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The NFC West has been one of the most competitive divisions in football in recent years, and 2021 should be no different. All four teams are at least good, and there should be multiple playoff representatives if all goes well. Of course, this division is loving weird and we all know things won't go well. Arizona Cardinals 2020 record: 8-8 Vegas win over/under: 8.5 Head coach: Kliff Kingsbury Starting QB: Kyler Murray The Cardinals are in a weird spot where they have one of the league's most exciting young QBs, yet still feel like they have more questions than answers. That tends to happen when you start off 6-3, only to collapse down the stretch and miss the playoffs. Losing a Week 17 must-win game to something called John Wolford was a particularly humiliating way to end the season. There's a lot to like about this roster, and it's not hard to see them getting over the hump. But at some point Kingsbury needs to show that he's the solution and not part of the problem, and I remain unconvinced heading into Year 3. Los Angeles Rams 2020 record: 10-6 Vegas win over/under: 10.5 Head coach: Sean McVay Starting QB: Matthew Stafford Tired of playing patty-cake on training wheels with his QB, McVay banished Jared Goff to Detroit and brought back a guy who actually likes throwing the ball. I hesitate to call this the best supporting cast of Stafford's career (as if Calvin Johnson didn't exist), but it's definitely the best coaching staff he's ever had, and if an alleged top-10 QB is going to finally win a playoff game at age 33, now's the time. The Rams are a trendy Super Bowl pick, but if the defense regresses even a little from last year's dominant peak, their ceiling might not be as high as people expect. Especially if Stafford just keeps being the same guy he has been for 12 years. San Francisco 49ers 2020 record: 6-10 Vegas win over/under: 10.5 Head coach: Kyle Shanahan Starting QB: Trey Lance Much like McVay, Shanahan saw enough of his boring game-manager QB and swung for the fences to find a potential franchise guy. Lance is something of a mystery box, coming out of FCS and playing just one game in 2020. But his potential is undeniable and worth the risk of trading up to No. 3 in the draft. Jimmy Garoppolo is still on the team for now, but by all accounts Lance is the guy in Week 1. Combine that with a bunch of key players back from injury (most notably Nick Bosa and Deebo Samuel), and the 49ers could easily be right back in the playoff mix. Seattle Seahawks 2020 record: 12-4 Vegas win over/under: 10 Head coach: Pete Carroll Starting QB: Russell Wilson If I never hear the phrase "Let Russ Cook" ever again, it'll be too soon. It's not often you see a team win 12 games and still come out of the season feeling like a failure, but that's the bar Pete and Russ have set for themselves over the past decade. On the bright side, Brian Schottenheimer is finally gone, and Pete decided to drink from the McVay well, bringing in pass-game coordinator Shane Waldron from the Rams to be the OC. We don't much know what this new offense will look like, but camp reports have been largely positive, with a lot more misdirection and presnap motion that was mostly absent from Schotty's scheme. We know the deal by now with this team -- they'll win 10-12 games, lose early in the playoffs and fans will act like they went 4-13. Division titles 49ers -- 20 Rams -- 17 Seahawks -- 9 Cardinals -- 3 Super Bowl appearances (winning years in bold) 49ers -- 7 (1981, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1994, 2012, 2019) Rams -- 4 (1979, 1999, 2001, 2018) Seahawks -- 3 (2005, 2013, 2014) Cardinals -- 1 (2008)  Benne fucked around with this message at 03:04 on Aug 12, 2021 |
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Aug 10, 2021 06:42
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Running is good and cool and the NFC West should do a lot of it.
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Aug 10, 2021 06:46
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Great thread title. I was going to callback to 2010 Buster Posey Irrational Enthusiasm thread which led to Even Year Bullshit volume 1. Trey Lance Irrational Enthusiasm Thread. Alas.
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Aug 10, 2021 06:46
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I'm anticipating plenty of running plays. I believe that will help these teams win. Especially the San Francisco 49ers.
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Aug 10, 2021 06:52
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I have worn my custom title badge of shame for two years for disrespecting the run and hope that Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny establish the hell out of the run now that Schottenheimer is out of town
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Aug 10, 2021 07:19
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The Cardinals offense will be pretty rad, I think. Kyler is always a threat to break some crazy good runs, and they’ve got a tandem of James Conner, Chase Edmonds and *checks notes* Ito Smith in the backfield. But their offense wasn’t the primary issue in 2020, even though they turned into a pumpkin so often in the redzone. At least twenty times last year they got down to the 20 or 10 yard line, then either lost yardage or stalled out with dropped passes, forcing them to settle for a field goal. It was maddening how Jeckyl and Hyde that redzone offense was. No, their primary issue was was all about their defense constantly giving up massive plays, especially late in games. Peterson had arguably one the worst seasons of his career last year, ranking 83rd out of 121 qualifying DBs. He’s been on the decline for a few seasons now. In 2019 he allowed a opponent passer rating of 104.9. In 2020 he allowed a passer rating of 100.8. I’m not sure he’s got a lot left in the tank and the Vikings aren’t going to be getting the Pro Bowl version of him. It’ll be interesting to see how Watt and Jones are utilized, as well as seeing Isaiah Simmons get a full training camp, preseason and regular season under his belt. They also drafted THIS DUDE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj_vTMW9GKE The Cardinals fixing their weird redzone hangups and improving upon their blah defense will determine whether or not they can take the next step under Kingsbury & Pals. Nuk Hopkins, the Force Ghost of AJ Green, Rondale Moore and Christian Kirk will keep them in games in the meantime. Gonz fucked around with this message at 07:59 on Aug 10, 2021 |
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Aug 10, 2021 07:37
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Every time I see win/loss over/under I'm reminded there's 17 games now. NFCW with 3 10+ win teams is entirely possible this year. 
