Who will win the NFC West?

The same as my previous thread, it’s pretty simple just vote for who you think will win the NFC West?

Cards for me. Larry now has a proper QB throwing at him and I think that may be enough to take the division. They seem to be the best of a bad bunch.

That's my main problem with predicting this division, is Kevin Kolb a proper QB? I'm still undecided and my answer will be coming later.

Got to go with the RAMs as they are my team. Bradford had a great first season and I can only see him getting better and with a big wide receiver in Mike Sims-Walker to throw at, i can see this being a good season for the RAMs

I'm fascinated in how this div is perceived by V2ers as I've seen the prices and bet already

I've gone for the Cards, think they will be just about the strongest in the worst division in the league.

Though I wouldn't be suprised to see any of the 4 teams win it.

Cards for me too. It does depend on Kolb, but its not like throwing a rookie in to sink or swim. He's well regarded by those who have coached him, and unlike Anderson he's not trying to redeem himself.

Rams a good bet for 2nd with their additions. I can't see the Seahawks really challenging while they rebuild and the 49ers too have a lot of work to do to get straight.

skins4ever wrote:Cards for me too. It does depend on Kolb, but its not like throwing a rookie in to sink or swim. He's well regarded by those who have coached him, and unlike Anderson he's not trying to redeem himself.

Rams a good bet for 2nd with their additions. I can't see the Seahawks really challenging while they rebuild and the 49ers too have a lot of work to do to get straight.

Exactly my thinking Skins which make the divison betting all the more confusing:

Rams 13/8
Niners 13/8
Cards 4/1
Seahawks 8/1

Rams for me. Bradford looks like the real deal and they quietly did well in FA.

I still think an 8 or 9 win season will lead the division though.

Still quite a poor division with at least 3 and possibly all 4 teams at some stage of rebuilding. That being said it's the Cardinals for me too. Even if Kolb is only mediocre that will be good enough to give Fitzgerald and Heap enough ammunition to cause a bit of damage.

Quite fancy that 4/1 Grizzly, where did you find that?

Billy Hills GB - it was still available yesterday.
Laid some Niners around 2.85 on betfair as well but not for as much as I'd like, very little liquidity around at the moment

I've gone Cardinals. For same reasons as above.

Grizzly wrote:Billy Hills GB - it was still available yesterday.
Laid some Niners around 2.85 on betfair as well but not for as much as I'd like, very little liquidity around at the moment

Cheers for that, I've not used them since I moved house and changed my bank card so I might be able to look like a new customer and get myself a nice welcome bet to sweeten the deal even more.

Haha.
I had my account closed by them in 2006 (they don't like punters when they win !) so I have to walk into shops and waste 10 mins of my life while they phone for authorisation if I want to bet with them now.
I reckon that 4/1 was worth wasting 10 mins though....

They closed your account because you kept winning?

Pr4wn - you don't have to keep winning, you just have to take a chunk of money from them and they will close you.
Actually I'll clarify that, they stop you from betting on sports where you have shown a large profit.
Some bookmakers behave in this way, some don't, Billy Hills have long since been a bookie who want to close all their shops and have everyone betting on cartoon horse racing and roulette wheels on their website

Cards, Kolb will get their passing offence moving and Heap is a solid TE who will see some ball, they seem quite balanced

i think niners or rams, i dont know how anybody thinks that kolb improves arizona to the point they are in contention to win the division, i know stats dont show the whole picture but i seriously doubt he will have an impact like bradford did with the rams. I think the niners have a far superior roster to any of the other teams but until alex smith learns how to play, we wont win the division. That being said, .500 could win this divison and even smith could get us there. The only problem is that the niners are one of the youngest teams in the league.

I've backed the Cards, so i've got to vote for them too.

I think if Kolb and Larry can hit it off they will at least be able to do enough to win the division. As others have said, 8 or 9 wins will probably be enough again.

I've gone for the Rams, there is a lot of Kolb and Larry talk but the Cards running game in quite inexprienced.
Bradford should start to improve along with his recievers and Jackson will always be a problem.

