2011 NFC West Thread

[Screamin_Eagle174]

Let's kick this thing off. Who's gonna win it this year and why? Will they have a winning record?

The NFCW looks a fair bit stronger this year after the draft and FA. Looks like every team improved considerably except maybe the 49ers. Is Harbaugh trying to win the Luck sweepstakes?

[Screamin_Eagle174]

C'mon BH86 I know you're a Rams fan. You gotta be stoked about their chances this year, even though the Hawks are gonna swipe the Division crown away from them again late in the season. Dec. 12th RAMS @ SEAHAWKS is already listed as one of the NFL's must see games this year, and it'll be on MNF (following our TNF Dec 1st at home against Philly. That would be a huge shocker if we won, but we probably won't.)

Hawks improved considerably in FA. T-JAX doesn't have to play lights out football for us to be effective on offense. We have so many big and relentless weapons (6-5 Mike Williams, 6-4 Sidney Rice, 6-5 Zach Miller, and 6-5 John Carlson, all of whom have great hands) and a beastlier OL comprised of a Pro Bowl LG, two young 1st round tackles, a young 2nd round C, and a 3rd round RG, all of whom will be blocking for a Beast (Mode). Last year Lynch ran behind a seive of an OL, as we had something like 10 different starting line-ups because of injury and lack of star potential. If T-JAX can just be an effective game managing QB, know when to check down to his safety valve and when to run, we're going to put up some points this year. On Defense we resigned our stud DT Mebane, and have 6-4, 323 DE Red Bryant back from last year's season-ending injury against Oakland. We were 2nd in run-D for the first third of the season when he was playing in the 5-technique spot. Can't wait to watch FS Earl Thomas' (ET) development after a stellar rookie season (76TT, 5INT, 1 FF). The kid's barely 22. Corner could be a weak spot, I wish we could've gotten a deal done with one of the better CBs in free agency. I have no confidence in Kelly Jennings and Trufant is on a decline as he gets older.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

Call me a homer, but I'd say 11-5 for Seattle absolute best-case scenario, but more likely 8-8 or 9-7.

[dbackjon]

Division is wide open. For the Cardinals, it is going to hinge on how well Kolb does.

[SuperHornet]

Might be putting the cart before the horse here. Relying on draft picks before the games even start is kinda dangerous. Remember Brian Bosworth?

[Shellin]

11-5 seems a little optimistic for me for the Seahawks. I feel like we'll probably finish somewhere right around .500, anywhere between 7-9 and 9-7 seems reasonable to me. Our offensive line play should be improved (it can't really get any worse), receiving corps will be better with the addition of Rice so hopefully Jackson can play the QB position well. I agree that our corners will be the weak spot in our defense, all around though we should be a solid team, not a great one. Like Dback said though every other team in the West has question marks, 9-7 might be good enough to win the division this season again (especially if Bradford suffers from the all too familiar sophomore slump for starting QBs).

[clenz]

I can tell you, as a Viking fan, if Tavaris is your best QB option...your fucked five times over.

[Shellin]

I can tell you, as a Viking fan, if Tavaris is your best QB option...your fucked five times over.

I am nervous about it, but I do actually think it was a better choice than resigning Hasselbeck, reaching in the draft for Dalton or trading away a ton of stuff to land Kolb. Certainly not ideal, but if our line can gel he might not be a bad game-manager type QB. Like SE said, we have a lot of big, possession type receivers/TEs, we're not going to be asking Tavaris to throw 30 times a game and constantly complete deep passes.

[clenz]

I can tell you, as a Viking fan, if Tavaris is your best QB option...your fucked five times over.

I am nervous about it, but I do actually think it was a better choice than resigning Hasselbeck, reaching in the draft for Dalton or trading away a ton of stuff to land Kolb. Certainly not ideal, but if our line can gel he might not be a bad game-manager type QB. Like SE said, we have a lot of big, possession type receivers/TEs, we're not going to be asking Tavaris to throw 30 times a game and constantly complete deep passes.

He didn't have to do any of that with the Vikings either....remember when he played he had Adrian Peterson behind him and he had Sidney Rice....he was terrible.

Jackson completed 58.6% of his passes with three TD tosses, four INTs and a 63.9 passer rating last season.

