Los Angeles Rams (Last Season: 11-5)
2018 Prediction: 11-5
The defense was great last season. The offense
was incredible. The roster is young. And the coach is innovative. There is
little reason to think the Rams can’t at least repeat last season’s
performance. The impressive thing about the Rams in 2017 is that they were
probably even better than their 11-5 record would indicate. Of their five
losses, only two were by more than a single score. One of those was against the
Vikings in Minnesota (their only road loss of the season), and the other was
during their meaningless Week 17 game, in which they rested all their starters.
The Rams had the third best point differential in the league, behind only the
Patriots and Eagles, and they almost certainly would have led the league in
that category had they not virtually forfeited their Week 17 game.
Still, I’m hesitant to predict that they will
improve upon last season’s 11 wins. The NFL is a parity driven league, and the
Rams’ signal caller has still only played one full season in the NFL. This will
be a critical year for Goff. Being successful for one season is much easier
than doing it for multiple seasons in a row. Fortunately for him, the
offense still features weapons such as Gurly, Cooks, Cupp, and Woods. While the
receivers are certainly not the best in the league, Gurly is definitely one of
the best running backs in the league. Both confidence and expectations will be high
in Los Angeles this season.
San Francisco 49ers (Last Season: 6-10)
2018 Prediction: 9-7
Fine, I’ll get on the hype train. Well, I think
I’ll keep one leg dangling off the train for the moment. I’m not ready to
predict that the Niners will make the playoffs, but I am happy to at least put
them back in contention. Jimmy G certainly showed that he could play last
season, but now we need to see if he can continue his impressive start to his
NFL career against higher quality teams. During San Francisco’s 5 game winning
streak which ended their 2017 campaign, they were able to defeat Bears, Texans,
Titans, Jaguars, and Rams. While the wins against the Jaguars and Titans were
somewhat impressive (assuming you respect the AFC South), the other three
against the horrible Bears, Texans, and second string Rams were not impressive
at all. Of course, if Garoppolo leads the Niners to a victory in Minnesota in
Week 1, I may have to change my tune. Until then, I am not ready to go all in
on Jimmy G.
Beyond the quarterback, this team has some
unresolved issues. Their star running back McKinnon just went down with a
season-ending knee injury, which leaves the running game in the hands of a
washed up Alfred Morris and a questionably talented Matt Breida. On the defensive
side of the ball, while the Niners have made some serious improvements, some of
those improvements come with risk. The main concern is Foster, who is an
incredible talent; however, he will be suspended for at least two games to
start the season. The rest of the defense has some serious potential, but for
the most part, their ability remains a relative unknown for San Francisco. That
being said, with young talent and a quarterback that can be relied upon, this team is certainly headed in the right direction.
Seattle Seahawks (Last Season: 9-7)
2018 Prediction: 7-9
The Seahawks are slowly crumbling back into
nothingness. The Legion of Boom is dead, as the defense is nearly
unrecognizable from its heyday. Russell Wilson continues to run for his life,
behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league. And this team still
can’t figure out how to run the ball. Last season, Mike Davis led all Seattle
running backs with 240 rushing yards. 240! In the history of the NFL, 18
running backs have rushed for more yards than that IN A SINGLE GAME. As you may
have guessed, Seattle’s leading rusher last year was Wilson with 586 yards.
Wilson has certainly proven that he is an
incredible dual threat quarterback, but if he continues to receive no help from
his running backs, this offense is doomed. In past years, the Seahawks could at
least rely on their incredible defense to pick up the slack; however, their
defense is no longer the dominant unit that it once was. Last season, Seattle
ranked 13th in scoring defense and 11th in overall defense. That’s pretty
mediocre. Unfortunately for the Seahawks, this is a consequence of how the
NFL’s structure naturally forces parity upon the league. During Seattle’s best
years, Wilson, along with many prominent defensive players, were on very
team-friendly deals, relative to their value. Once the rookie deals and
undervalued contracts ended, the team began to run out of cap room to
attract/keep top talent. So, Seattle has slowly faded away, returning to the
form of an average team. With a quarterback like Wilson though, they should be able to
remain in at least the middle tier of teams. However, a couple bad games could
see them completely tumble out of playoff contention.
Arizona Cardinals (Last Season: 8-8)
2018 Prediction: 4-12
So begins the rebuild of the Arizona Cardinals.
I like what this team is setting up to do, but I think the benefits are still
at least a year away. The Cardinals will smartly start Sam Bradford at
quarterback this season, giving Rosen some time to learn the offense and adjust
to the speed of the NFL, without losing all of his confidence during what is
sure to be an atrocious season for Arizona. If you have read my blog before,
you know that I am a strong proponent of letting your rookie quarterback sit for
the first year of his NFL career, and that is no different with the Cardinals.
Rosen appears to have some great potential, but there is simply no reason to
let him get thrown around by superior teams all season.
One of the main reasons that I like Arizona’s
chances at having near-future success is that they finished with the 6th best
overall defense in the NFL last season. This is a young and talented defensive
side that is currently excelling. If the defense can continue to improve over
the next couple of seasons, it may give the offense enough time to develop into
a respectable unit. Fortunately, the Cardinals feature many emerging talents on
the offensive side of the ball, such as Josh Rosen, David Johnson, Ricky
Seals-Jones, and DJ Humphries. A quarterback certainly doesn’t make the whole
team, but I will say that I am looking forward to what Josh Rosen can do with
this solid roster in the future. With this much talent around him, I think he
will probably have a smooth transition into the NFL when he eventually makes
his first start.
So, as you can see, the NFC West is horrible. I
wonder if the NFC North is any good…
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