I've taken the Rams, but I feel it will be close (in a bad way) between them and Arizona. I'm happy to "believe" that Kolb can be a decent enough QB, but i'm not sure they have a credible run game.
If they had kept DRC then I probably would have picked them, but in the absence of that I'll go with Bradford who showed a chuck of promise. Rams got him Mike Sims-Walker who will be alright and Amendola came on well last year. Jackson is still a good workhorse and they signed Jerious Norwood to back him. Josh McDaniels as OC is a good move for them as he is actually relatively good at that job.
I'm only looking at say 9-7 tops, though there start is brutal

I'm thinking it'll be the Cards and not just because I'm a fan. From what has been reported, I think Ryan Williams is better then Tim Hightower, he's quick and dynamic, and will give Beanie Wells a run for his money as the starter. Kolb may or may not turn out to be a superstar, but I believe he will be a serviceable QB and if we'd have had a serviceable QB we would have won the division last year. He doesn't have a big arm, but he's accurate, processes info quickly, and seems to have that leadership quality that Derek Anderson didn't have.

That being said, the Rams are definitely on the rise and who knows what's up with the 49ers - Jim Harbaugh is a good coach so we'll see if he can turn them around.

I'm still stuck between the Cards and the Rams, but I've decided to choose the Rams. Despite the tough start they have, I'm predicting a .500 record to win the division and I think they have the ability to make up for their start later in the season, really like the addition of Mike Sims-Walker on top of the weapons they drafted for Bradford. I'm just not sure on Kolb I know it doesn't take much to win the NFC West, but still think that there could have been options just as good or better which would have kept DRC in Arizona. Don't think the Seahawks have any chance to win it this year, despite the addition of Sidney Rice, I think they need a slightly better quarterback to make the most of Rice, Mike Williams and Zach Miller.

Rams for me ,although any one of the 4 could win it
Just think Bradford is the best qb in division
don't rate kolb or tavaris if Seahawks had a better qb I think they are the best all round team

Based on limited highlights last night I'd say Kolb might be the man but Jackson is going to struggle in Seattle. Very early days yet.

Cards by virtue of best QB. They should have the best offense comfortably for me, and I'm not convinced the defense is as bad as advertised. There are some nice pieces there.

For the Rams, I'm waiting to see how Bradford does once he finishes reading baby's first playbook before I anoint him. The defense is rounding together nicely, might be a year too early for the Rams though.

I like what the Seahawks have done this offense, Jackson has flashed his ability on occasions, and with the additions of Rice, Gallery, Cable, Miller and Carpenter, whichever rookie QB they draft next year should walk into a pretty good offensive situation.

I can't back the 49ers until they dump the loser at QB.

i hope so much that harbaugh can help smith but im pretty sure all niner fans have thought for the last 7 seasons that he would come good. The niners would walk this division if not for having one of the worst qb's in the league, hopefully i can eat my words once harbaugh trains him up. Im still not buying kolb though, what has he done to warrant such enthusiasm?

Graeme Swann's Cat wrote:For the Rams, I'm waiting to see how Bradford does once he finishes reading baby's first playbook before I anoint him. The defense is rounding together nicely, might be a year too early for the Rams though.

I so see a Photoshop session coming on later. Anyone point to a photo of Sanchez and Bradford standing together?

niner wrote:Im still not buying kolb though, what has he done to warrant such enthusiasm?

I have no idea, but being chosen as a starting quarterback and failing to take your chances to retake the starting position, does wonders for your trade value. Cardinals passing stats from their preseason game against the Raiders:
Skelton: 6 for 10, 94 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Bartel: 4 for 9, 69 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Kolb: 4 for 7, 68 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Hall: 4 for 4, 66 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT

Derbyblue wrote:That's my main problem with predicting this division, is Kevin Kolb a proper QB? I'm still undecided and my answer will be coming later.

Don't think it matters. Seahawks have t. Jackson who is poor. 49ers look like starting Smith, who is poor, Rams have Bradford who might be the best of the bunch. However the Cards have a better overall rost, although losing DRC might be a bad thing.

