Cardinals Fly Around The NFC West: Big Pay Day
by Andrew602 on May 10, 2010 12:08 PM MDT
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PrintWe haven't done a 'Fly Around the NFC West' segment for a while and this week has been less then exciting in Arizona Cardinal-land. Here's my thoughts on the NFC West so far: Every team is making strides to compete for the division title. The Cardinals won't have the easy street this time around and already have been written off by most "experts". Did the Cardinals lose a lot of talent? Yes. But they also filled much of the holes with quality players and also added others to the mix. The Cardinals will face their toughest season in the last three years and much of it falls on Matt Leinarts shoulders. The 49ers are in a similar situation with a very good team that is resting much of their hopes on Alex Smith. If he doesn't pan out and they resort to David Carr, is their season over? Most likely. The Seahawks to me, seem like they have accepted the fact that they aren't favorites to win the division, nor are they being picked by these same experts. But they did make many changes this offseason starting with the hiring of Pete Carroll and a successful draft. The Rams round out the group and shouldn't be completely designated as the doormat of the NFC West just yet. They will be more competitive then they have been the last three seasons and will get a couple upsets next year. Now, onto the links.
49ers
Patrick Willis clearly wants to be the best - Niners Nation
Fooch from Niners Nation discusses the recent contract extension for Patrick Willis and his thoughts on the best inside linebacker in the league: "I don't know if there is such a thing as the "perfect player," but if there was such a player, I'd argue Patrick Willis is that guy. I realize a lot of times professional athletes usually are too good to be true. However, Patrick Willis seems like the total package. He's a phenomenal athlete and one of the best, if not the absolute best, at his position. More importantly as far as the big picture is concerned, he seems like a great person. Yea he says all the right things, but he's always come across as just a great person. You want great players on your team, but when you get great individuals, it makes it that much easier to root for them."
49ers Front Office Approval Rating: Who even gets the approval poll? - Niners Nation
Also from Niners Nation, an approval poll is given for the front office, in which they receive a 97% approval rating. Fooch also discusses the front office moves so far: "Since Scot McCloughan and the 49ers parted ways, the 49ers acquired Ted Ginn, Jr, made some noise in a draft that received mostly high marks, added some lesser talents to battle for roster spots in training camp, and of course inked all-world linebacker Patrick Willis to a long term deal. All in all, the past month of the offseason has gotten fairly well for a 49ers team favored by many to win the NFC West."
Seahawks
2009 Season Retrospective: Deon Butler - Field Gulls
Field Gulls provides a season retrospective on safety Deon Butler, who's no longer with the team. They sum up Butler by saying: "Butler did not have many lowlights in the traditional sense. He didn't drop routes. He didn't drop passes. He didn't fumble. Deon Butler did not do a whole lot, negative or otherwise."
The Shadow Season and the Convoluted Race for the Seahawks Quarterback of the Future - Field Gulls
John Morgan from Field Gulls discusses the Seahawks quarterback situation and how the season rests on that, along with a prediction for the Seahawks record next season: "Seattle has fought both for years, but is finally peaking through to the other end. It has a good base of young talent, an effective when healthy quarterback and a weak schedule. I think this is the season Seattle bounces back, sort of. Seattle was a good coach from finishing 7-9 last season and I think will finish 7-9 this season. 7-9 is always a safe prediction, because it's awfully close to 8-8, and all records gravitate towards 8-8."
Rams
More on the Alex Barron trade - Turf Show Times
Turf Show Times talks about the upcoming Alex Barron trade one last time: "Dumping Tye Hill was easy; Barron was a little harder to cut ties with because he at least gave the Rams a consistently healthy average player to do a job. Recent additions of Jason Smith and Rodger Saffold made the decision that much easier. Too often teams keeping giving first round picks chance after chance to live up to their potential and make good on the front office's investment. It can be a costly decision."
Who needs a number one receiver anyway? - Turf Show Times
TST also debates that the Rams may not need a true number one receiver. They first look at who they have at the position: "Donnie Avery might not feel the pain of being a square peg of a speedster fit into the round hole of a possession guy, something that came out of necessity in the last two years thanks to injuries and other offensive struggles with the Rams. Fourth round pick Mardy Gilyardbrings a very nice array of after the catch skills with his strong legs, jukes and his burst."
