2014 NFC West will be the battle of the birds.

[Scottemojo]

Agree with this premise completely. I've speculated that the 49ers are a team on the decline. Hard to imagine they continue a 4th year of challenging for the Super Bowl. Even the greatest teams have a hard time doing this, and the 49ers are not in that echelon of teams..

What makes you say this?

If the NFC Championship defeat has done anything, it probably sharpened the Niners focus and desire to get back on top of the NFC. They certainly still have the young talent to continue to play well, we just have to hope that D-Baugh continues to implode the Niners from the inside.

I can't speak for Sailor, but the Niners (and here comes a couple of their defenders, for sure) are banking on some unknowns to step up and replace guys like Justin Smith and Gore. Lots of ifs. The secondary is getting less talented this year. Bowman will miss games. Willis is slowing down.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Agree with this premise completely. I've speculated that the 49ers are a team on the decline. Hard to imagine they continue a 4th year of challenging for the Super Bowl. Even the greatest teams have a hard time doing this, and the 49ers are not in that echelon of teams..

What makes you say this?

If the NFC Championship defeat has done anything, it probably sharpened the Niners focus and desire to get back on top of the NFC. They certainly still have the young talent to continue to play well, we just have to hope that D-Baugh continues to implode the Niners from the inside.

I can't speak for Sailor, but the Niners (and here comes a couple of their defenders, for sure) are banking on some unknowns to step up and replace guys like Justin Smith and Gore. Lots of ifs. The secondary is getting less talented this year. Bowman will miss games. Willis is slowing down.

Both Gore and Smith are still playing for the Niners, so I'm not sure what you mean............and with Miller resigning their running game should still be pretty potent.

I know we'd all like the Niners to rapidly decline, but I just don't see it just yet. They're certainly 1-2 years ahead of us as far as the "SB window", but they're not there yet IMO.

 

[rideaducati]

Losing Dansby, not really having much of a QB and how powerful Seattle is might mean that AZ comes in second, but it won't be close.

You might have forgotten, but we dun got our butts whooped at home by the Cardinals late last year.

Whooped is not even close to the word I would use. A fluke int gave them the game in the end. That was the int that hit Baldwin's arm and the ground and took a high hop into the arms of a defender.

I think in the back of the players' minds, they wanted the cards to knock the whiners out of the playoffs, so they weren't really into that game.

 

[Scottemojo]

Agree with this premise completely. I've speculated that the 49ers are a team on the decline. Hard to imagine they continue a 4th year of challenging for the Super Bowl. Even the greatest teams have a hard time doing this, and the 49ers are not in that echelon of teams..

What makes you say this?

If the NFC Championship defeat has done anything, it probably sharpened the Niners focus and desire to get back on top of the NFC. They certainly still have the young talent to continue to play well, we just have to hope that D-Baugh continues to implode the Niners from the inside.

I can't speak for Sailor, but the Niners (and here comes a couple of their defenders, for sure) are banking on some unknowns to step up and replace guys like Justin Smith and Gore. Lots of ifs. The secondary is getting less talented this year. Bowman will miss games. Willis is slowing down.

Both Gore and Smith are still playing for the Niners, so I'm not sure what you mean............and with Miller resigning their running game should still be pretty potent.

I know we'd all like the Niners to rapidly decline, but I just don't see it just yet. They're certainly 1-2 years ahead of us as far as the "SB window", but they're not there yet IMO.

They are far from done. But they are in that part of their window where it can close so damn fast. Gore is damn near done, Smith is in decline, Boldin is older.

The OP is about the Cards. Have they closed or even passed the gap between them and the Niners? I think they have.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

The OP is about the Cards. Have they closed or even passed the gap between them and the Niners? I think they have.

I think they have defensively, but like I said they're still a RB and QB away from being at the same level as the Hawks and Niners.

Doesn't mean the Cards can't jump up and split their games with the Hawks and Niners........and maybe even win a season series against one of us. But as far as being on equal ground, not yet. Not yet.