He is not the answer. What does it tell you about what the Vikings saw in him that they chose to go with Joe freaking Webb, Donavan McNabb, and rookie Christian Ponder over him for the future of the franchise?

[BlueHen86]

C'mon BH86 I know you're a Rams fan. You gotta be stoked about their chances this year, even though the Hawks are gonna swipe the Division crown away from them again late in the season. Dec. 12th RAMS @ SEAHAWKS is already listed as one of the NFL's must see games this year, and it'll be on MNF (following our TNF Dec 1st at home against Philly. That would be a huge shocker if we won, but we probably won't.)

Hawks improved considerably in FA. T-JAX doesn't have to play lights out football for us to be effective on offense. We have so many big and relentless weapons (6-5 Mike Williams, 6-4 Sidney Rice, 6-5 Zach Miller, and 6-5 John Carlson, all of whom have great hands) and a beastlier OL comprised of a Pro Bowl LG, two young 1st round tackles, a young 2nd round C, and a 3rd round RG, all of whom will be blocking for a Beast (Mode). Last year Lynch ran behind a seive of an OL, as we had something like 10 different starting line-ups because of injury and lack of star potential. If T-JAX can just be an effective game managing QB, know when to check down to his safety valve and when to run, we're going to put up some points this year. On Defense we resigned our stud DT Mebane, and have 6-4, 323 DE Red Bryant back from last year's season-ending injury against Oakland. We were 2nd in run-D for the first third of the season when he was playing in the 5-technique spot. Can't wait to watch FS Earl Thomas' (ET) development after a stellar rookie season (76TT, 5INT, 1 FF). The kid's barely 22. Corner could be a weak spot, I wish we could've gotten a deal done with one of the better CBs in free agency. I have no confidence in Kelly Jennings and Trufant is on a decline as he gets older.

I do like the Rams chances this year, primarly because I think they are an up and coming team and Bradford will improve enough to put them over the top in a divison that was pretty weak last year. I haven't really looked at every team yet, so I have no idea what to expect from anyone in the division this year.

[Shellin]

Jackson completed 58.6% of his passes with three TD tosses, four INTs and a 63.9 passer rating last season.

He is not the answer. What does it tell you about what the Vikings saw in him that they chose to go with Joe freaking Webb, Donavan McNabb, and rookie Christian Ponder over him for the future of the franchise?

I'm a Washington State University football fan, I'm pretty good at inserting optimism into hopeless situations

[Screamin_Eagle174]

11-5 seems a little optimistic for me for the Seahawks. I feel like we'll probably finish somewhere right around .500, anywhere between 7-9 and 9-7 seems reasonable to me. Our offensive line play should be improved (it can't really get any worse), receiving corps will be better with the addition of Rice so hopefully Jackson can play the QB position well. I agree that our corners will be the weak spot in our defense, all around though we should be a solid team, not a great one. Like Dback said though every other team in the West has question marks, 9-7 might be good enough to win the division this season again (especially if Bradford suffers from the all too familiar sophomore slump for starting QBs).

That's why I said 11-5 as the absolute best case scenario. Realistically, I think we're around an 8-8 team as well, especially given how tough our schedule is. Every team except SF has improved. I think Harbaugh is shooting for the Luck sweepstakes.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

I am nervous about it, but I do actually think it was a better choice than resigning Hasselbeck, reaching in the draft for Dalton or trading away a ton of stuff to land Kolb. Certainly not ideal, but if our line can gel he might not be a bad game-manager type QB. Like SE said, we have a lot of big, possession type receivers/TEs, we're not going to be asking Tavaris to throw 30 times a game and constantly complete deep passes.

He didn't have to do any of that with the Vikings either....remember when he played he had Adrian Peterson behind him and he had Sidney Rice....he was terrible.

Jackson completed 58.6% of his passes with three TD tosses, four INTs and a 63.9 passer rating last season.

He is not the answer. What does it tell you about what the Vikings saw in him that they chose to go with Joe freaking Webb, Donavan McNabb, and rookie Christian Ponder over him for the future of the franchise?