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Even though I have to hate Willis when he plays against us.
He does seem like a genuinely good person.
Lifelong Arizona Cardinals/Chicago Bears fan.
I can't stand fair-weather/bandwagon fans, stick with your team, throughout the good and the bad.
Agreed
He is one of my favorite non-Cardinal players. Just a freak on the field.
They are who we thought they were!
by Jesse Reynolds on May 10, 2010 2:04 PM MDT up reply actions
Wish we had him. Im sure 30 other teams do too.
What? I didn't break it, I was just testing its durability, and then I placed it in the woods becuase it's made out of wood and I just thought he should be with his family.
Revenge of the Birds
What is the basis...
for favoring the Niners rather than the Cards to win the division? Is it simply because we were unable to defeat the NIners last year so, obviously, they would be the better team? If so, I maintain my opinion that these ‘experts’ are only expert at making poor predictions. I do feel the Niners will have a solid team this year and that it will be a tough road to the division title, but after winning the division the previous 2 seasons and the lack of, what I consider, to be any major moves by divisional opponents, the Cardinals should be favored once again. Granted, we had a few major losses, but we’ve had key additions fill those games with similar quality and the only question mark being the quarterback position. That is a large question mark, but no larger than our closest division rival has at their qb position.
Once again, I think the obvious lack of respect for the Cardinals rears its ugly head.
I think the experts pick SF to win mostly just to mix it up.
You can’t just pick all the teams that won their divisions last year to win again, you need to mix it up to keep the readers interested. They’re all going to pick Indy, San Diego, Dallas, New Orleans and maybe Baltimore to win their divisions. That leaves them the AFC East (NE, NYJ) NFC North (MIN, GB) and the NFC West (ARZ, SF) to try and differentiate themselves from each other.
Also, I think there were a lot of ‘experts’ that picked the 49ers to win the division last year (no way Warner is going to stay healthy for 2 straight years!). I think the rule on that is you take the young promising team you think has a chance, and you keep picking them every single year until you get it right, then tell everyone how smart you are because you saw it coming. I saw that a lot when the Seahawks were winning the division. There were some experts that kept picking the Cardinals to take over the division, and those same people stuck with it until they were finally right. I think the same theory applys to why every year so many experts pick Houston as their “bold prediction” for a dark horse to make the playoffs, they’ll be right eventually!
by Mind of no mind on May 11, 2010 3:25 AM MDT up reply actions
I'd say ILB also remains a question mark
But I agree the Cards should be favored to win it.
by Birdman from Mesa on May 10, 2010 3:32 PM MDT reply actions
On paper, the 49ers are effectively fielding a better version of the same team
that they’ve been putting out there for the last couple years. They’re not perfect, but they’re a stablilized product, and I think the experts favor the perceived stability and growth of that franchise. Both the top and the bottom of the division (Rams, Cards) are perceived to be in flux — big changes happened for both teams this year. That makes us wild cards; even though we’ve done nothing but improve for three years now, suddenly there are big questions about who’s going to step into all the empty shoes. We could transition smoothly and dominate the division (again), or we could slip-up and drop a couple games that maybe we wouldn’t have if we’d maintained more continuity.
From an “informed” perspective, it doesn’t make sense to bet against the team that beat us twice last year and took important steps toward improvement (at least on paper).
Let’s say that without Warner, we’ll be projected to win 1-2 fewer games this year simply because the points/game won’t be as high. That puts us on-par with the 49ers record last year, and since they seem to have improved, it’s not far-fetched to envision them grabbing an extra 1-2 wins. If the division title comes down to a tie-breaker, odds are in favor of the 49ers because they swept us in ’09.
