POLL Who is going to win the NFC West?

[JMR]

Yes, Seattle easily wins this division but they are going nowhere in the playoffs until they fix that O-line.

Is it a foregone conclusion they won't field a better OL this year? It was really young and inexperienced last season. Looks like 4 of those 5 starters are returning with an add of Joeckel. Not saying Joeckel is all world or anything, but he's a talent upgrade for this unit. It's quite possible the line won't be much better, but I would say it's at least as likely that it may. You also have an upgraded at RB with Eddie Lacy and -- at least to start -- a healthy Russell Wilson who can help mask problems on the line with his mobility.

 

[Schmoopy1000]

If I could know that the Cards QB position would play well, I would take the Cards this year, but since I cant, the Seahawks are the team to beat.

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

Easiest division to pick

And Seattle isnt even that good anymore

A healthy Seattle team can be a dangerous team to play against.

 

[Manster7588]

A healthy Seattle team can be a dangerous team to play against.

Agree, saying Seattle isn't good anymore is ..... well, just Dirt.

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

Agree, saying Seattle isn't good anymore is ..... well, just Dirt.

If Dirt meant the o-line isn't good, I would agree even though they still made it to the second round. Now if the o-line with a year under their belt plays better and rank say low 20's, then this team will be tough to beat.

 

[Danny Ocho]

It's a tough choice between Cardinals and Seahawks. It'll be very competitive with these two teams in their division, but I think the Seahawks prevail at the end.

 

[Cave_Johnson]

Yeah I'm not expecting them to win the Super Bowl either. Should be a playoff team no problem but teams like Green Bay, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Dallas, NY Giants are all teams I would put above them with a good shot at winning the NFC.

Green Bay, Atlanta, and Dallas I get. Tampa, Carolina, and NYG though? Seems like a push at best right now. I personally would take Seattle solidly over Carolina at this point. Tampa did beat Seattle last year but that game was ugly as sin all the way around. That, and I just don't trust Winston. Hard for me to put them solidly above Seattle. The Giants are explosive but even with Seattle's issues last year I think I'd rank them a notch above NY.

 

[cdumler7]

Green Bay, Atlanta, and Dallas I get. Tampa, Carolina, and NYG though? Seems like a push at best right now. I personally would take Seattle solidly over Carolina at this point. Tampa did beat Seattle last year but that game was ugly as sin all the way around. That, and I just don't trust Winston. Hard for me to put them solidly above Seattle. The Giants are explosive but even with Seattle's issues last year I think I'd rank them a notch above NY.

Tampa Bay--Since they drafted Winston they went from 2 wins the year before they drafted him to 6 wins his rookie year and 9 wins (first winning season in 6 seasons) his sophomore year. They have been a team trending up since Winston arrived. Yes he needs to work on some things but I just see the 3rd year where you see some of these guys finally break out with Winston's skill set. Beyond the wins you can see the change in just the point differential. They were 60 points better in points scored verse points allowed compared to Winston's first year. Good sign the entire team is trending in the right direction as the biggest change wasn't Winston and the offense but the defense getting things together.

Compare that to the Seahawks who were 84 points worse from 2015 to 2016. Both the offense and defense got markedly worse from the year before. I know I know injuries and such as many other fans of teams have said. I've had a Ravens fan tell me the same thing about why their team lost. Injuries happen to every team so unless your QB goes down I'm not really buying into it a whole lot.

Carolina for me it is going to their bi-yearly up and down ability. One year they are great and the next they stink. Well time for another good year. Cam still has ability to be a top level QB in this league with both his arm and legs and I like the weapons they added to that offense. I also like what that defense has.

As for the Giants that one is easy for me. They have what looks like a very good defense (top-10) and an explosive offense. If the OL can even be just average that offense could finish top-10. I have the Giants winning the East actually. They added maybe my favorite TE in the draft that should be a day 1 contributor and of course Brandon Marshall to an already good WR core.

Right now for me I just don't trust the Hawks. I watched the Hawks plenty over the past few years and last year they did not look like nearly like the team that just a couple of years ago was competing in the Super Bowl. It looks like Carroll's message has run dry on the players. Beyond that the OL still looks like one of the worst in football and while Wilson can do magical things his body still can only take so many hits. He is a smaller player and I just see him kind of like Big Ben who likes to run around and try to play hero where his body just can't hold up for an entire season. I don't usually like to predict injuries but Wilson just seems set up for that to happen. Heck Luck is going through the same thing in Indy where his body is already starting to break down from all the hits he has taken. I just look at the Seahawks as a middle of the pack offense and a maybe top-7 defense. Still a playoff caliber team but not a Super Bowl caliber team.