I'm not saying he'll ever be a franchise QB, but perhaps the Vikes' organization never had confidence in him? Would you play well if the office and staff didn't have confidence in you, and was placing all that pressure on you to perform or fail ? Players under those circumstances get traded or sign somewhere else and flourish sometimes. The reason I'm optimistic about what he can do for Seattle in the short term is that he already knows the offense, same with Sidney. Every other team in the NFCW has a QB learning a new offense. There's no pressure on him in Seattle. Not to mention is competition in the division will be easier. He's only a stop gap until we can draft a franchise QB in a year or two. If he does terrible, that's great we can get Luck or Barkley next year. There's no pressure and he comes in being comfortable with the system and players. I'm pretty sure he wanted out of Minnesota just as much as they wanted him out.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

I wonder why DKHardee is hiding...

[Silenoz]

It's the NFL, its all a crapshoot. Niners go somewhere between 2-14 and 10-6

[Screamin_Eagle174]

It's the NFL, its all a crapshoot. Niners go somewhere between 0-16 and 6-10

FIFY

[Silenoz]

It's the NFL, its all a crapshoot. Niners go somewhere between 0-16 and 6-10

FIFY

That'd be fine. Here's my order of care:

1) ex-Griz players
2) ex-Pitt players
3) Fantasy team
4) "Rooting for laundry" - Jerry Seinfeld

[Silenoz]

...plus we all know Harbaugh owns the fuck out of Carroll

[Screamin_Eagle174]

...plus we all know Harbaugh owns the fuck out of Carroll in college

FIFY again.


Harbaugh is a noob to the NFL. Gonna be a rough wake-up call, unless he's purposefully getting rid of key players and bringing back Smith just so he can get his boy Luck.

[Grizalltheway]

...plus we all know Harbaugh owns the fuck out of Carroll in college

FIFY again.


Harbaugh is a noob to the NFL. Gonna be a rough wake-up call, unless he's purposefully getting rid of key players and bringing back Smith just so he can get his boy Luck.

Carroll already had one failed stint in the NFL, at least Harbaugh is starting fresh.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

FIFY again.


Harbaugh is a noob to the NFL. Gonna be a rough wake-up call, unless he's purposefully getting rid of key players and bringing back Smith just so he can get his boy Luck.

Carroll already had one failed stint in the NFL, at least Harbaugh is starting fresh.

If a slightly above .500 record and playoff berths is a "failed" stint, then I'd hate to see what you term Harbaugh's first year.

[Silenoz]

...plus we all know Harbaugh owns the fuck out of Carroll in college

FIFY again.


Harbaugh is a noob to the NFL. Gonna be a rough wake-up call, unless he's purposefully getting rid of key players and bringing back Smith just so he can get his boy Luck.

Tell me with a straight-face you wouldn't take Harbaugh over Carroll in a heartbeat

I look forward to seeing Tardaris in a full season's worth of action though

[Screamin_Eagle174]

FIFY again.


Harbaugh is a noob to the NFL. Gonna be a rough wake-up call, unless he's purposefully getting rid of key players and bringing back Smith just so he can get his boy Luck.

Tell me with a straight-face you wouldn't take Harbaugh over Carroll in a heartbeat

I look forward to seeing Tardaris in a full season's worth of action though

I would take Carroll any day over Harbaugh. Harbaugh made Stanford good for a couple years. Yes, they were terrible before. So was USC when Pete took over. Pete turned USC into a college dynasty. Harbaugh is still largely unproven.

[SuperHornet]

Harbaugh unproven?

Come on, man. He's resurrected TWO moribund programs. How much more is required for "proof"?!?

[Silenoz]

Tell me with a straight-face you wouldn't take Harbaugh over Carroll in a heartbeat

I look forward to seeing Tardaris in a full season's worth of action though

I would take Carroll any day over Harbaugh. Harbaugh made Stanford good for a couple years. Yes, they were terrible before. So was USC when Pete took over. Pete turned USC into a college dynasty. Harbaugh is still largely unproven.

rofl, yeah, he took a storied ass program back to the top by bending the rules nine million times. Harbaugh kicked his ass with shit-ass Stanford and all the academic standard handicaps that brings with it. All this after Carroll had the recruiting advantage of 2 NCs and 3 Heisman winners and the allure of Southern Cali. Niners will be the best franchise in the West by next season at the latest. Cawks will continue their reign of historical irrelevance.