On paper, the Cards aren’t as strong this year as they were last year, but that’s where the problem with all this conjecture stems from. Just glancing at stats from last year — rush yards/game, etc. — can’t tell the whole story. There’s a lot there that isn’t taken into account. Schematic changes to accommodate different personnel come to mind here (Beanie + Rock = Win). After putting some thought into it, I see where the experts are coming from. It’s an inevitable, formulaic conclusion that has its flaws, but I can’t blame them for trying to understand the system. Personally, I do believe we’ll be able to win it again this year — due to factors these ‘equations for success’ can’t compute — but, let’s give them some credit, it should be a tight race.
Good post
I see it as this, what was their record last year and did their team improve?
They look much better on paper. Smith played well, they improved their weakest link (the O-line) and their D is still legit. Their CB depth is also suspect like our and their pass rush still isn’t very good, but they have a lot less question marks like tw3kr said.
I honestly think 9-7 would be a great season for us. I don’t think we will be able to win more games than that. Niners might win it this year, but we will be competitive.
They are who we thought they were!
by Jesse Reynolds on May 10, 2010 5:57 PM MDT up reply actions
Nicely put
Add to this the fact that Leinart is the second most favorite QB to hate (after Russell) and you’ve pretty much nailed it.
That people were saying we should pick the fat man up after the Raiders cut him is enough to show what the rest of the NFL thinks of us now.
Lifelong Arizona Cardinals/Chicago Bears fan.
I can't stand fair-weather/bandwagon fans, stick with your team, throughout the good and the bad.
I'm a 49er Fan.
I don’t feel we deserve any favoring by the media or anybody else. Sure we swept you guys last season but last time I checked that doesn’t win us the division. Our draft had a couple high risk high reward player in Davis and Mays. Sure they both could end up the best at their positions from this draft but their just as likely to fall on their faces. I hope the division is more contested this nothing better than a fight to week 17. I tend to agree with most people perceptions that it all comes down to the play of our QB’s, good luck this year and here’s to no injuries.
+1
They are who we thought they were!
by Jesse Reynolds on May 10, 2010 9:54 PM MDT up reply actions
A fight to week 17
The division coming down to week 17 would be epic. It would also be freaking nerve wracking. I hope we sew it up before then. Maybe with a nice christmas ass kicking of the Cowboys.
Im tired of hearing bout our losses
When what did we lose on D our free safety who was a risk reward type player when u look at the #s rhodes is better and younger and cheaper. Dansby who was not even considered for pro bowl who had maybe 2 strong games and the rest ok and would we of been smart or dumb for keeping them with the type of contracts they got. D. Washington will make us forget him quick. The only real loses that no one could of stopped is warner but to have our Mr. Touchdown retire and still be in a position to take the division. Q fan favorite one of my favorites was disappointing but something had to happen. There was no way to have 2 wr at 10 mil a year so we got decent value for him which we used to get help else ware. Oh yea and we win with out him its been proven
The Devil Birds just got cha
by DaCards on May 10, 2010 10:16 PM MDT via mobile reply actions
I think tw3kr said it best
People still don’t trust the Cards as a franchise. You don’t lose that many big names and get better, normally. So we will see.
They are who we thought they were!
by Jesse Reynolds on May 10, 2010 11:19 PM MDT up reply actions
Let's also put into perspective that Warner's bad games were atrocious.
As great as Warner was, when he did fail, he failed spectacularly. The beautiful thing about him was that the next week he could show up with a record breaking performance. If Leinart has one game as bad as a couple Warner had just last year there will be lynch mobs. Let’s hope that Leinart has learned that lesson, that one bad performance does not predicate another.
If I remember
There were people calling for Warner to be benched in favor of Leinart after his occasional melt-downs. Funny, isn’t it?
Oops,
2009 Season Retrospective: Deon Butler – Field Gulls
Field Gulls provides a season retrospective on safety Deon Butler, who’s no longer with the team.
Deon Butler, WR – Still with the team
Deon Branch, WR – Still with the team
Deon Grant, Safety – No longer with the team (Giants now I think)
I can see why a non-Seahawk fan could easily get confused.
by Mind of no mind on May 11, 2010 3:03 AM MDT reply actions
There should be a name cap...
similar to a salary cap….they should only be allowed a certain number of Deon’s on the team…it’s far too confusing…lol
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