NFL Preview 2006 - NFC West

The 2006 NFL season is a few weeks away so I wanted to post my season preview and predictions for the year. This will by no means be as comprehensive as Jeff's monster review, which is much more informational and entertaining. If you haven't read that yet, go here: http://volumeat11.livejournal.com/#131247. The reason for my doing this is just to keep a record of how I thought the season would play out so I can go back after the season is over and see how wrong I was.

I'm going to post these every couple days or so going division by division starting with the NFC West and ending with the AFC East (because I wanted to do that one last). I'll first list the standings from last year and then tell you how I think each team will do this season and why. After I go through all the divisions, I will make one last post with my playoff and Super Bowl predictions. So...without further ado, let's get this puppy started:


2005 Standings – NFC WEST

Seattle ------------ 13-3
St. Louis ---------- 6-10
Arizona ------------ 5-11
San Francisco ------ 4-12


2006 Outlook:

Seattle (12-4) – The Seahawks are coming off a Super Bowl “loss” and are coming into the season with a chip on their shoulder. The only big loss from last year is offensive guard Steve Hutchinson, but Seattle still has a pretty good line and the best player in the NFL, 2006 MVP Shaun Alexander at running back. Let’s not forget the solid defense that will only get better with the addition of Julian Peterson and the improvement of their young players such as 2nd year linebacker Lofa Tatupu. The Seahawks are one of the best teams in the league and should win the division and earn themselves a 1st round playoff bye.

St. Louis (9-7) – The Rams had a disappointing season last year and they have a new coaching staff this year headed by offensive genius, Scott Linehan. Rumor is that Linehan would like the Rams to run more. They have a young workhorse running back in Steven Jackson who is ready to have a breakout season. St. Louis should have no problems scoring points, but the question is whether or not the defense can hold up. If they can, and their key players stay healthy, the Rams could find themselves a wild card contender by season’s end. Otherwise, they’ll end up watching Arizona blow right by them without even looking back.

Arizona (8-8) – Arizona made a serious push this offseason to get a contending team out on the field, but was it enough? They got the running back they wanted in Edgerrin James, but do they have a good enough line to make some holes for him? They have their QB of the future, who finally signed a contract, in Matt Lienart, but will he be ready to step in when Kurt Warner gets hurt? Will the defense be good enough to stop opposing teams from scoring more points than their offense? Too many questions need to be answered. Arizona could win anywhere from 6 to 10 games this year, so I’ll go with 8-8 and I see them just missing the playoffs.

San Francisco (3-13) – The 49ers were a bad team last year. Period. They have a long way to go before they will be a good team, let alone a great team, again. They lost, arguably, their best defensive player, Julian Peterson, to Seattle, and they didn’t really get too much to improve the team over the offseason. New TE Vernon Davis (#1 draft pick in 2006) will give 2nd year QB Alex Smith a nice target to throw to when he’s not laying on his back, and 2nd year RB Frank Gore will be getting much more playing time. Unfortunately, the 49ers are in a tough division with much better teams than they are. San Francisco will once again be fighting for the #1 overall draft pick in 2007 and will be lucky to win more than 3 games.