Things tightened up in the NFC West last week. The Arizona Cardinals fell to the Atlanta Falcons 29-18 and now are in danger of losing their grip on 1st place since the Seattle Seahawks completely dominated the San Francisco 49ers 19-3, in a game in which the score didn’t show how bad the beating was. Also the Rams continued to show progress as they destroyed the Oakland Raiders 52-0. With week 13 now in the books, let’s get right to the NFC West Week 14 Game Previews:
Arizona Cardinals (9-3) vs Kansas City Chiefs (7-5) -1
With the blink of an eye, when Carson Palmer went down for the year with a torn ACL, the Cardinals went from a legitimate Superbowl contender to now a team that may fall all the way out the playoffs completely. Injuries have ravaged Arizona’s roster with the latest one being starting RB Andre Ellington. He left the game in the 1st quarter last week with a hip injury and he is not only questionable for this week, but he could be out for week 15 also as the Cardinals comeback on a short week.
The Chiefs did not look like the normal Chiefs this week. They went down to the Broncos but should be able to bounce back against a team that looks like they could start going in the wrong direction. Cardinals will have to deal with star RB Jamaal Charles who has over 1000 total yards and 12 TDs this year so far. He is coming off his worse game since week 2, so you can expect him to be on the attack early and often. This should be a close game decided by a FG. Not sure if Cardinals have enough offense to pull this one out late, but they’ll have a chance.
Prediction: Cardinals 17, Chiefs 20
Seattle Seahawks (8-4) at Philadelphia Eagles (9-3) -1
The team that is going in the opposite direction of the Cardinals right now are the defending Superbowl Champion Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks dominated the Niners last week. Richard Sherman, who usually gets ignored by opposing offenses, was able to get his 2nd and 3rd INTs of the year and could have easily had another. They seem to be clicking on all cylinders right now, which is good for their chase of the division title, but they have to worry against peaking too early, still a month to go in the season.
The Eagles impressively beat the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day by the score of 33-10. LeSean McCoy seems to be over his early season troubles and has quickly moved up the rushing yards rankings. He’s now up to 1018 yards, which ranks 3rd in the league. More importantly is over the last 3 games 377 yards and 2 TDs, and that with him missing practically all of both 4th quarters. This will be probably the best game of the week and it can go either way. Someone should have the ball on the final possession with a chance to tie or win.
Prediction: Seahawks 24, Eagles 23
San Francisco 49ers (7-5) at Oakland Raiders (1-11) +8
The 49ers have finally hit that point where they seem like their entire team is in disarray. There are rumors everywhere that Coach Jim Harbaugh is definitely out after the year. Those reports were initiated by FoxSports reporter Jay Glazer a couple months ago when he said that even if they won the Superbowl that he wouldn’t return. Now various other media outlets have started to join in with that same sentiment. The “conflict” between Harbaugh and GM Trent Baalke seem irreparable and it should come to ahead in the next 2 months.
To add to the off the field issues, the Niners also seem lost on the field. Last week, Colin Kaepernick put on a dreadful show that had him with only 90 yards passing before the last meaningless drive of the game. Frank Gore isn’t getting involved, Michael Crabtree is complaining about his role in the offense, Vernon Davis is invisible, and the offense itself just seems like a wrong fit. With all of this being said, they luckily get the 1-11 Raiders and should be able to get out of this week with a win, but is that even guaranteed?
Prediction: 49ers 24, Raiders 17
St Louis Rams (5-7) at Washington Redskins (3-9) +2.5
Last week was Tre Mason’s coming out party for the St Louis Rams. He finished the game with 164 yards and 3 TDs off just 17 total touches. It literally looked like a video game type of game, highlighted by his 89 yard TD run. It took the Rams a long time to finally unleash the 3rd round rookie from Auburn, but now that they have made him the feature back, their offense seems to be flowing quite nicely and Rams fans now have a future to look forward to.
The Redskins have been bad all year. They have started 3 QBs with none of them seeming to be the QB that they want for their future. Whether they look at him as the future or not, this week’s starter, Colt McCoy seems to have the best grasp of the offense. On the year, he has 3 appearances with a completion rate of 75% to go with 4 TDs and 1 INT. I expect the Rams to eek this one out, but both teams are good defensively, so I expect a low scoring game.
Prediction: Rams 23, Redskins 20
I still truly believe the NFC West is the best division in football, its proof is the last place team, is probably an above average team in any other division. The biggest problem in a situation like that is they beat up on each other. In a division that has four legitimate playoff contenders, only one may end up moving on. However, that one team that moves on will probably be the team to beat in the NFC. I guess it’s the price you pay for being in a stacked division. Beat them if you can, survive if they let you.
