Strongest division in football

Mike Florio and company talking NFC West.

[youtube]Tn_bnYFWSdc[/youtube]

The 9ers did a good job at standing pat; replacing Buckner, Sanders, and Staley without many major losses.

Seattle's lines are going to look different. The pass rush should look better just from a depth perspective and it's assumed that either Griffen or Clowney will join that group. They've probably improved, but is it enough to overtake SF?

The Rams got younger and healthier. Arizona added one of the top receivers in the NFL in addition to a bunch of talent on defense. Both should be improved, but probably not enough to win the division.

We should have the toughest division in football again next year, and -- since we're playing two of the weakest (AFC and NFC East) there's a chance with 7 conference teams going to the playoffs next year -- all four NFC West teams might make the playoffs!

This got me thinking. With Dunbar and Brooks joining, who will be covering Kittle? Flowers is 6'3" and perfectly suited for the job assuming Dunbar wins the RCB. Brooks apparently has the size and speed to cover as well if he plays SAM.

If their TE isn't gashing us at will, I think we can handle SF.

The big question for me is how much have the Rams and Cards improved?

Own The West":2ip3c9i8 said:

This got me thinking. With Dunbar and Brooks joining, who will be covering Kittle? Flowers is 6'3" and perfectly suited for the job assuming Dunbar wins the RCB. Brooks apparently has the size and speed to cover as well if he plays SAM.

If their TE isn't gashing us at will, I think we can handle SF.

The big question for me is how much have the Rams and Cards improved?

Click to expand...

Hoping pass rush is there so covering Kittle isn't a big problem.

Sorry to say this, but I have the horrible feeling that the Hawks might go 1 - 5 vs. the NFC West ... the Haws never really addressed their OL weaknesses or their pass rush deficiencies over the past few years, while SF, the Rams and Ariz. have become very much better during the same time.

here we go...…
Let me guess Chet, you thought they would 8-8 last year?

NFC West is clearly the best division in football.

I think we were one of the strangest last year and I don't think there's evidence that any team is declining. Things are cyclical and we were very strong in the 2011-2015 years and are just getting back to that in the 2019-2? years.

Anyways, It will be both a difficult and weird season due to both the divisional strength and COVID-19. In the end, it will come down to injuries (and possibly sickness) to determine the winner. SF was healthy last year, they won. Rams were healthy for couple seasons before that and they won.

SF has benefited from multiple yrs in succession of high draft picks. Their talent level is very high. This year they added a guy who was my BPA top defensive L pick in Kinlaw. Hated to see that happen.
Rams are in 'treading water' mode. Theyre still good enough to win soe gaes but not good enough to win enough to threaten being division champs.
Card did a lot to help their cause, and IMO they were better than most gave the credit for last year. They could be a spoiler for our chances.
Seattle is kind of in the opposite situation to the Niners. At best we have been picking late in the first round, and too often have not been all that successful making that pick count. Hope this year turns out different for us. However, I'm not yet sold that all our body adding moves did a lot to address our deficiencies on O Line. So in the face of the D Line the Niners have assembled I fear we have lost ground on that front. As for our own defense, I think we have made moves that raises out talent level at critical areas of need and are already in better shape than we were last year, with more addition presumably to come. Increasing our defensive game will help our offense too, so I expect us to be about as competitive as we were last year. The question is will we have the same gift for late game heroics?
Our impressive total in the W column last year was the most fragile I have ever seen. When the injury bug bit we ended the year losing 4 of our last 5 games, yet had we won the reg season finale, which we had in our grasp, we would have been division champs.
Game of inches. Did we gain any ground?

Perspective for the Hawks roster drives me nuts. Injuries are always the wild card issue for all teams, and we got hit harder than most last year. Given a healthy Clowney and both our top running backs, In my opinion we at least make it to the NFC championship Game last year.

Far from doom and gloom we are easily a team that chould see 12 wins, provided we stay healthy.

chris98251":19egj9y5 said:

Own The West":19egj9y5 said:

This got me thinking. With Dunbar and Brooks joining, who will be covering Kittle? Flowers is 6'3" and perfectly suited for the job assuming Dunbar wins the RCB. Brooks apparently has the size and speed to cover as well if he plays SAM.

If their TE isn't gashing us at will, I think we can handle SF.

The big question for me is how much have the Rams and Cards improved?

Click to expand...

Hoping pass rush is there so covering Kittle isn't a big problem.

Click to expand...

The pass rush should improve quite a bit. The secondary also improved with Dunbar. I'm thinking the defense has an overall improvement this year. The one question is with DT. Is the front office thinking Naz Jones is going to rebound nicely and take some meaningful snaps? Or is this Christmas guy going to stand up? This position is the question.

gmor":hc4ptyim said:

chris98251":hc4ptyim said:

Own The West":hc4ptyim said:

This got me thinking. With Dunbar and Brooks joining, who will be covering Kittle? Flowers is 6'3" and perfectly suited for the job assuming Dunbar wins the RCB. Brooks apparently has the size and speed to cover as well if he plays SAM.

