleson while former Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch rehabs from a knee injury and hopes to rejoin the team during the season.

At tight end, Seattle has a terrific run blocker in Will Heller, and the team drafted John Carlson from Notre Dame in the second round. Carlson should see a lot of action as he is a fine receiver, which is the weakest part of Heller's game.

The offensive line should be better this season with the return of All-Pro Walter Jones. Jones missed all of last season due to injuries but looks like his old self in the first few days of training camp. When healthy, Jones is among the handful of best tackles in the league. Julius Jones will head the running back position, although he will split time with Maurice Morris and TJ Duckett.

Defensively, the Seahawks should be very strong. They are especially solid at linebacker with Julian Peterson and Leroy Hill outside and Lofa Tatupu manning the middle. All three are Pro Bowl level talents and Peterson might be one of the most underrated players in the entire NFL. Last season he was incredible with 63 solo tackles, 9.5 sacks, four forced fumbles and two interceptions.

Few outside linebackers combine Peterson's pass rushing, pass coverage and run stopping abilities. Tatupu, who along with Hill is entering his fourth season, had 109 tackles and four interceptions last season.

Up front, ends Patrick Kerney and Darryl Tapp combined for 21.5 sacks while tackles Rocky Bernard and Bredan Mebane do a good job keeping blockers off Tatupu in the running game.

The secondary is also talented. Cornerback Marcus Truffant had seven interceptions last year and Deon Grant and Brian Russell, a pair of opportunistic ball hawks at safety.

Arizona Cardinals
Projected Record: 8-8

The Cardinals seemed to be everybody's sexy pick to win the NFC West last year but a poor start doomed Arizona to an 8-8 record. The Cardinals once again have some reason for optimism but this team will need to improve on both sides of the ball if it hopes to make a playoff run.

The Cardinals have some big names on offense, including what may be the best pair of young starting receivers in the league in Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald. Despite missing four games in 2007, Boldin had 71 catches for 853 yards while Fitzgerald had 100 catches for 1,409 yards and 10 scores.

Boldin has always had injury issues, missing 12 games over the last four seasons, and he is currently looking for a new contract from the team. That said, if healthy and happy, Boldin is a game changing player, as is Fitzgerald.

Despite having a couple of great receivers, the Cardinals' passing game has been disappointing. The reason is the team's quarterback play. Matt Leinart will most likely enter the season as the starter and this will be an important year for him. Few hyped players have been as disappointing as Leinart in recent memory.

Entering his third season, Leinart is facing a make or break year, at least as far as his career in Arizona is concerned. Recently, Leinart admitted to being "lost" in the playbook last season and it showed in his play as he completed just 53.6 percent of his passes for 647 yards and two touchdowns against four interceptions.

After getting injured early on, Leinart was replaced by veteran Kurt Warner, who once more proved to be a solid quarterback, when he's not turning the ball over. Warner threw for 3,417 yards and 27 touchdowns, but he also threw 17 interceptions and fumbled seven times, losing two.

Warner is a very interesting player. He's won league MVP honors and a Super Bowl, has thrown for 152 touchdowns against just 100 interceptions in his career while completing 65 percent of his passes, yet he can't find a starting job of his own.

He hasn't played in all 16 games since 2001 and has now seemingly settled in to a career as a teacher and career backup. If Leinart can prove he's grown up a bit over the offseason, Warner will once more find himself holding a clipboard on Sundays.

One area that improved greatly for the Cardinals last season was on the offensive line, which allowed just 24 sacks last season. But while their pass blocking was very good, the Cardinals once more were a bad run blocking team. They ran for only 90 yards per game as a team and 3.6 per carry.

Featured running back Edgerrin James had a slightly better year in 2007 than in 2006, but he still averaged less than four yards per carry. He also caught just 24 passes last season and is virtually non-existent in the team's passing game. James was a great pass catcher when he was with the Colts but has just 62 catches in two seasons with Arizona.

On defense, the Cardinals are led by All-Pro strong safety Adrian Wilson. Up front, defensive tackles Gabe Watson and Darnell Dockett have a lot of potential as both were high round draft picks. The linebackers are solid with weak side backer Karlos Dansby headlining the unit. The Cardinals expect big things from Dansby, who was given the team's franchise tag over the offseason.

The Cardinals are young and talented and have enough big names to elicit excitement. That said, they will need to play better pass defense. On offense, they will need their offensive line to block better in the running game as well as get some solid quarterback play if they are to begin paying off on their potential.

St. Louis Rams
Projected Record: 7-9

The Rams had a brutal season in 2007, with injuries playing a big part. If they can stay healthy, St. Louis should be a bit better this season, but a tough schedule will probably keep them from reaching the .500 mark.

The focus of the Rams' offense this year will once again be running back Steven Jackson. Despite missing four games in 2007, Jackson still rushed for 1,002 yards and five touchdowns while making 38 receptions.

