The NFL stands head and shoulders above all other American sports leagues for several well-documented reasons. Among the most notable is the idea that no fan base feels like their team is out of it at the start of a new season because of the way the NFL is brilliantly structured. Unlike Major League Baseball for instance, the league is designed for the disadvantaged to quickly rebound and it forces the elite to validate their status nearly every Sunday. And unless you’re team is located in Detroit or Cleveland, this formula for turnover is tried and true.
It was as recently as the summer of 2011 when the NFC West was the laughingstock of the NFL. The San Francisco 49ers, St. Louis Rams, Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks combined for just 25 victories in the season prior. To put that in perspective, the AFC East’s Patriots and Jets combined for 25 wins by themselves that same year. The NFC West was so bad, their champion (Seattle) made NFL history as they became the first team to make the playoffs with a sub .500 record! It was so ugly, people were actually suggesting the NFL should change the rules to prevent this type of thing from happening again (the Giants and Buccaneers each won 10 games, but missed the playoffs)— or at least not automatically allowing division winners to host a playoff game.
But something happened. The Seahawks did host a playoff game that January against the heavily favored New Orleans Saints, and Seattle served as the backdrop for one of the great moments in NFL history…
Sidebar: Normally, the the infamous “Beastmode/True Definition of Determination” version of this video would have been linked here. But the NFL, being the haters that they are, blocked it on copyright grounds. Somebody improved on their product, so they had to take it down. It seems like the NFL is trending towards making their highlights harder to access on YouTube in an effort to drive fans to their own website, something that MLB had annoyingly done for years until recently. Let’s hope Roger Goodell isn’t that lame. But who’s kidding who? He is.
From that exact moment, the entire identity of the NFC West changed and the it began the transformation from laughingstock into the toughest division the shield has to offer— figuratively and literally. Fast forward a little over two years and the script has been completely flipped. All four teams have replaced their head coach and all four teams have since brought in cornerstone defensive pieces. Three of the four teams have replaced their starting quarterback and three of the four teams hold a significant home field advantage every Sunday.
Either the Cardinals or the Rams are going to be a casualty of a very competitive division— “casualty” meaning they are actually a pretty good team but will likely finish with only five or six W’s at best. Arizona is more like to fulfill that role, as much of their success hinges on rookie head coach Bruce Arians, a man who earned this opportunity after a stellar interim coaching job in Indianapolis, but is just now getting his first head coaching gig at age 60, and Carson Palmer, a rising star turned journeyman quarterback who probably owns the distinction of having the greatest discrepancy between fantasy football value and actual football value.
The additions of Arians and Palmer will certainly make life easier on the great Larry Fitzgerald, as will the continued maturation of fellow flankers Michael Floyd and Andre Roberts. The Cards also have arguably the league’s best corner in Patrick Peterson — who for his next trick — is attempting to take his defensive and special teams show to the offensive side of the ball a la Deion Sanders. Arizona also drafted the troubled Tyrann “The Honey Badger” Mathieu, a top 10 talent that AZ scooped up with the 69th overall pick (now that’s value!). Mathieu has quickly earned the respect of his teammates and appears to have all makings of an impact player in the NFL.
The Rams are in their second year with the capable, but overrated Jeff Fisher at the helm. St. Louis said goodbye to their all-time leading rusher Steven Jackson and consequently now have a gaping whole in their backfield. But they added Jared Cook (free agency) and the electric Tavon Austin (draft) to an offense that desperately needed weapons for Sam Bradford, not just to make the team better, but to see once and for all if Bradford is the guy, or if he ain’t the guy.
Sidebar: The Rams could’ve had RG3, remember? Fans in The Lou probably do.
Low key, the Rams also have a pretty good defense, led by “Baby Animal” James Laurinaitis and an impressive pass rush led by Robert Quinn and Chris Long who — when at home in the dome — resemble a young Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis. The Rams tied for the NFL lead in sacks in 2012 and could put together a similar performance this fall.
