Cardinals and Seahawks advance from the West, Rams and Niners prepare for next year

Article by Rob Newell

First I hope that each of you, my fellow NFL fans have enjoyed a very Merry Christmas, spent with family and friends.  I apologise for missing a week here due to unforeseen hospital visits more than the demands of the season, but I am back today to give you your update of what is what in the NFC West.

 

Congratulations to the Arizona Cardinals, they are your 2015 NFC West champions. With one regular season game remaining the Cardinals could yet clinch the number one overall seed but have at least guaranteed themselves a first round bye.  They have looked to be the most complete team in the league for most of the season ranking in the top 5 on both offence and defence, and when Chris Johnson went down injured and rookie David Johnson took over the starting running back role, you could easily argue that the Cardinals got even stronger, as Carson Palmer has put together a season that has earned him a place in the MVP conversation.  However, this team has lost the Honey Badger for the rest of the year, how big a loss will this prove to be on the defensive side of the ball?  He gave the Cardinals the sort of defensive x factor that Troy Polymalu gave the Steelers in his prime, making plays in the secondary, stuffing the run and crashing the line of scrimmage for QB pressures and sacks, the Cardinals have cover of course but against the top teams in the league will they rue his injury in the dying moments of the Eagles game.

Also congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks who have clinched themselves a playoff spot.  This team which had the high profile Jimmy Graham signing in Free Agency of course has sparked again at the end of the year, rather reminiscently of last season, and ironically after Graham was lost for the year.  Russell Wilson has put the team on his shoulders and legs and who would have thought that Doug Baldwin would ever be in the same ballpark as Jerry Rice when it comes to receiving records, but by going on a run of 5 games where he has claimed 13 touchdowns Baldwin has done something that only the G.O.A.T. has previously managed, oh and a fit Marshawn Lynch might be back in week 17 and ready to bring Beast Mode back for the playoffs.  The defence may not the all-conquering outfit of a few seasons ago but it still has Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, put bluntly the Seahawks were the team that the rest of the NFC hoped wouldn’t make the playoffs, but Pete Carrol has got them there and now there are some who would make them favourites to appear in San Francisco come early February.  Ignore the recent Rams blip, the Rams have always managed to play Seattle well, it hasn’t said much for the Rams otherwise meanwhile the Seahawks are two-time Super Bowl finalists.  They may be on the road but write off the Seahawks at your peril.  Next week the NFC North will be decided when Green Bay play the Vikings for the 3 seed the loser will likely have the 5 seed, the 3 seed will be at home to Seattle while the 5 seed on the road to Washington, would you almost prefer to lose the division ?

 

Back to those (for now) St Louis Rams, Coach Fisher at times has let the strain show with some very questionable decisions and comments, but the Rams have recovered from their annual mid-season slump and are pushing 7-9 or 8-8 yet again with a game with the 49ers to come, how they manage to get so close to .500 each year is almost mythical.  Their defence which when healthy is a rival for any in the league has been decimated by injury, but Aaron Donald the second year lineman may be on the verge of the unthinkable and be a serious contender to Justin James Watt as the Defensive Player of the Year.  On offence Tavon Austin has finally arrived as the Rams for the first time since he was drafted actually looked like they had some clue how to use him, he is closing in on a 1000 yard from line of scrimmage season before you add in his return game threat, and then there is Todd Gurley.  Every time Gurley looks good the Rams do too, stop Gurley and you probably stop the Rams, but Gurley is a rookie of course recovering from an ACL and what we have seen this year which may yet earn him Offensive Rookie of the Year, is probably a fraction of what he will be in the coming years.  Will those years be in St Louis or Los Angeles of course? And what will the Rams do at QB, is Case Keenum the answer?  While Fisher is in charge maybe, Fisher is happy with 100-200 yards passing as long as Gurley is running the game, but once again we don’t know if the Rams have the QB or Receivers to have than backup Plan B.

Which takes me to San Francisco 49ers, all year long it was supposed to be a historical dumpster fire type season, and yes they will finish bottom of the West with a chance of one of the higher draft picks next April, but against the expectations this hasn’t been that bad a season.  I would argue that there is even a positive feel since Blaine Gabbert took over QB responsibilities from Colin Kaepernick, Gabbert has looked far superior to his Jaguars form and played most of his games with basically one receiver, and practice squad running backs and tight ends, yet still managed to look good, Kaepernick for his games this year had the starters around him before they got hurt or traded and may well have been the worst QB in the league, despite rhetoric to the opposite, expect Kaepernick to be wearing a different uniform next year.  Also the Niners defence has not been that bad, led by the returning Navarro Bowman who should be in consideration for comeback player of the year, possibly with Gabbert, Bowman has returned to his old form and the Niners have pushed most opponents all the way, not many have thrashed them.  Time spent on the field in that there was far too much of it has cost the Niners defence which does not have the depth it once did, but again when Gabbert took over and the offence suddenly kept drives alive for longer, the defensive starters had more rest and came out and played better.  There is a long way to go of course, and Coach Jim Tomsula may yet not get a second season but there things to encourage Niners faithful for the coming years.

Whoever you support, enjoy the playoffs and of course Happy New Year!