 

[rastahawk]

This offseason Cards hype sounds so familiar. I feel like I have heard this all this before... hmmm... Google take me back 5 years.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Whooped is not even close to the word I would use. A fluke int gave them the game in the end. That was the int that hit Baldwin's arm and the ground and took a high hop into the arms of a defender.

I think in the back of the players' minds, they wanted the cards to knock the whiners out of the playoffs, so they weren't really into that game.

They held us to 10 points and we won the turnover battle by +2, fumbling once and getting intercepted once, but we intercepted them four times, and still lost the game. Yes, whooped is the word I would certainly use, and is appropriate. Pretty much entirely by their defense, but still. How often does a home team finish with a +2 turnover margin and lose the game? It has to be very rare.

 

[Scottemojo]

The OP is about the Cards. Have they closed or even passed the gap between them and the Niners? I think they have.

I think they have defensively, but like I said they're still a RB and QB away from being at the same level as the Hawks and Niners.

Doesn't mean the Cards can't jump up and split their games with the Hawks and Niners........and maybe even win a season series against one of us. But as far as being on equal ground, not yet. Not yet.

Ellington is awesome, and if the line in front of him improves, and it will, he is going to tear it up next year. Cooper coming back from a broken leg, Veldheer, that line is going to be a lot better.

 

[bigskydoc]

Wouldn't be surprised to see three split series between Hawks, Niners, and Cards this year. Ultimately the final NFCW standings will likely hinge on the results of the NFCW teams vs Broncos/ Eagles. Who has the advantage here depends on whether you think the Broncos or the Eagles are the tougher team this year.

The Packers game will be a critical game for us. The corresponding game for the Cards would be vs Falcons and the corresponding game for Niners would be vs the Saints. I think the Packers are >> Saints/ Falcons this year.

Thankfully we will be hosting the Packers.

- bsd

 

[kearly]

Right now, I think the Cards are 50/50 to win the West in 2014.

That seems high. Considering that SF and SEA would have a big chunk, and the Rams would have a tiny slice, 50% would make AZ a huge favorite to win the division.

I'm not quite as high on AZ as you are. Palmer isn't getting any younger. Ellington IMO is kind of a paper tiger because so far his success has come almost exclusively on runs outside. Teams that schemed for him made him a non-factor pretty easily. Letting Dansby go was understandable, but many have said he was their most valuable defender last season. Cromartie could be an awesome addition or it could be a terrible one. They really leaned on a #1 run defense and as the 2011 49ers proved that's a tough pinnacle to stay atop of.

I think Arians and his coaching staff deserve a lot of credit for attacking Seattle's weaknesses in week 16. However, if not for a fairly miraculous play on 3rd and long for a TD, AZ would have trailed late in that game and probably lost, and if they had, they would have been 0-4 against Seattle and SF. Even with that win, they were just 2-4 overall in the division last season.

And remember, we did not have Harvin in either of those Cardinals games last year.

I get why you like AZ though. The coaches and FO appear to be pretty smart, and upgrading the left side of their line with two potential pro-bowl players is pretty huge for them. Last season was their best ever by weighted DVOA, and their 10 win total has only been eclipsed by 3 other Cardinals teams in the last 84 years. And they are actively drawing up plans to attack Seattle's weaknesses, though their WR group still doesn't scare me. If they draft Marquise Lee or a similar stud early I will start to feel a little nervous.

Gonna be interesting to see what SF and STL do. SF has 6 picks in the first three rounds in a loaded draft compared to Seattle's two. Rams will likely ransom Clowney if he reaches them and have two high firsts. I get the feeling the Texans are going to sell Clowney before the Rams can though.

 

[kearly]

Ellington is awesome, and if the line in front of him improves, and it will, he is going to tear it up next year. Cooper coming back from a broken leg, Veldheer, that line is going to be a lot better.

I loved the Cooper pick last year, and I think Veldheer was the bargain big name signing of free agency so far. But Cooper is going to be essentially a rookie this season, and Veldheer will be playing for a new team with a rookie next to him. Gonna take some time for that line to gel, I have high expectations for that line in time, but not right away. And those two won't be blocking Avril and Bennett when they face Seattle, for that matter.