I take the view that losing DRC is only a bad thing if they're in a gun passing div. which clearly they're not, they also play Panthers, Skins, Vikes, Bungals and Browns, so if there was a year that DRC may not be missed it is probably this one ! Also, they wouldn't have got Kolb without offering DRC and no question in my mind he's the best of the QBs touted this Summer

Kolb looked pretty good in the two series he played last night. Hit Fitz on a 43 yarder and a 17 yarder and ran for 14 yards for a 1st down. He looked composed and had command of the huddle and when he was in the pocket he set his feet instead of dancing around like a cannibal across a bed of glowing coals. It's only Game 1 of the preseason, but I liked what I've seen so far. He did miss badly on an early throw (by 10 yards) but it was obvious that he was thinking Larry was going to be running a different route than he did, so that will clear up as he learns the system. But not bad for only having 5 days of practice.

DRC is highly skilled, but had a poor season last year and isn't as physical as one would like him to be. Getting Peterson definitely takes the sting out of losing him, though having them as bookend corners would have been nice, but you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

Kolb's had like a few days of practice.

Losing DRC is also offset by drafting Peterson who has been highly regarded during training camp.

Toler's an underrated guy opposite

I went for the Rams on this, but think it will be close with the Cardinals. I think Bradford will improve.

I was just looking at the schedules for the teams --- the NFC West plays the AFC North and the NFC East this year. Each West team will also face two other teams:

• Rams: Packers, Saints

• 49ers: Bucs, Lions

• Seahawks: Falcons, Bears

• Cards: Vikings, Panthers
  

With our godawful QB situation last year, we still only missed the playoffs by 2 games. I have to say, with Kolb under center, I like our 2 team match up better than the rest of the division's match ups. We've got the Vikings with either Charlie Whitehurst or Tarvaris Jackson under center and neither of those put the fear of God in me, and the Panthers who I'm assuming will start a raw Cam Newton who has a lot to learn. The Rams have a tough draw, the Seahawks do as well, and the 49ers are facing a good young Bucs team and the up and coming Lions.

Cards all the way!

The Mangler US_UK wrote:I was just looking at the schedules for the teams --- the NFC West plays the AFC North and the NFC East this year. Each West team will also face two other teams:

• Rams: Packers, Saints

• 49ers: Bucs, Lions

• Seahawks: Falcons, Bears

• Cards: Vikings, Panthers
  

With our godawful QB situation last year, we still only missed the playoffs by 2 games. I have to say, with Kolb under center, I like our 2 team match up better than the rest of the division's match ups. We've got the Vikings with either Charlie Whitehurst or Tarvaris Jackson under center and neither of those put the fear of God in me, and the Panthers who I'm assuming will start a raw Cam Newton who has a lot to learn. The Rams have a tough draw, the Seahawks do as well, and the 49ers are facing a good young Bucs team and the up and coming Lions.

Cards all the way!

I think you may wish to change the bit in bold, the rest of the sentence still works.

Whoops -- red faced! Guess I shouldn't try posting when hung over ha ha! Brain was operating on the lowest gear and went straight to last year.

Anyway, let me amend that to say with Donovan McNabb under center, still not overly afraid until he redeems himself after last seasons lackluster performance, though I'd still prefer it with Tavaris back there -- though I guess I'll take the 2 games we play against the SeaSquawks as a bonus -- well assuming he wins the job.

I voted Rams as much as the lockout could stall Bradford's progress but I think they have what it takes to be the best out of this bunch.

i know the pre season doesnt mean much but the niners o-line greatly improved against oakland, hunter also looks like he could give us another nice option

Arizona for me, and I may join you on the 4/1 Grizzly, could be (hopefully) like buying money

St. Louis all the way for me.

I liked their draft, they did a great bit of business in picking up Harvey Dahl too to add some force up front.

Josh McDaniels makes every passing attack more potent too.

As for 'Zona i love Larry Fitz but i just can't trust Kolb, the paper thin OL or their already beat up RBs.

The D is much of a muchness really. Both STL and ARI need big things from their 1st round picks but even then they won't provide a tough test for the better O's around.

have to stick with seattle
in the end either whitehurst or T-Jax will pull through
and any way with rice, miller and big mike williams you dont have to be a great QB to have succes, also as our O-line now exists and our running game improving, i wont be surprised if we see another banner up a CL field by the end of the season