Seahawks pick up the pace as Niners start to find feet under Gabbert

Article by Rob Newell

We have reached that part of the season where everything in the NFC West starts to change, it seems to be an annual thing and this year seems to be no different.  Just a few weeks ago, we all thought that the San Francisco 49ers were sure fire number one pick contenders, the St Louis Rams were good shots for a Wild Card and the Seattle Seahawks were as likely to beat themselves than the opposition.  Now just a few weeks later, all that has changed, but first let's have a quick look at the division leading Arizona Cardinals.

 

Coming off a run which has seen them beat their 3 divisional rivals the Cardinals are rolling and look to be on course for a bye week and the number 2 conference seeding, also the Cardinals had their own moment of history in the 4^th quarter of their blowout road victory over the Rams when Larry Fitzgerald hauled in the 1000^th catch of what will be a Hall of Fame career.  The Cardinals 27-3 victory was only that close thanks to the quality of the Rams defence who spent a lot of time on the field in this one.

 

Seems a long time ago that Todd Gurley went 4 straight weeks over 100 yards and was being crowned rookie of the year already, add in a Wide Receiver core missing its safest pair of hands in Stedman Bailey, and has now developed a case of the drops, with a QB competition between Nick Foles and Case Keenum, neither of whom would start elsewhere based on this season's evidence, and you see why Head Coach Jeff Fisher felt the need to fire his offensive coordinator on Monday.

 

Might this be too little too late, there is a groundswell of opinion that Fisher himself may be in danger in St Louis, or indeed even Los Angeles, we await to hear more on that, I am sure it was just coincidental that just after the league have met to discuss LA the Rams chose to wear the old LA Rams throwback uniforms.  Speaking of uniforms, have you seen the Rams colour rush uniforms for the final home game of the year?  Let's just say if the lights in the dome go out you may not know for a while.

 

Any remember this time last year when the Seahawks were trying to be more of a passing team, it wasn’t working so they went back to what they did best with Beast Mode and suddenly the Super Bowl run started.  Then in the offseason Jimmy Graham was bought in as the missing piece, and one again we were looking at a Seahawks passing game, which up to now hasn’t really worked and this time Beast Mode is out injured when Graham also is lost for the season.

 

Time to panic for Pete Carrol? Not a chance, the next man up at Running Back is undrafted rookie Trevor Rawls who this year has outbeasted the beast mode.  The Seahawks have once again reverted to their strengths and getting Jeremy Lane back in the Legion of Boom has helped too, but the Seahawks are rolling again.  The division may be unreachable now but they have got themselves into a playoff spot and after the way they dismantled Adrian Peterson and his Vikings in Minnesota, there will not be any NFC team happy to play Seattle come January even without the Seahawks 12^th Man advantage.

 

What about the 49ers?  After their offseason, they could be relied upon to suck surely? Well maybe why Colin Kaepernick was playing they could, but Jim Tomsula a few weeks ago decided to give Blaine Gabbert a chance, and things have looked up for the Bay Area team ever since to the point where the 49ers are now tied record wise with the Rams and most people believe Kaepernick is likely gone elsewhere next season.  Gabbert may not be the long term answer either, but playing behind the same offensive live as Kaepernick and with less options at RB and Receivers thank to injury, Gabbert has got this team moving and was one bad referee call away from being 3-1 since taking over.

 

Ironically Gabbert may be playing too well and the Niners may miss out on one of the top QB’s in the draft next year thanks to the performance of Gabbert, this may just be Blaine’s team for a season or so as the Niners look for the next QB of the future.  Also I challenge anyone to look at how well the Niners defence is playing and not agree that Navaro Bowman deserves some serious consideration for comeback player of the year, if not for second place in the JJ Watt award for defensive player of the year.

 

I will finish with one cautionary note for Cardinals fans, yes your team is going great but there seems to be a problem in getting the play into the huddle at times, they are a team that have been caught several times for delay of game, and in last few weeks have completed big pass plays on several other plays when the ball has been snapped late and got away with it.  The Cardinals are great and a balanced team no matter what facet of their game you look at, but I’d like to see the clock management managed just a little more carefully, manage that and we could be talking about another Super Bowl appearance fro the NFC West.

 

Niners Kaep Sized as the Rams start to show bad form

Article by Robert Newell

'Twas the week before Thanksgiving and all through the league, not a torn shoulder was an issue as Colin Kaepernick looks set to be a former San Francisco 49er.  There was much talk that he was needing a rest, and Blaine Gabbert came in and beat Atlanta.  The narrative then changed to Gabbert being the sacrificial lamb offered up to the Seattle Seahawks, and Kaepernick would be back afterwards.

Well, as expected the Niners lost in Seattle, but Gabbert showed once again that he is operating the Niners offence in a much better fashion than we have seen from Kaepernick all year long, now news emerges that Kaepernick asked to go on injured reserve and has had surgery on his non-throwing shoulder, meaning from the Niners viewpoint this is now Blaine Gabbert’s team till the end of the season.  The way Kaepernick’s contract was structured and being outplayed by Gabbert it now seems an iron clad certainty that Kaepernick has played his last down for San Francisco, if Gabbert can now keep them from the overall number one pick may influence if it remains his team next year.