Ellington seems like a PC/JS kind of player in that he's one of those guys you have to put in position to succeed for him to be his best. He's not a great inside runner, he's more of a Chris Johnson type who can destroy defenses that aren't prepared for him when he gets outside or in open space in the screen game. Great RB for a day 3 pick, but I don't see him being much of a problem for any of the defenses in the NFC West.

 

[kearly]

Whooped is not even close to the word I would use. A fluke int gave them the game in the end. That was the int that hit Baldwin's arm and the ground and took a high hop into the arms of a defender.

I think in the back of the players' minds, they wanted the cards to knock the whiners out of the playoffs, so they weren't really into that game.

They held us to 10 points and we won the turnover battle by +2, fumbling once and getting intercepted once, but we intercepted them four times, and still lost the game. Yes, whooped is the word I would certainly use, and is appropriate. Pretty much entirely by their defense, but still. How often does a home team finish with a +2 turnover margin and lose the game? It has to be very rare.

Their go-ahead TD was a very uncommon type of play, 3rd and long, QB hit as he threw, deep throw, perfect coverage, juggling catch, TD. Then the next play you had the bogus INT. There was a lot of luck involved. They deserved to win, they played slightly better than Seattle did and their DC wore the pavement out from running so many circles around Bevell. That was one of the games where we missed Harvin the most.

 

[RolandDeschain]

I'd say there's a higher chance of luck involved by elite units; a sort of "you make your own luck" philosophy. I don't disagree with what you are saying, but I do think people need to respect what the Cardinals did to us a bit more, regardless of how much random fortune may have smiled on them that day. We picked Carson Palmer off four times and lost the game at home. Period.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

Cardinals are this year's flavor of the month as long as they have Palmer they're just 2nd tier.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

I'd say there's a higher chance of luck involved by elite units; a sort of "you make your own luck" philosophy. I don't disagree with what you are saying, but I do think people need to respect what the Cardinals did to us a bit more, regardless of how much random fortune may have smiled on them that day. We picked Carson Palmer off four times and lost the game at home. Period.

That game was an outlier of epic proportions. End of story.

 

[formido]

I'd say there's a higher chance of luck involved by elite units; a sort of "you make your own luck" philosophy. I don't disagree with what you are saying, but I do think people need to respect what the Cardinals did to us a bit more, regardless of how much random fortune may have smiled on them that day. We picked Carson Palmer off four times and lost the game at home. Period.

Last sentence says it all. Seattle picked Carson Palmer off four times. Can't whoop a team and throw 4 INTs. It's not like those 4 INTs were flukes, that's the expected result for one of history's greatest defenses against that offense. Arizona had the second best defense in football last year, by DVOA. That they played Seattle even in one of the two games last year is as much credit as they deserve, and it's already plenty.

 

[Lady Talon]

That wasn't the worst game to drop, all things considered. Had we won in SF, I would have been a fan of an AZ win, they might have had something to play for and knocked SF right out of the playoffs.

 

[loafoftatupu]

The Cards beat the Hawks on the Any Given Sunday program. It wasn't like they were lighting up the skies. Dude catches a ridiculous pass that is completed 1 every 20 throws and the Hawks took too long to get things going. When they finally looked like they could move the ball a little they had that completely ridiculous INT called.

The Cards might be better, but they are still a long ways from SF/SEA territory. It is still going to be about those two when the shit gets real

 

[RolandDeschain]

That game was an outlier of epic proportions. End of story.

I'd say an outlier of epic proportions would be Super Bowl XL in favor of the Stealers. The Cardinals didn't get lucky all day, they got lucky once.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

That game was an outlier of epic proportions. End of story.

I'd say an outlier of epic proportions would be Super Bowl XL in favor of the Stealers. The Cardinals didn't get lucky all day, they got lucky once.

I guess it is a matter of degree but regardless that game was an obvious outlier. So far I see nothing to give anyone any reason to believe Arizona is anymore then third place in this division.