THE GRID: VOL V

The Wild Wild West
By Brian Palmese, NFL Draft Bible

For the last decade, the NFC West has been a two horse division. “The Greatest Show on Turf” in St. Louis and the “12th Man” in Seattle have been running the tables out west. Granted, for a better part of this decade the Cardinals have been the team that people want to usher into the playoffs and live up to the impressive talent they have on paper. Every year Arizona finds a way to ride off into the desert sun with a top ten pick in the following years’ draft. The 49ers dynasty days are deep in their rear-view mirrors; they’ve spent the better part of the last decade trying to right their ship. Salary cap issues and front office management (or their lack of) have been the hurdles getting in the way of this franchise getting back to its’ glory days.

However, a metamorphosis is going on in this division right now, which has made it the most exciting division in the league. Top to bottom, these four teams are going to battle each other all year for supremacy and jockey for playoff positioning. Visions of classic AFC East and NFC Norris games will be evoked throughout the year. With no real clear-cut favorite, there will be some serious dogfights taking place every week.

The Rams look like the most complete team in the division at the start of the season. Marc Bulger is the wily gunslinger and he still has weapons around him. Torry Holt, Steven Jackson and free-agent tight-end Randy McMichael will keep the scoreboard popping all year. Rookie Brian Leonard will add a nice punch when Jackson needs a breather. The defense is stout and will help in the field position. Will Witherspoon and Leonard Little headline the defensive unit- along with first round pick Adam Carriker who has flashed some big time potential.

Seattle is still Seattle. Mike Holmgren is still calling the shots from the sidelines and Matt Hasselbeck is calling them on the field. Alexander is still there, but he’s coming off another injury-plagued season and just turned thirty --which is almost AARP days for running backs. They committed a rarity in today’s NFL and traded wide receiver Darrell Jackson within the division to San Francisco for a fourth round pick. That leaves Deion Branch and D. J. Hackett as Hasselbeck’s targets. Marcus Trufant and Kelly jennings are patrolling the secondary for the Seahawks and newcomer Patrick Kearney will reek havoc on opposing quarterbacks all year.

Popular belief is that quarterbacks come into their own in year three. 2007 is the official arrival of the Alex Smith era in San Francisco. Year one was atrocious, but the end of year two showed a lot of promise. Throughout camps and off season workouts, Smith has looked like the guy the 49ers brass saw when they made him the number one overall pick in 2005. He’s got incredible quarterback intelligence and amazing field vision which helps his decision making. He doesn’t have the strongest arm, but his intangibles make up for it. Frank Gore, selected in the third round in 2005, is looking like a steal for the 49ers. At one time, Gore was tops on the depth chart at the University of Miami along with Willis McGahee and Clinton Portis. Injuries set him back at the U, but Gore’s talent is shining again in gold and red for San Francisco. Manny Lawson and Patrick Willis will anchor the linebacking corps for quite some time as well. San Francisco was mired in salary cap purgatory, but some prudent spending allowed the 49ers to splurge this past off-season, bringing in Nate Clements and Michael Lewis to solidify their secondary. The signing of Tully Banta-Cain is flying under the radar, but his acquisition is precisely what this 3-4 defense needs.

Arizona, a team that has been the doormat for so many years, may have finally turned the corner this year. It’s en vogue to claim the Cardinals are playoff bound, but it may actually come to fruition this year. The lethal receiving corps of Fitzgerald, Boldin and Johnson is tops in the league. Edgerrin James had a down year last year, but there were lots of distractions on offense including a rookie quarterback and an offensive line that wasn’t gelling. Just like Alexander in Seattle, James is no spring chicken, coming in at 29 years young this year. They drafted a bookend tackle in Levi Brown in addition to having Reggie Wells and Mike Gandy. These guys will give sophomore stud Matt Leinart the protection he needs to excel, while also opening holes for James to rip through. The defense is young and fast and will keep the Cardinals in games.

The division is chock-full of young talent ready to light up the league on both sides of the ball. There are the two young guns at quarterback, Alex Smith and Matt Leinart. Coming out of the backfield, there’s Frank Gore, Steven Jackson and Brian Leonard. Larry Fitzgerald and Leonard Pope in Arizona, D.J. Hackett in Seattle, Jason Hill, and Vernon Davis in San Francisco along with Marques Haggins in St. Louis highlight the pass catchers emerging from this division. Defensively, names like Tye Hill and Adam Carriker for the Rams, Patrick Willis and Manny Lawson in San Francisco, Karlos Dansby and Antrel Rolle for the Cardinals in addition to Lofa Tatupu and Jason Babin in Seattle.

Football fans, if you’re on the East coast, don’t make plans for 4 o’clock on Sundays. If you see an NFC West team on the tube, check it out. If there is a divisional game with two of these teams slugging it out against one another, watch it. If you want to catch a glimpse of the future stars of the league, tune in--you won’t be disappointed.