So why can’t the Rams and Cardinals compete for a playoff birth? Well, besides the fact that Arizona had the worst offensive line in football last year (and their offensive guard first round pick Jonathan Cooper is already on IR with a broken leg) and the Rams might have no running game to speak of, they both play in a division with the 49ers and Seahawks, two of the five best teams in the NFL right now.
Don’t let the smooth taste fool you. Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh would definitely shoot the fair one the if cameras weren’t around.
You ever meet two people that were exactly alike, but you knew you could never introduce them because they were so much a like that they would inevitably end up throwing hands? That best describes what the Seahawks and 49ers have become.
These are two teams in the same division, from the same region of the United States, both led by former college coaches who carried over their Pac-10 rivalry right into the NFL. Both coaches would help cultivate dominant defenses and both would also unexpectedly replace their traditional pocket-passing quarterback with a young mobile upstart.
If Tom Brady is Jay Z and if Michael Vick is Lil Wayne, then Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick are the Kendrick Lamar and Drake of the NFL.
Brady and Hov are simply the game’s best, and if you disagree, they’re still both recognized as the best by most. Vick and Weezy share similarities because both are uniquely talented and have a massive following, but neither can be trusted at all times and both failed to live up to their full potential. Meanwhile, Wilson is so polished; he’s like a short, mobile version of Brady. He’s a natural born leader, has more poise than any young quarterback to come around in a long while and — like Jay and Kendrick — possesses the capacity to change the game at a moment’s notice.
On the flip side, when you watch Kaepernick play, you get that “Wow” factor few others could replicate, thus endearing him to the public more easily than Wilson (or K Dot). Jay Z has never scored a solo #1 hit on the charts, despite having a slew of #1 albums, yet Wayne and Drake have basically rewritten the charts in the last five years. Colin Kaepernick (who appears to be what Mike Vick was supposed to be) played in his first Super Bowl last February and has seen his profile rise to the point that he’s now posing nude for ESPN The Magazine…not that Drake ever did that.
Sidebar: Does this even make any sense? Holla at us if you have a better comparison!
NFC West Champion: Seattle Seahawks
The NFC will be wildly competitive this year and the two matchups between the Niners (who will be without WR Michael Crabtree for much of the season due to injury) and the Seahawks (who will be without WR Percy Harvin for much of the season due to injury— You see? The similarities are endless!) will be beyond intense. The 49ers and Seahawks are so evenly matched — unless Carroll’s crew has disregarded Harbaugh’s plea for integrity in the sport — that home field advantage will likely be the one thing that breaks a tie between the NFC’s two best team. The Atlanta Falcons are also in the discussion, but they won’t stack up against the big boys of the NFC West in the trenches. Nor will the other NFC playoff teams: Green Bay, Dallas and Chicago.
Last year, the 49ers won the division over Seattle by virtue of a tie, giving them only four losses instead of five, which Seattle had. Rookie Russell Wilson guided his team to an 11-5 record, but since they didn’t win the division, it gives them a slightly easier schedule than the Niners based on last season’s results. Seattle also went 8-0 at home in that lair of a football stadium they call CentruyLink Field in 2012— the 49ers among the teams that caught a fade up there.
Super Bowl Champion: Seattle Seahawks
Assuming it’s either the 49ers or Seahawks, the winner of this division will win the NFC and go on to defeat the Houston Texans in the Super Bowl. HHSR has the Seattle Seahawks being that team. We jumped on the Seattle bandwagon late last year, but if not for leaving too much time on the clock versus Atlanta, they should’ve squared off against the 49ers in a classic NFC Championship game (the one we wound up getting wasn’t too shabby though).
Football fans everywhere will be rewarded with a Carroll v. Harbaugh conference championship game in January 2014…in Seattle…where the Seahawks will not lose. The same toughness that will allow them to negotiate a difficult schedule will give Seattle a leg up in an outdoor Super Bowl in New Jersey against an indoor Houston team that won’t see that level of physicality all season…except for Week 4.
Seahawks at Texans. That’s our Super Bowl preview.