If their TE isn't gashing us at will, I think we can handle SF.

The big question for me is how much have the Rams and Cards improved?

Click to expand...

Hoping pass rush is there so covering Kittle isn't a big problem.

Click to expand...

The pass rush should improve quite a bit. The secondary also improved with Dunbar. I'm thinking the defense has an overall improvement this year. The one question is with DT. Is the front office thinking Naz Jones is going to rebound nicely and take some meaningful snaps? Or is this Christmas guy going to stand up? This position is the question.

Click to expand...

[youtube]LOAM7pbz19k[/youtube]

chet380":33l4u9lj said:

Sorry to say this, but I have the horrible feeling that the Hawks might go 1 - 5 vs. the NFC West ... the Haws never really addressed their OL weaknesses or their pass rush deficiencies over the past few years, while SF, the Rams and Ariz. have become very much better during the same time.

Click to expand...

Jeeze Chet, lighten up man!! 1-5 in division???

We signed like 15 offensive lineman. We brought in two proven average ish edge rushers, and the roster is not yet done.

PS: We still have the best quarterback in the division. Which in football we all know is the great equalizer.

With all the crap in the world to be depressed about, don't let the Seahawks in May be one of them.... :irishdrinkers: :49ersmall: :179422: :179422: :179422:

Rob Stanton looks at whether the Hawks are improved for 2020 as well.
http://seahawksdraftblog.com/are-the-2020-seahawks-better

KiwiHawk":116imahx said:

gmor":116imahx said:

chris98251":116imahx said:

Own The West":116imahx said:

This got me thinking. With Dunbar and Brooks joining, who will be covering Kittle? Flowers is 6'3" and perfectly suited for the job assuming Dunbar wins the RCB. Brooks apparently has the size and speed to cover as well if he plays SAM.

If their TE isn't gashing us at will, I think we can handle SF.

The big question for me is how much have the Rams and Cards improved?

Click to expand...

Hoping pass rush is there so covering Kittle isn't a big problem.

Click to expand...

The pass rush should improve quite a bit. The secondary also improved with Dunbar. I'm thinking the defense has an overall improvement this year. The one question is with DT. Is the front office thinking Naz Jones is going to rebound nicely and take some meaningful snaps? Or is this Christmas guy going to stand up? This position is the question.

Click to expand...

[youtube]LOAM7pbz19k[/youtube]

Click to expand...

Nice find on Ford. I think him and Reed will be great this year. To gmor's point though, do we have enough behind them on the depth chart?

Own The West":2ci7om2k said:

KiwiHawk":2ci7om2k said:

gmor":2ci7om2k said:

chris98251":2ci7om2k said:

Hoping pass rush is there so covering Kittle isn't a big problem.

Click to expand...

The pass rush should improve quite a bit. The secondary also improved with Dunbar. I'm thinking the defense has an overall improvement this year. The one question is with DT. Is the front office thinking Naz Jones is going to rebound nicely and take some meaningful snaps? Or is this Christmas guy going to stand up? This position is the question.

Click to expand...

[youtube]LOAM7pbz19k[/youtube]

Click to expand...

Nice find on Ford. I think him and Reed will be great this year. To gmor's point though, do we have enough behind them on the depth chart?

Click to expand...

It's impossible to have quality depth at every position, so you pick your battles. If we can get by with inexpensive DTs we can allocate more money to other positions.

Prisco has almost always been hard on the Seahawks. He just doesn't like us all that much so I take his opinion with a grain of salt.

Own The West":2f1zv1ho said:

Rob Stanton looks at whether the Hawks are improved for 2020 as well.
http://seahawksdraftblog.com/are-the-2020-seahawks-better

Click to expand...

"He's not a leo. He's not a leo"

Rob Stanton

Own The West":d7xufqnp said:

Rob Stanton looks at whether the Hawks are improved for 2020 as well.
http://seahawksdraftblog.com/are-the-2020-seahawks-better

Click to expand...

From the article...WTF? in bold.

"Since 2015 the Seahawks have been in a position of being good enough to make the playoffs but not good enough to make the Super Bowl. They’ve only won the NFC West once in the last five years — in 2016. In that same five year period the Niners and Rams have both competed for the Super Bowl and the Cardinals have played in the NFC Championship game."

Did I miss something? I watch a lot of football, but.... :?: :?: :?:

schkoot":3t1tc4lu said:

Own The West":3t1tc4lu said:

Rob Stanton looks at whether the Hawks are improved for 2020 as well.
http://seahawksdraftblog.com/are-the-2020-seahawks-better

Click to expand...

From the article...WTF? in bold.

"Since 2015 the Seahawks have been in a position of being good enough to make the playoffs but not good enough to make the Super Bowl. They’ve only won the NFC West once in the last five years — in 2016. In that same five year period the Niners and Rams have both competed for the Super Bowl and the Cardinals have played in the NFC Championship game."

Did I miss something? I watch a lot of football, but.... :?: :?: :?:

Click to expand...

Cardinals lost to the Panthers in the NFCCG during the 2015 season.