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It was an interesting week in the NFC West, as the cream rose to the top, but now the question is how does this tie between the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks change the NFC West landscape?
In reality, for the Cardinals a tie is significantly better than a loss, since it allows them to stay ahead of the Los Angeles Rams now in win percentage, and it will allow them to stay in the Wild Card conversation much more than a four loss team would be right now.
For Seattle, a tie is obviously better than a loss, but it also hurts them not getting that extra game on the Arizona Cardinals, meaning they have allowed Arizona to hang around. The question now becomes how does Arizona respond on the road, in Carolina, in the early timeslot?
Seattle Seahawks: Their 4-1-1 record keeps them in contention for a bye, as they sit behind the #1 seed Dallas Cowboys and the #2 seed Minnesota Vikings. They own the NFC West right now, until someone takes it from them, and it looks like there is only one worthy enough to take it.
Arizona Cardinals: We knew that they would be fighting with Seattle for the top spot in the division, now sitting at 3-3-1, they are 10th in the NFC playoff standings, behind… the Detroit Lions (7), Washington Redskins (8) and New York Giants (9). For the Cardinals they’ll get the chance to move up, because the NFC East will devour itself, the question is can they take down the NFC North, who they only get Minnesota in. They can control their own destiny with the very bad NFC South, so the North is likely the division that could cause the Arizona Cardinals the most issues if they are in a wild card fight.
Los Angeles Rams: 3-4 and now in their mid-season form to finish right around .500. They are sticking with Case Keenum, which means outside of the NFC West, the Rams may not win another game.
San Francisco 49ers: The Chip Kelly rebuild is in full effect. I am not sure that is a good thing, but Philadelphia’s post-Kelly resurgence was swift, so who knows.
NFC West Standings:
Seattle 4-1-1
Arizona 3-3-1
Los Angeles 3-4
San Francisco 1-6