NFC West
Arizona Cardinals
(12-4) Ever since Bruce
Arians took over as coach for the Cardinals he has continued to build a solid
team that continues to get better every year. I expect nothing but the same
from the Cardinals this season. They are as explosive as ever on offense with
tons of options for Carson Palmer to choose from. They have depth at every
position on the offensive side of the ball, so even if they lose someone to
injury there is always another guy to step up and play at a high level. The
defense is full of talent led by Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu, every
quarterback that faces this secondary this season will have to make sure they
keep their eyes on them or else they are sure to make you pay. They not only
can cause the turnover, but have also been known to score points. The Cardinals
are poised to make another playoff run, we’ll see if they are able to take it
to the next level this season.
Seattle Seahawks
(10-6) Marshawn Lynch’s
retirement is going to change this team. They relied heavily on Lynch to carry
the ground game and he was extremely reliable. This is going to be a tough spot
to fill and I don’t believe they have anyone currently on their roster at the
running back position to fill it. Russell Wilson is going to have to play an
even bigger role in this offense, which I don’t believe will be a problem, but
his selection of weapons are very limited. The defense is still solid, so the
Seahawks should still be a competitive team because of that, but it’s going to
be interesting to see how this offense handles the loss of Lynch.
Los Angeles Rams
(4-12) The team may have
moved half way across the country, but the problems still remain…The Rams are
awful! At least they will be able to fill the stadium off of the hype of moving
to LA, but they better hurry up and put a decent product on the field soon or
else you the Rams will find out right quick how fast the fans in LA tune them
out.
San Francisco
49ers (2-14) The 49ers are
going to be one of the worst teams in the league this season. Their starting
quarterback situation is an absolute shit show! The choices are either Colin
Kaepernick who literally has no more arm strength and is a complete shell of
his former self or Blaine Gabbert. Even if they had a decent quarterback I’m
not quite sure who he’d throw to since this has got to be one of the worst
receiving squads in the league! This once dominant defense has turned into the
nobody squad. The only positive I can think of for the 49ers is that luckily
they should get a good draft pick next year.
AFC West
Oakland Raiders
(11-5) This is
usually the part of my blog where I rip into how awful the Raiders are going to
be and how delusional their fans are for even thinking they have a shot at
anything! Not this year! The Raiders have done a complete turn around from what
they used to be. They were the laughing stocks of the league with no hope or
future in sight, but they have drafted well and Jack Del Rio as the coach is
only an improvement for this team. Defense is going to be their strength, the
defensive line is stacked into the linebackers, which will make things a lot
easier for the secondary. On offense Derek Carr has grown into the leadership
role and I think will only get better this season with Del Rio as his coach.
Overall I think the Raiders are a very good team and they are in an awful
division so I expect to see them in the playoffs this year!
Kansas City Chiefs
(7-9) The
Chiefs are such a mediocre team on all levels. The defense has been a silent
killer over the past couple of seasons, but have never been able to be dominant
enough to get them over the hump. I imagine that’s because the offense is
completely subpar. Alex Smith is such a bag of crap, he can manage a game and
play good enough to not fuck up everything, but that’s not going to carry you into
the playoffs, unless you have some decent guys surrounding him on offense. He
is lucky if he can even find a wide receiver to score a touchdown and Jamaal
Charles is so injury prone it’s tough to rely on him for an entire season. To
top it off their coach is Sir Chokes A Lot Andy Reid, who has probably even
lost in eating competitions because that’s all he knows how to do is eat and
lose.
Denver Broncos
(5-11) The Super
Bowl Champs are going to have an exceptionally tough time with a repeat this
season. Their quarterback situation was horrible last season and is even worse
this year. I’m not sold on any option they have on the roster right now and I
would not be surprised if they end up playing the Russian roulette with
quarterbacks this season, by just constantly starting someone different every
few weeks or so. Gary Kubiak is a crap bag of a coach who lucked out by
inheriting John Fox’s team, so it should be fun to watch this team continue to
crumble because that’s all that Kubiak can do to a team. The Broncos defense is
still solid, but they will be way too tired from being on the field the entire
game because of how awful this offense is going to be.
San Diego Chargers
(3-13) It doesn’t matter
where the Chargers play they will always suck!