Jackson is a powerful runner who is also an outstanding receiver. He had 90 catches in 2006. The team expects to get him at least 350 combined touches this season, so they will certainly need him to be healthy. If he can stay on the field, he should have a big year.

The Rams should also see more of quarterback Marc Bulger on the field this season. Bulger also missed four games due to injury last year and had the worst year of his career when he was playing. For the first time in his career, Bulger threw more interceptions than touchdowns, 15 to 11 and completed just 58.5 percent of his passes, the first time he's been under 62.9 percent in his career.

A poor offensive line, which was missing the injured Orlando Pace, yielded 48 sacks on the season, so that certainly hurt the team's passing game.

Bulger still has some good receivers to throw to when he can stay upright in the pocket. Torry Holt had another outstanding season in 2007 to add to his Hall of Fame resume, and tight end Randy McMichael should rebound from a down season in which he caught 39 passes for 429 yards.

If everyone is back healthy, the Rams should be vastly improved offensively. They will need to be because this is not a great defensive team. In fact, this is probably the worst defensive unit in the division.

In 2007, the Rams gave up over 27 points per game as a team. A lot of that had to do with an inept offense that turned the ball over 37 times and constantly put the defense in bad positions. But the Rams also gave up 341 yards per game, including 115 per game on the ground, 12th in the NFC.

St. Louis used their first round pick on defensive end Chris Long from Virginia. Long is a terrific talent who could be an All-Pro before too long. He is also a solid citizen, and after watching his father's Hall of Fame career, he should blossom into a leader like he was in college.

Long, along with last year's top pick, defensive tackle Adam Carriker, will form the defensive cornerstone this team will build around. Veteran end Leonard Little is back and will provide the team with some pass rushing ability while La'Roi Glover remains a solid pass rushing defensive tackle.

Middle linebacker Will Witherspoon led the Rams in tackles last year while contributing seven sacks. Veteran safety Corey Chavous and cornerbacks Tye Hill and Fakhir Brown lead the secondary.

It seemed that everyone on the Rams roster spent time in the trainer's room last season. If Jackson, Bulger and Pace can all stay healthy and play, the Rams will score a lot more points. If Long and Carriker can team-up with Little and Glover to form the best pass rushing defensive line in the game, they should be better on defense.

That's a couple of big ifs. Regardless, there should be some improvement in St. Louis this year, although the Rams won't be making any playoff plans.

San Francisco 49ers
Projected Record: 5-11

This once proud organization has fallen on tough times. When you consider that many of the greatest offensive players and coaches of all time have been employed by the 49ers, the team's inept offense is especially shocking.

San Francisco is hoping that former No. 1 pick Alex Smith can finally show more than just potential, and the team brought in offensive guru Mike Martz to help him do just that. But Smith will need to do his best Joe Montana impersonation if the 49ers are to improve enough to challenge for a playoff spot.

Last season the pitiful 49ers offense averaged 13.7 points per game, worst in the NFL. To give some perspective, the 49ers averaged 2.5 points less per game than the Atlanta Falcons last year.

They also were last in the NFL in yards per game, averaging 237.3 yards of total offense, almost 40 yards worse than the second worst team in the league, the Chiefs. San Francisco was also last in passing yards, averaging 145 per game, 19 worse than the Raiders.

Obviously, this 49ers offense was one of the worst in recent memory. The fact that they were so far behind some pretty awful teams is mind boggling. Martz clearly has his work cut out for him.

There is some talent on offense for the Niners. RB Frank Gore, who was limited by a high ankle sprain throughout 2007, should be healthy and ready to go when the season begins.

Gore's production should be helped by Martz as well. In terms of offensive systems, some are already saying Martz will do for Gore what he what he did for Marshall Faulk at the beginning of the decade in St. Louis. There is no doubt, when healthy, Gore is explosive and a great receiver, so he could have a big year.

The Niners also imported some veteran receivers like Isaac Bruce and Bryant Johnson. Those two, along with the continued improvement of tight end Vernon Davis, will give Smith some decent weapons to throw to.

Unfortunately, the offensive line remains one of the worst in the league. It gave up 55 sacks last year, tied with Kansas City for the worst in the league and the team did virtually nothing to improve the unit from a personnel standpoint.

The Niners' slightly improved offense should help a young defense that played well under difficult circumstances last year. Middle linebacker Patrick Willis had an amazing rookie season, garnering 174 tackles, 135 of which were solos. He also had four sacks and two forced fumbles.

Tully Banta-Cain and Jeff Ulbrich will flank Willis. Cornerbacks Walt Harris and Nate Clements head a talented secondary along with heavy hitters Michael Lewis and Mark Roman at safety.

The 49ers are far away from competing with the NFL's elite, even with their offensive improvements. Expect another frustrating season of losing from this group.

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