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

Tampa Bay--Since they drafted Winston they went from 2 wins the year before they drafted him to 6 wins his rookie year and 9 wins (first winning season in 6 seasons) his sophomore year. They have been a team trending up since Winston arrived. Yes he needs to work on some things but I just see the 3rd year where you see some of these guys finally break out with Winston's skill set. Beyond the wins you can see the change in just the point differential. They were 60 points better in points scored verse points allowed compared to Winston's first year. Good sign the entire team is trending in the right direction as the biggest change wasn't Winston and the offense but the defense getting things together.

Compare that to the Seahawks who were 84 points worse from 2015 to 2016. Both the offense and defense got markedly worse from the year before. I know I know injuries and such as many other fans of teams have said. I've had a Ravens fan tell me the same thing about why their team lost. Injuries happen to every team so unless your QB goes down I'm not really buying into it a whole lot.

Carolina for me it is going to their bi-yearly up and down ability. One year they are great and the next they stink. Well time for another good year. Cam still has ability to be a top level QB in this league with both his arm and legs and I like the weapons they added to that offense. I also like what that defense has.

As for the Giants that one is easy for me. They have what looks like a very good defense (top-10) and an explosive offense. If the OL can even be just average that offense could finish top-10. I have the Giants winning the East actually. They added maybe my favorite TE in the draft that should be a day 1 contributor and of course Brandon Marshall to an already good WR core.

Right now for me I just don't trust the Hawks. I watched the Hawks plenty over the past few years and last year they did not look like nearly like the team that just a couple of years ago was competing in the Super Bowl. It looks like Carroll's message has run dry on the players. Beyond that the OL still looks like one of the worst in football and while Wilson can do magical things his body still can only take so many hits. He is a smaller player and I just see him kind of like Big Ben who likes to run around and try to play hero where his body just can't hold up for an entire season. I don't usually like to predict injuries but Wilson just seems set up for that to happen. Heck Luck is going through the same thing in Indy where his body is already starting to break down from all the hits he has taken. I just look at the Seahawks as a middle of the pack offense and a maybe top-7 defense. Still a playoff caliber team but not a Super Bowl caliber team.

One of the things that hurt our defense is Pete rolling the dice with an inexperienced D coordinator, Pete likes the process of hiring in house, but personally I think it was a mistake... I HATED losing losing Quinn, I knew that would set us back a bit... Lot's of busted coverages since Richard took over... He also dam near got assaulted by Sherman, I think frustration set in with Sherman from stupid play calling... As far as our O-line yeah it's been bad, I mean REALLY BAD... But right now were better off from last year with the pick-ups we've gotten, we can't get any worse trust me, can only go up ... If our O-line improves it will obviously give us a chance, our D concerns me though with Richard leading the way, he HAS to call better games ...

 

[Podunkparte]

Sea by default
AZ just can't seem to get there
Rams no Fischer
SF hmmmm yeah

Citing no Jeff Fisher as the Rams' reason for not winning the division is a microcosm of @NWPATSFAN's posts about the NFCW. You do understand July 9th, 7/9, is known as Jeff Fisher Day, right?

 

[chf]

He is a smaller player and I just see him kind of like Big Ben who likes to run around and try to play hero where his body just can't hold up for an entire season.

This seems like REAL old perception to me. The guy is built like a brick shithouse, and is SHORT, not small. He's built to take a LOT of punishment.

But sure, it's possible that his injury is a sign of things to come. We'll see. he's still quite young.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

Tampa Bay--Since they drafted Winston they went from 2 wins the year before they drafted him to 6 wins his rookie year and 9 wins (first winning season in 6 seasons) his sophomore year. They have been a team trending up since Winston arrived. Yes he needs to work on some things but I just see the 3rd year where you see some of these guys finally break out with Winston's skill set. Beyond the wins you can see the change in just the point differential. They were 60 points better in points scored verse points allowed compared to Winston's first year. Good sign the entire team is trending in the right direction as the biggest change wasn't Winston and the offense but the defense getting things together.

Compare that to the Seahawks who were 84 points worse from 2015 to 2016. Both the offense and defense got markedly worse from the year before. I know I know injuries and such as many other fans of teams have said. I've had a Ravens fan tell me the same thing about why their team lost. Injuries happen to every team so unless your QB goes down I'm not really buying into it a whole lot.

