NFC West....Should we be worried?

The NFC West is home to three dominant defenses in the Niners, Cards, and Seahawks. The Rams are playing better because of their coaching and influx of young talent. The division is much better, but the Niners are still the class of this group overall. I am not worried about it at this point.

None of these teams besides the Niners can win on the road.

The divisional games is where Alex Smith will earn his paycheck.

Originally posted by Rubberneck36:
Cardinals played good, but lets not forget they had 3 of their 4 opening games at home. Now they get to start their road games. They will slide.

Agreed but to their credit, they have won, what 7 of their last 9 games including one against us. They play a VERY similar style to us...ironically...great 3-4 defense, Special Teams and smart, efficient and timely offense. That said, nobody has our running game and the ability and talent to switch gears like we can (and have done in the past - from conservative, clock-control to wide open, spread) and do it successfully.

Originally posted by Rubberneck36:
Cardinals played good, but lets not forget they had 3 of their 4 opening games at home. Now they get to start their road games. They will slide.

Also, they are the first 4-0 team since 1941, to net less than 300 total yards in each of those games. Their offense isn't all that.

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by Rubberneck36:
Cardinals played good, but lets not forget they had 3 of their 4 opening games at home. Now they get to start their road games. They will slide.

Agreed but to their credit, they have won, what 7 of their last 9 games including one against us. They play a VERY similar style to us...ironically...great 3-4 defense, Special Teams and smart, efficient and timely offense. That said, nobody has our running game and the ability and talent to switch gears like we can (and have done in the past - from conservative, clock-control to wide open, spread) and do it successfully.

Cards are talented, but after watching both the Pats & Dolphins games, there's no way in f**kING HELL they get away with the type of mistakes they made, against 'us'. -Zona hasn't faced a team yet that's been able to capitalize upon their weaknesses/blunders, and they may not until they face us. -Kolb throws that pick, or they fumble a clock-grinder away, it's over.

Their schedule is about to get a whole lot tougher. I could see them potentially being 7-0 by the time we face them later this month, and then we will just have to ruin them and send them on a 9 game slide to finish the season. Poor, poor cardinals...

Originally posted by SJniner7:

Their schedule is about to get a whole lot tougher. I could see them potentially being 7-0 by the time we face them later this month, and then we will just have to ruin them and send them on a 9 game slide to finish the season. Poor, poor cardinals...

It's going to be like last year when we faced a 5-0 Lions team on the road and broke their little hearts. Lions were never the same after that game.

I do not think worried is the term. I just think with all the teams elevating thier play, that forces us to play at a high level and to have great intensity when we play these teams. we found out what lack of intensity means when we played the vikings. i am glad these teams are better so when we beat them, people can not say we only won the division cuz it was weak. I hate them all but have to admit they are all better than last year( ok maybe the hawks are not)

Originally posted by ninerfan4life:

Originally posted by SJniner7:
Their schedule is about to get a whole lot tougher. I could see them potentially being 7-0 by the time we face them later this month, and then we will just have to ruin them and send them on a 9 game slide to finish the season. Poor, poor cardinals...

It's going to be like last year when we faced a 5-0 Lions team on the road and broke their little hearts. Lions were never the same after that game.

They've gone 6-10 ever since.

Originally posted by KowboyKiller:

Originally posted by ninerfan4life:

Originally posted by SJniner7:
Their schedule is about to get a whole lot tougher. I could see them potentially being 7-0 by the time we face them later this month, and then we will just have to ruin them and send them on a 9 game slide to finish the season. Poor, poor cardinals...

It's going to be like last year when we faced a 5-0 Lions team on the road and broke their little hearts. Lions were never the same after that game.

They've gone 6-10 ever since.

Exactly my point. This will be Monday night football too, so it should be fun!

We should be worried or maybe don't take them as an easy win.

People kept saying that about us last year...waiting for us to come back to reality...but we didn't

We should treat them as wall blocking us to get to the next level

The Cardinals floor is 10-6/9-7 based on the way they're playing and the schedule. Of course injuries will play a role. Their OL is beyond terrible, which impacts the entire offense, gameplan; and I still have reservations about Kolb even though he's playing well and they're winning. Plus they're playing with confidence. That goes along way. This isn't some burgeoning 15-1/14-2 juggernaut with their roster limitations, but they're a "good" team.

The team to watch in the future is the Rams. While I think Fisher is overrated based on his complete body of work as a head coach, he is an above average head coach and look at what he's done so far.

Sam Bradford is the best quarterback/passer (an opinion which will draw the ire of those in here) with the least around him. They have building blocks on defense in Long, Quinn, Brockers, Laurinitis, Finnegan, Jenkins, Johnson. They will have 2 1st round draft picks for the NEXT 2 YEARS AND cap space with a flat salary cap. They can get good in a hurry.

Cardinals sure remind me a lot of the 49ers last year.

They have all pros at every level of the defense. Qb is playing smart not losing games and coming through in clutch moments. The biggest difference is their lack of running game. Those will be some tough division games.

Originally posted by natrone06:
Cardinals sure remind me a lot of the 49ers last year.

They have all pros at every level of the defense. Qb is playing smart not losing games and coming through in clutch moments. The biggest difference is their lack of running game. Those will be some tough division games.

One big problem with everyone saying the Cardinals remind them of us, they don't run the ball nearly as effectively as we do. Because of this, they will have 3 and outs and they will have more turnovers in their passing game. You don't necessarily sustain the type of play we have unless you can tote the pill. Teams will catch on the the Cards quickly enough