The Seahawks have their own passing of the torch moment, with news Marshawn Lynch requires surgery the Hawks turned to undrafted rookie Thomas Rawls, who turned it on.  Bear in mind that this same 49ers defence held Davonte Freeman, the then rushing leader to just 12 yards in their last outing, Rawls was not having any of that.  He went for over 200 yards on the ground and almost 50 more receiving with two touchdowns.  Gabbert did not disgrace himself though and he did have his first choice receiver in Anquian Boldin this time out, but the Niners are desperately missing Carlos Hyde from their own backfield, it will be interesting to see what Gabbert can do when he has a legitimate running threat behind him, and he has already rediscovered the Tight End position, albeit the week after Vernon Davis left the team.

Meanwhile division leader Arizona Cardinals kept rolling in a last second win over the Cincinnati Bengals.  It was a win that maintained the Cardinals three game lead but meant a whole lot more for personal reasons to former Bengal, Carson Palmer.  This was a much stronger Bengals side than the one who didn’t turn up last time out against the Texans, but at the key moments, Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald combined to put the Cardinals in place for the winning Field Goal.  They have San Francisco next for all looks good for the Cardinals, whilst the Seahawks entertain Pittsburgh, could Bruce Arians old team do his new one a favour this time around.

The Rams meanwhile seem to self destruct again, Case Keenum despite appearing to be concussed was left in the game and two plays later fumbled the ball back to Baltimore who despite losing Justin Forsett with a broken arm and as it turned out Joe Flacco with a ACL / MCL, but Flacco stayed in to end the game and moved the Ravens down to the winning Field Goal.

After the game two bits of Rams news, Stedman Bailey involved in a shooting incident and had been shot in the head several times reportedly, although thankfully he remains in a stable but critical condition. Thoughts and prayers for continued swift recovery.  Also the Rams announced as playing at Twickenham in 2016 against an NFC East opponent, now we just need to know if that will be the St Louis or Los Angeles Rams coming to London.

Niners get the shock win, Rams slip up in OT

Article by Rob Newell

Did that really happen?  That is what people will look back on this week, rub their eyes and ask themselves one more time, but the answer will always be yes.  Blaine Gabbert, for so long a joke amongst NFL fans, that Blaine Gabbert did not only start a game for the 49ers, a team with some of the best QB lineage of all (Kaepernick and Smith aside), without a starting RB, WR and TE, but he actually led the previously 2-6 Niners to a victory over the 6-2 Atlanta Falcons.

In truth this victory, had a lot more to do with the showing of the Navarro Bowman led Niners defence, who completely shut down the then league leading rusher, Davonte Freeman for just 12 yards.  True, Julio Jones still got his yards, as he always does, but the Falcons had to settle for Field Goals, meanwhile on offence Gabbert was able to keep drives alive with his arm and his feet, and for just about the first time this year, the Niners threw for multiple touchdowns in one game.  If it was April first, you just wouldn`t believe it would you.  Compared to what Kaepernick has produced this year, Gabbert actually looked like a QB. 

After the bye, it will be the Seahawks in Seattle, a much tougher task, so hopefully he will have Hyde and Boldin back, and in the likely defeat that comes in Seattle, if Gabbert can show the same sort of character, the Kaepernick era may just be over.

The Rams meanwhile went up North to Minnesota, in the battle billed as AP against the next best thing in Rams rookie Todd Gurley.  On this day, it was the older man who recorded the better stats, he may not be course for the 2500 yard season he predicted but Peterson is now leading the league in rushing.

This game did feature two of the better defences in the league and the fact that it came down to a Field Goal by Vikings Kicker Blair Walsh not surprising.  Teddy Bridgwater left this game with a concussion, from what Mike Zimmer believes was a cheap shot, something that Gregg Williams defences have had previous dalliances with.  The Rams D was without Chris Long and Robert Quinn for this one both of whom may be back next week, so good luck Jay Cutler.

The Seahawks and Cardinals were both on the bye, meaning they both have had a week to prepare for their week 10 matchup.  If the Cardinals can win that one in Seattle then the Seahawks NFC Championship days could be over.

 

Kaepernick benched is the lowest point so far in 49ers season

Article by Rob Newell

Blaine Gabbert!

 

Two words that say it all, you want to know just how well the NFC West divisional game between St Louis Rams and San Francisco 49ers went this weekend, all you really need to know is that following this game the QB that San Francisco just last year signed to multi-million dollar contract (although wisely not guaranteed) Colin Kaepernick has been benched in favour of Blaine Gabbert.

Gabbert at one point muted as a number one overall pick in the same draft that saw Cam Newton take that position in Carolina, whose shortcomings in Jacksonville have led to the phrase Gabbertzone being used in NFL Network podcasts to discuss QB shortcomings, that Blaine Gabbert is now taking over as QB 1 for a team that’s QB history reads as a who’s who of modern NFL greats.  Just to rub the 49ers faces in it a little more on the same day that this was happening former Niners QB Alex Smith was having an inspired day running and passing all over Wembley Stadium, looking every inch the QB the Niners thought they had in Kaepernick, and certainly a QB a growing number of Niners fans wish they still had in San Francisco.

However, lets not forget about their opponents in St Louis, since his arrival in the starting line up Todd Gurley has been the most prolific rusher in the league, and together with Tavon Austin forms just about the entire Rams offensive production.  It’s a simple plan that Jeff Fisher has been looking to introduce to the Rams to mirror the days of Eddie George under Fisher in their Houston Oilers / Tennessee Titans days.  The plan may appear simple, feed Gurley and look for Austin with some gadget and splash plays, but that doesn’t make it wrong.

