NFC West Division:
1) Seattle: These Seahawks better watch their collective backs because the last five straight Super Bowl losers have followed up their SB loss with a losing season. The Hawks had a very average draft with CB Kelly Jennings topping their list with the 31st overall pick in the draft. The loss of everyone LG Steve Hutchinson will hurt the Hawks’ running game because they ran predominantly to the left, no one will miss Hutchinson more than RB Shaun Alexander who scored more than half his total TD running behind Hutchinson’s big body . Seattle posted a record of 15-4 in a row and 11-8 ATS last season, but five of those wins were decided by 4 points or less, this season the Hawks will play a much tougher schedule that has them playing in Chicago, in Kansas City, in Denver and in Tampa, in addition to hosting the Giants and San Diego. Projected record: 11-5
** Look to play AGAINST these Hawks on September 17 when divisional rival Arizona visits Quest Field, Seattle opened their season with a trip to Detroit and will return home in Week 2 to face a much better Cardinal team that in turn opened his season at home. This travel factor coupled with Arizona being in the same division and therefore playing at Quest Field once a year will negate the Hawks’ home field advantage somewhat. We’ll get great line value because the crowd is sure to back Seattle in a big way, like last year when the Cardinals had 6 points on their visit to Quest Field. It’s also nice to know that, according to the old history book, Seattle is a very shoddy 2-10 ATS at home when facing a divisional opponent during the month of September.
2) Arizona: Last season I predicted good things for these Cardinals, unfortunately for them those good things never materialized, their poor season of 5-11 straight and 6-10 ATS was mostly due to injuries and HC Denny Green’s inability to decide on a starting QB. This year, the Cardinals are healthy once again and have settled on quarterback Kurt Warner as the starter. The Cardinals had the best draft and free agency picks of any team in their division highlighted by the selection of QB Matt Leinhart from USC and the signing of RB Edgerrin James from the Colts. As already mentioned, these Cardinals only won five games last year, but consider that they lost five games by 7 points or less and were the only team in the NFL to finish in the top 10 in both overall offense and overall! overall defense! Projected record: 10-6
**Look to play ON these Cards on their September 17 visit to Quest Field in Seattle, Seattle opened their season with a trip to Detroit and will return home in week 2 to take on a much-improved Cardinal team that in turn opened his season at home. This travel factor coupled with Arizona being in the same division and therefore playing at Quest Field once a year will negate the Hawks’ home field advantage somewhat. We’ll get great line value because the crowd is sure to back Seattle in a big way, like last year when the Cardinals had 6 points on their visit to Quest Field. It’s also nice to know that according to the old history book, Seattle is a very sleazy 2-10 ATS at home to their division in the month of September.
3) St. Louis – A new era begins in St. Louis with the ouster of “mad bomber” Mike Martz, instead of the mad bomber, St. Louis first hired HC Scott Linehan to take the reins. Linehan was the architect of the Viking offense that allowed Vike QB Daunte Culpepper to flourish during the 2003 and 2004 seasons, last year Nick Saban hired Linehan to install that very offense for the Dolphins, however don’t expect Linehan to install an offense High-flying with the Rams, his main concern will be protecting oft-injured QB Marc Bulger. He would expect to see more two-tight end builds this year that will better utilize RB Steven Jackson’s running ability and also protect QB Bulger from taking his usual beating with former HC Martz’s offense. Overall, this is a rebuilding year for the Rams who must replace older players as well as learn new schemes under a new HC. Projected record: 3-13
**Look to play the UNDER when Detroit visits Oct 1, both teams are transitioning with new first time HCs who want to control the pace of the game using the running game, in the meantime the public will probably expect a high scoring affair because that’s usually what they get at local Ram games.
4) San Francisco: This once-proud organization posted a 4-12 record last year and has a sleazy 13-35 record over the past three seasons. They were a team in transition last year with new HC Mike Nolan and suffered a multitude of injuries on both sides of the ball, leading San Francisco to finish last in the NFL in both offense and overall defense. The 49ers had a decent draft highlighted by first round picks TE Vernon Davis and OLB Manny Lawson and were active in free agency acquiring QB Trent Dilfer to teach as well as young QB Alex Smith, they also brought in WR Antonio Bryant I g. Dallas’ Larry Allen, but overall, this team has a long way to go before becoming a contender once again. Projected record: 3-13
** Look to play the OVER on September 24 when the Eagles come to town, the 49ers ranked 32nd overall in total defense and 32nd overall in total pass defense last season, meanwhile the Eagles ranked 23rd overall in total defense last year and ranked 22nd overall in pass defense last year. Philly with QB Donovan McNabb will be eager to show he can do it without TO and the 49ers finally have a good offensive coordinator in the signing of Norv Turner.
