Seattle has the best OL coach in the NFL in Tom Cable. Watch, they will make a trade and add another tackle. The Seattle defense should be a top 5 again and in close games Russell Wilson is clutch. Plus, they fly around and make big plays on STs.
Seattle, by virtue of their coaching and their physical, intimidating style of play, is the favorite to win the NFL West.
The Cardinals do not look anywhere near as physical or intimidating as the Seahawks.
And no one should sleep on the LA Rams. Wade Philips will have their defense playing fast and furiously, and don't look now, but Jared Goff has the deepest and most talented WR group in the NFC West: Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods, Tavon Austin, Pharaoh Cooper...joined by highly skilled rookies Cooper Kupp and Josh Reynolds. Their TE tandem of Tyler Higbee and rookie Gerald Everett is also very talented.
Goff was very good versus Oakland. Sean McVay is the ideal coach for Goff...McVay's offense is very QB friendly, lots of high percentage pass plays to help get the QB in rhythm.
SF is going to be a lot better than people think. John Lynch has that whole organization fired up. They will be very physical. Much depends on how well Brian Hoyer can play within Kyle Shanahan's system -- Hoyer played in the system before, so he feels very comfortable. A strong defense, combined with a balanced offense and good STs could make them a surprise, sooner rather than later.
I think that if the Rams can win their first two games, both home versus Indianapolis and Washington, they could make a serious run at the division. The Seahawks have the tougher schedule and had a hard time beating the Jeff Fisher Rams.
If the Cardinals do not improve their protection for Palmer, their shoddy tackling on defense and their embarrassingly poor STs, they will be battling SF for 3rd place. Versus the Raiders it looked like the Cardinals were headed in the right direction, but this week's bafflingly poor performance versus the Bears could be a significant step backwards.