On this day the Niners defence were unable to stop them as Gurley once again went over 100 yards on the ground, 133 in total including a 71 yard TD.  Austin was also over a 100 yards from scrimmage and 2 touchdowns.  For the first time since I believe 2004 the Rams have come out of their first 7 games with a winning record and have some other games that look winnable on their immediate schedule, maybe the playoffs are not out of reach for the Rams.

Elsewhere in the division, defending champion Seattle Seahawks travelled to Dallas Cowboys in what should have been a glamour game, but the Seahawks have not adapted to life with their new OL yet and are struggling, and Dallas were still without Tony Romo but at least did have Dez Bryant back in uniform, but without a decent QB throwing him the ball Dez was not overly happy with his lot. 

In the end a 13-12 victory was probably about right.  Seattle will wish they could play the Niners every week as this was not as straightforward as their Thursday night matchup last week.  The Seahawks defence is looking good again but will have much sterner tests that what Matt Cassel could put up, but the Seahawks offensive problems will concern them.  The big trade in the offseason to bring in Jimmy Graham has not produced the sort of results yet that were expected, and unless there is a significant swing around in the rest of the year, even if Seattle can get into the playoffs it already seems almost certain that the Seahawks will not be enjoying home field advantage this time round, and that levels a certain sizeable advantage.

This year as in the early part of last year the division is being led by the Arizona Cardinals, who eventually rolled through the Cleveland Browns 34-20, in another game that showed just why Bruce Arians is such a great coach to watch and listen to.  Chris Johnson continues to stake a claim for comeback player of the year with another 100 yard game but did give up two fumbles.  With many coaches two fumbles would result in your being dropped and no action for the foreseeable future.  Arians has his own methods though and CJ2K was rolled out there 30 times, the chances of the flashy big plays now seem less likely from Johnson who does still have remarkable pace, but there is now a much more evident willingness to grind out the hard yards between the tackles too.

An Arians offence would not be an Arians offence though if they didn’t take their shots and Carson Palmer racked up 4 more touchdowns as Michael Floyd went for just over 100 yards and Larry Fitzgerald just under.  Breakout Receiver John Brown was dressed for this one but didn’t see any action.  Arians was asked about this and what fantasy owners might think about Browns absence from the game to which Arians replied Tough Shit.  That brutal honesty right there, that’s how you get to be two time coach of the year, and possibly the most loved coach in the game, and with every season that goes by the Steelers must regret how they handled the whole `retirement` thing.

So at just about half way the Cardinals are on top, the Rams and Seahawks are still alive and the Niners are thinking if they want to stay in state next draft and look at Cal QB Jared Goff.   

Normal (bad) service resumes for San Fran, Cardinals still at arms length

Article by Rob Newell

After Week 7 of the season, we have seen the second International Series game of the year and witnessed EJ Manuel`s best attempt to engineer a move to San Francisco, who surely would love another struggling QB to go with Colin Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert.  Manuel`s second quarter in London was very reminiscent of Kaepernick in earlier weeks in its ineptness.  Something the travelling Bills fans did not deserve, special mention to those fans who arrived en mass in London and contributed greatly to the NFL week.

In terms of the NFC West, you have to say what a difference a week makes.  Last week I was sitting here saying how San Francisco were the only team to win, and now normal service this season has been resumed and the 49ers this week were the only team to lose.  True the fact that the Niners were up against a divisional opponent in the Seahawks, ensured that there would be at least one loser in the division and to be honest it was never going to be Seattle, the return to some form of Marshawn Lynch, who racked up 122 yards on the ground. On the defensive side of the ball, we always hear about the Legion of Boom of course and free safety Earl Thomas racked up 7 tackles but the standout was on the DL, Michael Bennett has struggled at times this year, being caught in the neutral zone multiple times, but Kaepernick was terrorised by Bennett to the tune of 3.5 sacks for the lineman, with Cliff Avril able assisting with 1.5 of his own. 

From the Niners viewpoint they will be pleased in their defensive effort holding Seattle to 20 points and 5 sacks of their own as the frailties of the Seahawks OL were exposed again, but the Offence struggled mightily as they failed to move the ball and were once again forced to move away from Carlos Hyde in the running game and unlike New England who can decide to not run the ball against the Jets, the Niners cannot do that and win.  In part because New England have a Tom Brady and mostly because San Francisco do have a Colin Kaepernick.

So the Seahawks win, would they move closer therefore to division leader Arizona Cardinals, who played on Monday night against the struggling Baltimore Ravens.  The answer to that was negative as Arizona rolled onwards following a 26-18 win mainly on the back of the continued re-emergence of Chris Johnson and his matching Marshawn Lynch with 122 yards. With a long run of 62 yards, CJ2K showed he still has that ability to rip off the big run.  Although his big run in this one did look like a happened next Question of Sport question, following an attempted tackle Johnson was left sitting on top of the tackler so never actually hit the ground.  The referee never signalled the play dead, so Johnson popped back up and rushed off as some defence players thought otherwise and John Harbaugh was livid, but ultimately the Cardinals moved to 5-2 to retain the lead in the division.