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Aug 10, 2021 08:07
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OGS-Remix posted:Every time I see win/loss over/under I'm reminded there's 17 games now. Now that we have 3 Wild Cards there's a realistic chance that an entire division makes the playoffs 
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Aug 10, 2021 08:10
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Benne posted:they'll win 10-12 games, lose early in the playoffs and fans will act like they went 4-13. I feel attacked
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Aug 10, 2021 08:42
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Benne posted:Now that we have 3 Wild Cards there's a realistic chance that an entire division makes the playoffs Four teams enter! Four teams leave! that kinda lacks the intimidation factor, huh
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Aug 10, 2021 11:05
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OGS-Remix posted:Every time I see win/loss over/under I'm reminded there's 17 games now. 7 win division champs may be a thing of the past, too- alas and alack!
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Aug 10, 2021 16:04
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Gerund posted:7 win division champs may be a thing of the past, too- alas and alack! The dream of a sub .500 division champ is still alive and with an odd number of games it feels likely in the near future.
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Aug 10, 2021 16:43
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Gerund posted:7 win division champs may be a thing of the past As long as the NFCE exists, no it's not
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Aug 10, 2021 16:49
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Lets go the hawks binch For real tho winning 12 games and then losing like that in the first round did feel like a 4-12 waste of a year. I love dk metcalf. He will forever be the guy I can say I was beating the table for pre-draft and that I was right about Run with carson and unleash DK
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Aug 10, 2021 18:19
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EmbryoSteve posted:Lets go the hawks binch I wanted to gripe about the end of last season but gently caress that hope springs eternal let's go Hawks binch  Long bombs to DK all day!
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Aug 10, 2021 19:12
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Manoueverable posted:Long bombs to DK all day! Assume you mean "establish the run first then take shots down field," right? ....right?
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Aug 11, 2021 01:58
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Manoueverable posted:Long bombs to DK all day! From what I am reading about the new offense, it will be short bombs to DK and letting him plow through CBs and safeties for some extra yards.
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Aug 11, 2021 04:50
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I'm not good at Photoshop so someone put Pete and Russ' faces over this instead
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Aug 11, 2021 09:34
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I located a box of Nuk's cereal out in the wild yesterday.
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Aug 11, 2021 09:44
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Gonz posted:I located a box of Nuk's cereal out in the wild yesterday. It's very good but you're only allowed to put it on the left side of your placemat, and you can only eat it with one of three different spoon movements.
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Aug 11, 2021 10:49
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Gonz posted:I located a box of Nuk's cereal out in the wild yesterday. Deandre's Pox box.
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Aug 11, 2021 14:23
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Jake Funk is going to rush for 1300 yards this year
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Aug 11, 2021 15:20
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https://twitter.com/MikeGarafolo/status/1425478813232865280?s=19 Huh. His legal outlook must be pretty bad!
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Aug 11, 2021 16:46
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The Cardinals are going to look good on some plays, and look bad on other plays. I'll be swearing at Kliff every week and I'm quite looking forward to it.
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Aug 11, 2021 17:04
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seiferguy posted:https://twitter.com/MikeGarafolo/status/1425478813232865280?s=19 Yeah all reports were he looked good in camp
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Aug 11, 2021 17:14
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https://twitter.com/a_jude/status/1425254091224092673?s=21 Basically, they can free up $17.9 million of Wilson's contract by converting it to a signing bonus. For God sakes, do it.
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Aug 11, 2021 17:31
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Bob Socko posted:https://twitter.com/a_jude/status/1425254091224092673?s=21 The Seahawks are in win now mode, so this seems totally trivial.
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Aug 11, 2021 18:07
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seiferguy posted:https://twitter.com/MikeGarafolo/status/1425478813232865280?s=19 Darrell Taylor is just that good
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Aug 11, 2021 18:25
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https://www.therams.com/news/rams-r...vjv9Tu-zsfSnwiY First unofficial depth chart out of training camp looking good
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Aug 11, 2021 18:26
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Benne posted:I'm not good at Photoshop so someone put Pete and Russ' faces over this instead 
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Aug 11, 2021 19:25
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lol
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Aug 11, 2021 19:34
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Tweet this at Russ and Pete.
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Aug 11, 2021 19:40
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 Close the thread, it's done.
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Aug 11, 2021 19:54
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https://twitter.com/billbarnwell/status/1425533262974406661?s=20
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Aug 11, 2021 20:15
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Aug 11, 2021 21:27
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It's too bad this would not be legible avatar sized
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Aug 11, 2021 21:46
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kensei posted:It's too bad this would not be legible avatar sized Could maybe work as a GIF?
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Aug 11, 2021 21:51
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perfect in every way
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Aug 11, 2021 22:06
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Ehud posted:Could maybe work as a GIF? 
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Aug 11, 2021 22:32
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Aug 11, 2021 22:42
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