OVERVIEW: NFC West
The Arizona Cardinals have gone 22-42 in a row over the past four seasons, which is by far the worst win-loss record of any team in the NFC West, however, all that is about to change in 2005. Since I expect these Cardinals to win this division and make the playoffs, remember you heard it here first!
Cardinal HC Denny Green had another fantastic standout draft picking CB Antrel Rolle and RB JJ Arrington with their first and second picks followed by picking CB Eric Green and LB Darryl Blackstock with their third and fourth picks Rolle and Arrington will likely be immediate. starters, while Green and Blackstock will add depth to a defense that improved from 26th overall in 2003 to 12th overall in the league in 2004.
Denny Green got a draft steal in the fourth round by taking Virginia’s OG Elton Brown, who very well could be another immediate starter, Brown is a mountain of a man at 6’4, 339 pounds and a two-time recipient of the award. Jacobs Blocking Trophy awarded annually to the best blocker in the ACC.
The Cardinals did very well in the free agent war by signing two-time league MVP Kurt Warner to lead the offense and play catch with WR’s Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, who made up one of the best WR tandems in the NFL, to help protect Warner in the Pocket the Cards he signed OG Oliver Ross out of Pittsburgh and, for good measure, also brought in Ian Allen and Adam Haayer from OT for more depth.
Arizona has managed to get a lot of young talent onto its roster through an excellent draft, as evidenced by the fact that 13 of the Cardinals’ 14 draft picks from 2003 and 2004 are on the roster for 2005, and to think that 7 of those 14 draft picks from 2003 and 2004 are starters!
Seattle can’t seem to get out of its own way when it comes to posting an overall win/loss mark of 35-31 over the last four years, which has led them to be what’s known as a “in the middle” team. of the way”. , not bad enough to be in line for higher draft picks, but also not good enough to capitalize on the opportunity when it knocks on your door.
The Seahawks finished 2004 with an offense ranked 8th overall in the league, but defensively dropped from 19th overall in 2003 to 26th overall in 2004, the Hawks didn’t really help themselves too much in the draft and instead they focused on free agency to shore up their defense as 8 of their 11 free agent signings were defense related as they got two DE, two LB, two CB, one DT and one Safety.
The Hawks brought in Joe Jurevicius and Jerome Pathon from WR to facilitate the release of problem child WR Koren Robinson who had an off-season DUI, the loss of backup QB Trent Dilfer to Cleveland will hurt the Hawks tremendously if QB Matt Hasselbeck is injured and RB Shaun Alexander is threatening to sit out most of training camp in protest of the Hawks not honoring him with a new deal, ahhhhhhh nothing but trouble trouble trouble for HC Mike Holmgren.
St. Louis has by far the best four-year record of any team in this division with a 44-26 win/loss mark, however the continued misplay and terrible clock management by HC Mike Martz have led this team to like each other. below expectations given the immense level of talent on this team in recent years.
The Rams have made the playoffs four of the last five years during Martz’s tenure, however a stupid play in 2000 led to a first round loss at the hands of the Saints 31-28 and thinking the Rams were favorites by 6.5 points playing away from home. in New Orleans, the following season saw these Rams utterly beaten when they were installed as 14-point favorites in the Super Bowl against New England, but lost 20-17.
2003 saw these Rams once again exit the playoff scene in a 29-23 first round loss to Carolina in a game played in St Louis with the Rams installed as 7-point home favorites, then by Of course, how can we forget the 47-17 beating the Rams sucked last season in the playoffs against an Atlanta team that wasn’t nearly as talented as the Rams?
The Rams had a very average draft and didn’t really help themselves in the free agent wars other than taking LB’s Dexter Coakley and Chris Claiborne to help shore up a defensive unit that ranked shoddy 29th in rushing yards. allowed in 2004. Expect to see these Rams finish below the .500 mark in 2005 and if Georgia is smart, she’ll kick Martz out late in the season.
The Niners had a pretty good draft but they are still at least two years away from being able to challenge for the divisional crown, HC Mike Nolan has already stated that his intention is to move on and start the first overall NFL draft pick QB Alex Smith under center and let him gain experience, which means, of course, that the Niner organization expects nothing from this team in 2005 and neither do I.
In closing, I’m obviously very excited about Arizona this season and expect great things from them in 2005, with that said, I will recommend two “future bets” on the Cardinals, (A.) to win the NFC West and (B.) to top the total. posted season win/loss ratio of 7.5.
In addition to the reasoning I’ve laid out above for why these Cardinals will win this division, it’s also noteworthy that Arizona will face the second-easiest schedule in the league when you consider that the Cardinals’ 2005 schedule is comprised of teams that put together a combination of direct wins/losses. record of 120-147 last year, which equates to a winning percentage of just .449.