For years the St Louis Rams have been like the little brother to the rest of this division, well if that is the case, the Rams may just be growing up.  In a division which has had or still has running backs like Lynch, Johnson, Frank Gore and now Carlos Hyde, the Rams now have their own beast in the backfield in rookie Todd Gurley.  In his two starts to date Gurley has gone over 100 yards and the Browns with their low ranked run defence were always going to struggle to contain him.  Gurley went for 128 yards and his first two touchdowns of his NFL career.  With that threat behind him Nick Foles does not have to be the man, but with the big play potential of Tavon Austin, Foles is able to play conservative and hit the big play as required.  Jeff Fisher is finally seeing the sort of team that he dreams of.  Meanwhile off the field in St Louis, town hall meetings are being held in a bid to keep the Rams in St Louis, a winning team may be more difficult to move to Los Angeles in terms of meeting the relocation criteria, wonder what Stan Kroenke thinks about that.

49ers back in the hunt? Strange goings on in the NFC West

Article by Rob Newell

If I had said to you in preseason that there would be a week in this regular season that the only winners in the NFC West would have been the San Francisco 49ers you would have most probably have laughed in my face, well who be laughing now?

This was a weird and wonderful week and in reality the team that come out of the week the best could just be the St Louis Rams, who off the back off the Seahawks and Cardinals defeats managed to beat the heck out of the bye week.  But back to San Francisco…

 

The first play from scrimmage in this one, saw Kaepernick throw a run of the mill WR screen to Boldin in the flat, only for Boldin to reverse field and work his way right away across the field to end up with Kaepernick out in front as a lead blocker.  As that play went for a first down, we should have been thinking that this was going to be the Niners day.

As the game went on, you could see all the breaks going in the Niners favour, even down to Justin Tucker missing a field goal for the Ravens because his foot just seemed to disappear in the field.  Remember this is the stadium that will be hosting the Super Bowl in February and one of the best Kickers in the game couldn’t even stand upright at a kick, the NFL must be worried.  There have been signs that the San Francisco offence is beginning to click, the Niners fanbase has been waiting on that long pass to Torrey Smith all season and based on this game that connection may just be starting to come together.

You have to feel a little sorry for this Ravens team, this defeat takes them to 1-5 for the season, and the 5 defeats have been by a combined 22 points, you have to think that had Terrell Suggs been fit therefore the Ravens would have a few more wins by now.  Strange to think that just 3 seasons ago this matchup was a Super Bowl, stop and think how many of those players are no longer playing the game.

In Pittsburgh, Bruce Arians took his Arizona Cardinals team back to the team where he spent much of his career and who tried to retire him just a few years ago.  Since then Arians has won two coach of the year award and maintained a thriving friendship with Ben Roethlesburger, something that Todd Hayley is not going to be accused of anytime soon.  Big Ben was desperately trying to get fit for this one, but couldn’t do it, and the Steelers struggled as backup Mike Vick went down injured to bring in third string Landry Jones, who looked awful in preseason.  Jones however ignited the Steelers and this game may have seen Vicks last snap in in the league.

The Cardinals though will probably still not know how they lost this one, Carson Palmer threw for 421yards, John Brown got 196 yards receiving with Larry Fitzgerald just under 100 yards as well, but this much maligned Steelers defence held firm and despite all those yards the Cardinals only scored 13 points and lost the chance to distance themselves in the race for the division.

The reason the Cardinals had a chance to distance themselves at all was thanks to the team that knocked them out of the Playoffs last year, Carolina Panthers who went into Seattle and overcame the famed 12^th Man Home Field advantage to beat the Seahawks 27-23.  A result which prompts the question, what is going on in Seattle?

They gave up a big 4^th quarter lead against the Cincinnati Bengals last week, but losing on the back of that at home, that will worry the Seahawks and should they lose again on Thursday night football to San Francisco, Seattle would drop to the bottom of the division.  The Panthers remain unbeaten and now that they have beaten a team that is recognised as a good team, the rest of the league will now take notice.  The Legion of Boom struggled to stop Greg Olsen who went off for 131 yards.

The Rams meanwhile got to sit and watch this safe in the knowledge that their rookie sensation Todd Gurley seems almost unstoppable and as teams adapt to him, Nick Foles should now have more available targets with the space that opens up.  Meanwhile the league have been looking to set up Town Hall meetings in the cities of St Louis, Oakland and San Diego, so we may know a little more soon about what the geographical makeup of the West will be next year, is LA calling? 

Cardinals still flying high, leaving streaky teams behind

Article by Rob Newell

Last week St Louis Rams rookie sensation Todd Gurley announced his presence to the rest of the NFL, this week he damn near shouted it to all and sundry.  Gaining just shy of 160 yards on 30 carries at Lambeau Field against the seemingly unstoppable Green Bay Packers, including a second straight week with a 50 yard run, Gurley is making a similar rookie impact at Running Back to what Odell Beckham managed at Wide Receiver last year.

I know the Rams still lost the game at Green Bay, but they showed enough to suggest the future could be very interesting on the field, assuming they can sort of off the field quickly enough.  The Rams defence is much talked about, almost as much talked about as Aaron Rodgers interception free streak at Lambeau Field, which the Rams ended and managed to recover a Rodgers fumble too. 

