The Relative Strength of the NFC West at Week 11

We had a visitor to our blog (who rightly gave us hell for not updating our rankings and forecasts) remarking that we are way out of whack with our evaluation pertaining to the NFC West (fading fast) however we only evaluate what we see. After opening the season 1-2 the 49ers beat the Sam Bradford (remember him?) version of the Rams, the Matt Schaub (remember him?) version of the Texans, Carson Palmer and a not very impressive Arizona Cardinals (similar schedule so 5-4 for now), an injured Jake Locker (remember him?) leading a transitioning Titans team and Chad Henne and his Jacksonville Jaguars before the loss to mediocre Carolina. Seattle has had an even softer schedule to this point and fortunate timing as well but still needed overtime to beat Mike Glennon in Tampa as well as at home to beat Matt Schaub while just getting past Kellen Clemens making his first start for the Rams at home.

The Arizona Cardinals are kind of an invisible team. Presently at 5-4 we don't think anyone has them as a legitimate contender for anything. Carson Palmer kind of offsets Larry Fitzgerald as the Cardinals are still trying to replace Kurt Warner. Why they haven't drafted or signed some gunslingers like Case Keenum, Nick Foles, Mike Glennon or the tons of other college kids with incredible passing numbers passed over for basketball player type QB's that pass for 91 yards in a whole game (can you say Colin Kaepernick) is not known. Rookie Andre Ellington has a nice yards per carry average but their running game is pretty average. The Cardinals stats on defence may be skewed as every QB except Matt Ryan, with only a tight end to throw to, and Rookie Mike Glennon, making his first NFL start ever, have passed for more than 300 yards. We actually expect them to lose to Henne and the Jags this weekend.

The St. Louis Rams are probably the most interesting team in the division. With Bradford gone the Rams have woken up and noticed that they have used their (other) draft picks well. Kellen Clemons is no answer at QB but he still helped them to beat Indianapolis, another incredibly over-rated team that the officials love to help win for some reason (perhaps Isray pays them - Nothing is below that cretin), easily last week. The Rams could have the best Won/Loss record in the division for the balance of the season with Clemons under center - If they want it - but 9-7 is the best they can hope for (8-8 more likely) realistically and a wild card shot is very remote. At 4-12 they would most probably pick at fourth or fifth overall for one last good draft spot. Jeff Fisher may not be very likeable but the guy sure can get a lot out of not much. We think that the fact that a St Louis Ram team with Clemons at QB could finish out the best of the four says everything that needs to be said about the relative strengh of the NFC West.