Carolina for me it is going to their bi-yearly up and down ability. One year they are great and the next they stink. Well time for another good year. Cam still has ability to be a top level QB in this league with both his arm and legs and I like the weapons they added to that offense. I also like what that defense has.

As for the Giants that one is easy for me. They have what looks like a very good defense (top-10) and an explosive offense. If the OL can even be just average that offense could finish top-10. I have the Giants winning the East actually. They added maybe my favorite TE in the draft that should be a day 1 contributor and of course Brandon Marshall to an already good WR core.

Right now for me I just don't trust the Hawks. I watched the Hawks plenty over the past few years and last year they did not look like nearly like the team that just a couple of years ago was competing in the Super Bowl. It looks like Carroll's message has run dry on the players. Beyond that the OL still looks like one of the worst in football and while Wilson can do magical things his body still can only take so many hits. He is a smaller player and I just see him kind of like Big Ben who likes to run around and try to play hero where his body just can't hold up for an entire season. I don't usually like to predict injuries but Wilson just seems set up for that to happen. Heck Luck is going through the same thing in Indy where his body is already starting to break down from all the hits he has taken. I just look at the Seahawks as a middle of the pack offense and a maybe top-7 defense. Still a playoff caliber team but not a Super Bowl caliber team.

It really comes down to the OL playing well enough for the offense to function. Not worried about the defense per say. If the offense can stay on the field and move the chains, work the clock etc, the defense then will be fine. Got a great QB, got some good RBs, one of the better TEs, and some weapons with the WR corp, it's all about the OL taking a big step forward. Not sure that will happen, but I'm hopeful, really only one direction for that OL to go and the coaching staff seems confident that the OL will be better. So guess we'll see how it goes. Going to just state, if the OL performs the Seahawks are contenders IMO.

 

[Rex Racer]

Yes, Seattle easily wins this division but they are going nowhere in the playoffs until they fix that O-line.

I don't know. The bloom has been off the "Pete Carroll" rose for a couple of years now and the Wee One has been exposed. They have lost a few pieces and there is so many stupid fucks in that locker room I have doubts that Captain Rah Rah can keep it from imploding.

I think everybody but the 49ers has a real chance to make the playoffs.

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

I don't know. The bloom has been off the "Pete Carroll" rose for a couple of years now and the Wee One has been exposed. They have lost a few pieces and there is so many stupid fucks in that locker room I have doubts that Captain Rah Rah can keep it from imploding.

I think everybody but the 49ers has a real chance to make the playoffs.

Cards yes have a shot at the playoffs but I'm not sure yet about the Rams. Need to See more of Goff.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

Cards yes have a shot at the playoffs but I'm not sure yet about the Rams. Need to See more of Goff.

Think Rex was making a funny, while

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

Think Rex was making a funny, while

Probably true but I do enjoy the banter.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

Probably true but I do enjoy the banter.

So do I.

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

So do I.

Under 2 months so we're getting close and thank goodness cause about ready to rip my hair out over the baseball season.

 

[cdumler7]

This seems like REAL old perception to me. The guy is built like a brick shithouse, and is SHORT, not small. He's built to take a LOT of punishment.

But sure, it's possible that his injury is a sign of things to come. We'll see. he's still quite young.

Ok maybe that was the wrong choice of words. Better way of putting it is the because of the OL and his style of play he takes a few more hits. Now I know that he does a good job of minimizing how big of a hit but he still takes quite a few. Size honestly doesn't matter at that point as we see guys like Andrew Luck and Big Ben both breaking down because of trying to run around and buy some more time for a big play. Luck is young and Big Ben has only played in 16 games 3 times during his career. The guys that last long-term are the pure pocket passers that get the ball out so quickly they just don't take the wear and tear throughout the season. Heck Cam Newton maybe the biggest/strongest QB in the league and how many surgeries has he had already in his career?

 

[cdumler7]

It really comes down to the OL playing well enough for the offense to function. Not worried about the defense per say. If the offense can stay on the field and move the chains, work the clock etc, the defense then will be fine. Got a great QB, got some good RBs, one of the better TEs, and some weapons with the WR corp, it's all about the OL taking a big step forward. Not sure that will happen, but I'm hopeful, really only one direction for that OL to go and the coaching staff seems confident that the OL will be better. So guess we'll see how it goes. Going to just state, if the OL performs the Seahawks are contenders IMO.

If the OL can get some things together yes they have enough pieces to really compete for the Super Bowl. I just don't expect them to make a big enough leap to become that type of team. Coaching staffs always say great things about their team in the offseason so I don't take that to mean much. I would have to see it in the first few weeks to actually believe it.