The Offensive Coordinator finally seems willing to find out what he has in Tavon Austin who seems to be actually getting the ball, in what seems a totally new concept in St Louis, and we know Gurley will be a monster in the backfield.  The Rams now need Nick Foles and the rest of the Receivers to step up and utilise the space that opposing defences will now have to leave in order to focus on Gurley, if the Rams can do this they may finally break out of the 8-8 mediocrity that has engulfed them in recent seasons.

 

Meanwhile at the New Meadowlands, New Jersey the long lost San Francisco 49ers offence, which had been missing in action since Week One, finally reappeared.  Carlos Hyde got the chance to run the ball and closed on a 100 yard game, Colin Kaepernick found some form again and threw for over 250 yards, just over 100 of which were to Anquain Boldin, thus providing the blueprint for how the 49ers need to play in their remaining games.  The problem for the Niners was the defence, they fell foul of the Eli Manning to Odell Beckham connection that was so unstoppable last year.

Beckham scared the wits out of the Niners secondary and even when he returned to the game with a Hamstring injury was able to draw a key Pass Interference call to enable the New York Giants to continue the final drive that led to the game winning touchdown pass with 21 seconds to go.  Scant consolation for the Niners, but at least they were in this one, they were not blown out for the first time since week one, and a loss is a loss is a loss in the NFL, but there were signs of encouragement for them, they need to feature Carlos Hyde more and play error free ball and they will be in with a chance.  Realistically it will be a long year and how well Kaepernick does in the next 12 weeks probably dictates if he is starting or backing up a new man next season, and maybe Jim Tomsula’s career prospects sit on his shoulders too.

Niners fans who need something to smile about can always watch the highlights from Cincinnati, the Seahawks got themselves into a big lead in the 4^th quarter, with the Legion of Boom that should be it, game over right?  Not this time it turned out, the Bengals on the back of the Red Rifle Andy Dalton and the running of Giovanni Bernard powered back to nick this one in overtime.  Yes you did read that right, in a high pressured game, Andy Dalton came out on the winning side, and the Bengals continued their unbeaten start to keep pace in the AFC with New England and Denver and are looking every inch a contender at the moment.  For Seattle it is a big bump in the road as the division leading Arizona Cardinals stole a march on the entire division.

The Cardinals were on the road also, in Detroit to renew a rivalry that has become a regular occurrence recently.  However since last season the Lions look to be a shadow of their former selves and the Cardinals look every inch the team they were last year when Carson Palmer was at QB, if not even better.  In truth though, Palmer was not required to do much in this one, he didn’t even need to break 200 yards passing, which for a Bruce Arians team seems impossible, as the Cardinals racked up 42 points in a one sided win.

The defence is looking great in Arizona, and the new defensive coordinator James Bettcher has not missed a step really since taking over for Todd Bowles, Calaius Campbell has been revitalised alongside Frosty Rucker on the DL, and Honey Badger is flying around the field making plays too.  The weakness apart from an injured Palmer last year for the Cardinals was the RB spot which led to many links to a possible move for Adrian Peterson which did not materialise, but despite that the RB position is suddenly a strength.  Andre Ellington confirmed his return from injury with a 63 yard TD run this week, meanwhile Chris Johnson on CJ2K fame went over a 100 yards again and is firmly in the top 5 in rushing this year, just a few months after being shot in a drive by incident.  Rookie David Johnson has shone too and is threat to score every time he touches the ball, be it running, receiving or special teams.

The Seahawks will be favoured to win this division but this Cardinals team as long as Palmer can move still, in a year when QB’s are dropping like no other, will be in the mix and with a 2 game lead already over a Seahawks team that is looking weakened from last year at this point, I have a feeling the NFC Championship might just be heading through Arizona not Seattle this year.

Referee under the spotlight in Seahawks win, Niners stuggles continue

Article by Rob Newell

Outside the fanatical support of the twelves, in recent years the Seattle Seahawks have become one of the more unpopular franchises in the NFL, in part admittedly as a result of the success enjoyed by the team, but mainly because of decisions like the one that went in the Seahawks favour at the end of their game with the Detroit Lions this past weekend, the latest in a series of decisions that started with the so called Fail Mary a few years ago.  Now, I know Seahawks fans will still point back to their Super Bowl defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers and some of the calls that went against them in that game, but the big decisions have gone their way in recent years, and that combined with some of the antics of Richard Sherman and co. have caused frustration in other fanbases.

The Seahawks, like the Patriots, won’t care of course, and nor should they! And following the 0-2 start they have got themselves back to .500 on the back of the non flag!  The winless Detroit Lions will not really be satisfied with the apology offered by NFL head of officiating Dean Blandino, for the mistakes made by the officials on the field, and if the Seahawks should go on to clinch the NFC West or even Home Field advantage by one game, you can rest assured the rest of the NFC will be reminding the league of this game and looking for changes in this central referral system.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco 49ers fell to 1-3, but at least were not embarrassed as they had been the previous two weeks, something that with Aaron Rodgers coming to town with his undefeated Green Bay Packers, must have been a concern.  Remember those 49ers teams of lore, the Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott led teams, this team is nothing like those, and those players busts must be spinning in the Hall of Fame as a result.  Instead the 2015 Niners are more like an early 90’s Bill Parcells team, to succeed they need to be able to run the ball and spell the defense, and pretty much have to play error free football.  With Colin Kaepernick at QB that feels like a bit of an ask! This team needs more of a game manager than anything else at QB but in Colin Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert I am not convinced they have that on the roster, instead they are going to have to hope that Carlos Hyde can find holes to exploit and the rest of the defence step up to the standard of the returning Navarro Bowman.

