The slate of games this Sunday in the NFC West will do plenty to separate the pretenders from the contenders within the division. Seattle and San Francisco travel to face teams struggling to find an identity, while Arizona and St. Louis host two of the top teams in the league. We should get a little closer to finding out who is playoff bound and who isn’t, and among the four games, only one should be lopsided.
Seattle @ Kansas City:
Winners of three straight and now potentially in the NFC West driver’s seat with Arizona expected to fall back down to earth, Seattle draws a game in Arrowhead where the 6-3 Chiefs are also chasing a red-hot division leader. The Percy Harvin debacle/trade now firmly in the rear-view mirror, Seattle rode Marshawn Lynch’s 21 carries for 140 yards and 4 (yes, 4) touchdowns against the Giants, and could find similar success against the Chiefs’20th ranked rush defense. Arrowhead Stadium houses the only fanbase to rival the 12th man in noise, so this contest could get interesting, especially if the Seahawks try to run their no-huddle attack against Kansas City’s #1 ranked pass defense. However, if BeastMode can go, well, BeastMode on the Chiefs while the Seahawks’ 4th ranked run defense prevents Jamaal Charles from doing likewise, a sea of red-clad fans won’t be able to make an impact. Road games have not exactly been Seattle’s proving ground in 2014, but the saying “any given Sunday” exists for good reason, and a win this week with an Arizona loss would put Seattle just one game behind the Cards with two head to head games still to come.
Seattle 27 – Kansas City 21.
St. Louis vs Denver:
The Rams are benching Austin Davis in favor of Shaun Hill. Even if someone other than Peyton Manning would be in the building on Sunday, that would still be a bad thing. What’s worse than Manning being on the opposing side, is that the Broncos happen to field the NFL’s #1 rush defense, and you can expect them to load the box plenty against the committee/revolving door the Rams field at running back, and force Hill to beat them with his right arm and a limited amount of weapons in the passing game, not to mention a fill-in blind side blocker going against DeMarcus Ware. The Rams do field the #13 pass defense, but I wouldn’t expect that to hold up against the high flying Denver passing attack. There just isn’t a lot going well for St. Louis this week as injuries on both sides of the ball have made the Rams a patchwork team, and the bottom is coming up fast in 2014. 2015 and the years to come look promising for a very young squad, but that dream will have to start after the nightmare at home on Sunday.
Denver 52 – St. Louis 17.
Arizona vs Detroit:
This looked like the potential battle for homefield advantage throughout the playoffs in the NFC last week, and while that is still potentially the case, I cannot honestly say I have complete faith in Drew Stanton as the leader going forward, especially not against the boys from the motor city. Carson Palmer had been rejuvenated and revitalized his career in the desert under Bruce Arians’ passing attack, and there’s a chance the former Michigan State star can do the same after tumbling around the backup jobs in the NFL, but a big frame and rifle arm do not a QB make. Detroit is the #1 defense in the NFL, and that starts up front with stopping the run and hitting the passer or at least making him very uncomfortable. Andre Ellington has the speed and quickness to get around the Lions’ tacklers for a big play here and there, but the beating he is likely to take on the hits he can’t avoid are going to add up, especially as he’s been playing through a season-long foot injury. On the flip-side, Matthew Stafford has as strong an arm as any QB today, and while his numbers won’t jump off the charts, his chemistry with Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate have proven lethal, especially with his defense holding opposing offenses to less than 16 points per game. Arizona fields arguably the best secondary in the game and is going against the Lions 9th ranked passing attack, and we’ll see who wins that battle as well as if Stanton can keep the Cards 13th ranked passing attack rolling while trying to stay upright with Ndamukong Suh frequently coming right at him. Whether or not Stanton has the right tools for the job, even the best mechanics are occasionally on the losing side of head-on collisions.
Detroit 24 – Arizona 21.
San Francisco @ New York Giants:
The 49ers and their #5 ranked passing defense travel to the Meadowlands this week to take on Eli Manning and the Giants. Under 1st year offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo, NY is running a variation on Green Bay’s offense, a scheme the boys from the bay have a 4-0 record against since hiring Jim Harbaugh. Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is a matchup nightmare, however, and the secondary will have their hands full after some of the NFL’s best cover corners (Richard Sherman and Vontae Davis among others) have been burned to the tune of 15 receptions for 264 total yards in the last two weeks. In line with the GB offenses of years past, New York has a nearly absent running game to throw at the #7 ranked 49ers run defense, and even the a finally healthy Rashad Jennings won’t fix that. In contrast Colin Kaepernick, Frank Gore, and Carlos Hyde should find plenty of running lanes against the Giants’ league-worst rush defense, and even if Eli finds Beckham for a score or two, it isn’t going to be enough to get past the same team that beat the Saints in New Orleans last week.
San Francisco 31 – New York 21.
After what should prove to be a wild week 11, if these games go the way I expect them to, it should leave Seattle just one game behind division leading Arizona heading in to their week 12 showdown at CenturyLink with the division up for grabs and just five additional weeks to decide it. Buckle up.
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