In the divisional game of the week, the previously undefeated Arizona Cardinals went down to the St Louis Rams who welcomed Todd Gurley to the NFL prime time, he had a few snaps last week but this was the big introduction / coming out party, and Gurley went over 100 yard for the first of what should be many times, however the damage was done on the scoreboard at least by Tavon Austin, maybe the Rams have finally figured out how to use their offensive weapon.  The Cardinals mounted a furious rally to come back in the 4^th quarter but ultimately came up 2 points short. 

The Cardinals shouldn’t be too upset as a result of this, whereas the Rams are perhaps the schizophrenic team of the league, one week they can beat the Seahawks and the Cardinals, thus gaining for themselves a great divisional record, but they can just as easily lose to the Redskins! Which is the real Rams? Can they learn to play on the road? Maybe this weekend in Green Bay will reveal the answers to those questions.

NFC West Week 3 Card Tricks

Article by Rob Newell

Week Three saw talk of one Offence being on pace to break records as Tom Brady threw his 400^th and 401^st career touchdown passes, but there is another team in the league residing in the NFC West that is racking up the points this season and that is the Arizona Cardinals.

Having racked up the points in their first two games against the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears respectively the Cardinals showed no sign of slowing down in their opening divisional game against the San Francisco 49ers.  In fact you could argue the Cardinals were given every encouragement by the Niners as Colin Kaepernick showed the sort of form that has previously earned him the nickname of Colin Throw A Pick! The Niners QB threw up 4 interceptions in this game including 2 pick 6’s in his first few passes to throw San Francisco out of their game plan pretty much straight away.

 

Arizona then proceeded to capitalise on this start on the backs of two stars that have returned to form that many thought had long passed them by.  Chris Johnson (the former Titan & Jet) he of CJ2K fame churned out 110 yards on the ground from 22 carries and 2 touchdowns, and with Andre Ellington likely to be out for at least one more game, Johnson will be having another chance to pitch a starting claim going forward.  Meanwhile at receiver, alongside youngster John Brown, veteran and future Hall of Fame first ballot Larry Fitzgerald went over 100 yards for the second week in a row, this time Fitzgerald hauled in 9 catches for 134 yards and 2 touchdowns.

There were thoughts that going into this year the Arizona defence would be hampered by the loss of Antonio Cromartie and Todd Bowles it the Jets, but Justin Bethel showed he can replace Cromartie with the opening pick 6, and was quickly followed into the end zone by Honey Badger Tyrann Mathieu, who added a second pick later in the game.  The Cardinals move on to a 3-0 start and have a second divisional game next weekend against the Rams, after losing 2 starting QB’s last year against the Rams, Bruce Arians team will be looking to get through this week unscathed and on what we have seen so far if Carson Palmer does stay healthy he has shown he had mastered the offensive scheme and this Cardinals team could well be in the playoff race come January.

The biggest rivals to the Cardinals were always likely to be the Seattle Seahawks and they had the good fortune to be an 0-2 team playing the Chicago Bears, a scenario that is always likely to cure your team's problems especially when starting QB Jay Cutler was missing for the Bears.  The Seahawks were also boosted by the return of Kam Chancellor who has ended his contract holdout, and the Seahawks defence suddenly clicked into gear and pitched a shutout protecting a 26-0 victory for the Seahawks.

Rookie Tyler Lockett in just his third career start, recorded his second career kick return touchdown, but the most talked about moment in this one was another kick return, when Richard Sherman ended up returning a punt 64 yards following a fake fielding of the catch by Lockett who was standing on the other side of the field.  The last team to fall for this trick was the Seahawks when the Rams pulled this off for a touchdown last year, and the Hawks showed they remember last year by replicating the play this time.  From an outside looking in perspective it is very difficult to know how teams fall for this move each season, you are the team punting the ball, surely you know which direction the ball is going, somebody waving their arms on the other side of the field, should not make the entire coverage team rush to the wrong part of the field.

However, future Seahawks opponents, might want to take notice, of the stats posted by Jimmy Graham, who is starting to show signs

The St Louis Rams were involved in a strange one at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers, it was the first time I have heard of a game delay for pitch conditions inside a dome stadium.  When this one got going it was a very heavy dose of defensive play as Pittsburgh Steelers outlasted St Louis 12-6.  The difference in the end turned out to be the returning Le'veon Bell who recorded the only touchdown and 70 yards on the ground and a further 60 in the air. 

The Rams D can add another name to the list of QB’s they have knocked out, not that a Gregg Williams coached team would be interested in stats like those obviously, when Big Ben Rothlisberger went down with a feared ACL injury, which now seems to be an MCL problem and is likely to keep Ben out for 4 to 6 weeks only and not the year.  Nick Foles showed he was efficient going 19 of 28 for 197 Yards, just over 100 of those were to Kenny Britt.  One bright spot for the Rams was this was the debut of rookie Todd Gurley who will benefit from having proper game snaps under his belt going ahead to Arizona next week.  So lets see which Rams team shows up when the Cardinals host them this weekend

NFC West Week 2 Reality Checks

Article by Rob Newell

Week Two of the regular season saw a dose of reality sink back into the NFC West, and perhaps the biggest dose was perhaps served up at Lambeau Field to the Seattle Seahawks, where if they didn’t realise already, they were very quickly reminded of just how badly they are missing Kam Chancellor.

The fact that the holdout is now over, combined with the fact the Seahawks return home for their home opener to take on an injury ravaged Chicago Bears should see the Seahawks start to rebound this week.  A cautionary note to the Seahawks fanbase though, Chancellor instantly upgrades the secondary back to Legion of Boom status, but history tells us that players who hold out tend to pick up injuries early into their return without the benefits of preseason training camp.  I hope it's not the case this time around so fingers crossed twelves.

Arizona Cardinals, showed yet again that with Carson Palmer at QB they have to be in the conversation as a legitimate Super Bowl team.  This is an offence that when it clicks is highly productive and does not ease off for anyone, it simply is not in Bruce Arians DNA to entertain the idea, and in rookie David Johnson they have unearthed another special talent.  He is the first player in NFL history to register Return, Rushing and Receiving Touchdowns over his first two games.  His return TD was recorded as the quickest run of any sort in the league.

The San Francisco 49ers, had the misfortune to be served up as the opening home sacrifice for Ben Roethlesburger and the high powered Pittsburgh Steelers team.  Fresh off their opening win at Levi’s Stadium, the Niners showed a little more of the form that we all expected from them this year, perhaps it is unfair to judge them against the Steelers whom we all expect to be in the final shake up in the AFC, but bear in mind this Steelers team did not have Le'veon Bell and the Steelers racked up yardage in huge chunks, the Niners defence did not register a single QB hit or sack in this game.  The Niners need to find more of the Vikings game form and quickly otherwise their season will run away from them very quickly.

As for the Rams, following a win at home over the Seahawks, a trip to the lowly Redskins shouldn’t have caused to many problems should it? Yet for much of the game the Rams didn’t even seem to have turned up.  This is why so many people assume the Rams will always end up 8-8 no matter what.  If the Rams are to finally turn the corner and become the playoff team that a team of their obvious talent level should be, they are going to have to be more consistent and find a way to take their home form on the road.  Not sure the Los Angeles fanbase will want a middle of the pack .500 team for very long.

NFC West Week One Review - Part 2

Article by Rob Newell

 

Week One is in the books following the matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Minnesota Vikings and we are now well and truly back to Football.

After the off-season that has been talked about by everybody as the worst in NFL history, if any team earns the right to debut a new black uniform it was the 49ers, and following this game (and yes it is dangerous to draw conclusions from just one game) reports suggesting the demise of the 49ers were very much exaggerated. 

For weeks now, we have heard about how the Vikings were the trendy pick for at least a Wildcard pick in the NFC this season, maybe more following the injury to Jordy Nelson in Green Bay and this game was supposed to be the first step on the returning Adrian Peterson’s road to redemption, which according to him at least was supposed to be at least 2,500 yards long.

 

The Niners had their own returning star to welcome back, in Navarro Bowman.  His last game was the infamous Richard Sherman game in the 2013 NFC Championship, and judging by this game and the preseason evidence Bowman is back to full health, and may just be the best inside linebacker in the league, finally good news for the 49ers faithful.  However the early blocked field goal was certainly not good news for San Francisco, and had most Niners wondering just what else would/could go wrong?

As it turned out the answer to that question on this night, would be very little!  The final score of 20-3 to the Niners I would imagine have garnered you fairly long odds before kick off.  But that is how it played out, and despite some flashes from the so called purple Jesus, included one run which took what felt like the entire Niners defence to stop, the best running back on the field was wearing black.

Carlos Hyde showed that the decision to let franchise legend Frank Gore move on, may have been perfectly timed as he torched the Vikings for 168 yards and showed that he could just be the every down back that teams love.  However it was on the defence that people believed the Niners would be crippled, but this is far from the truth as Bowman led a Niners defensive effort that saw them swarming to the ball.   Antoine Bethea was everywhere, including getting away with what looked like a clear pass interference infraction, but in a more positive light was making tackles all over the field.

Aaron Lynch was another standout performer, the 2^nd year man was bringing pressure to Teddy Bridgwater all night long, trying to find the replacement to Aldon Smith.  Credit must go to Eric Mangini, the Defensive Coordinator for San Francisco, who found ways to generate pressure that kept the Vikings guessing.

It's taken this long but I ought to mention Colin Kaepernick, who did not rack up the numbers in part to the success of Hyde, but you could see evidence of confidence and leadership in the QB.  He caught the Vikings offside with some hard counts and although not looking to run first himself, Kaepernick did show a willingness to tuck the ball and run himself where opportunity presented itself.  In so doing Kaepernick did take a couple of big hits especially from Harrison Smith, but Kaepernick bounced straight up and called the next play.  He even found himself lead blocking for his running back on one TD run.

 

The Vikings will be better than this as the season goes along, and if they can work AP back in to Norv Turner’s offence, they could still be a potential playoff team, the Niners showed that predictions of 3-13 etc… are perhaps a little on the low side, they will be looking for at least a .500 record if not better.  If their number 28 can continue to play like this and not put in a Jekyl performance instead, then the NFL has found a new star.