Previewing the Season by examining our NFCW Adversaries

SissyBoyFloyd

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San Fransisco - Luckily we catch them early in the season at home in game 3. This will prove to be very important in 2 main ways. The Niners secondary is new and will take a while to jell. The second benefit of this game involves the incredible depth the Niners have put together in their receiving department. Opposite of last year, they are stacked at this position, as well as faster. Playing them later in the season will be that much tougher as their QB/WR timing improves each game and they start putting up more points from the passing game. Playing them early in the season, especially at home, will give us the best chance of out scoring them and splitting our games with them. This game will be pivotal for a successful season. It will tell if we are on par with the big boys in our division.

Seattle - Opposite of the Niners, we catch the Seahawks twice late in the season, games 12 & 16. Nothing much has changed with the Hawks with the exception of losing two quality DEs and a productive WR in Tate. The WR position was addressed in the draft and is loaded with prospects and veterans. About the only thing we have going for us in relation to them is that we appear to have gotten better with our FA and draft additions, and of course everyone knows how hard it is for a champion to repeat in this league. We certainly won't be short on confidence when facing them, especially after being the only team to defeat them on their home field last year. Splitting with them, as with the Niners, will be a must if we want to have a chance at playing in our own hosted Super Bowl this season.

Rams - Got even tougher with their draft, and plan on grinding down opponents while grinding out low scoring wins. They did little to nothing to add any flash to their offense and will again be hoping their D can keep them in most games. Playing the Rams in one sense is a "no win" situation. The Cards will be slight favorites and thus expected to win their two meetings this season. Not doing so will be disappointing, while winning both will at best be a relief. The real test in playing the Rams comes in how healthy each team comes out of the brutal battle that will go on in the trenches. I see the Rams improving on their two consecutive 7 win seasons at the expense of at least one of the 3 other teams in their division, hopefully that one isn't us.

Cards - Better all around through the draft and FA. However, the main thing going for the Cards may just be the year of familiarity they have had with coach's system. Most Cards fans are hoping the Cards are about to peak, especially on offense. They lack a big bruising back, so speed on offense working at peak performace will be necessary to compete for the divisional championship. Defense should be good again this year, but it won't be surprising if they take a small step backwards from the tremendous productive year they had last year. Hopefully, the offense will take some of that load off, and fans won't have to continue feeling their D has to win each game. It's hard conceiving of the Cardinals winning more 10 games considering their division and schedule. But how thrilling it will be for fans if they can sneak into the playoffs this year, where they could find the road to the super bowl an easier one to manuever than winning their division is.
 

Snakester

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Nice write up. I think having Veldeer and Cooper on the blind side of Palmer will make a huge difference up front. Plus speed at receiver and a better return game should help a lot as well. I agree that we take a small step back on defense losing Dansby. Hopefully Cromarti will make up some of the loss. I do expect us to make the playoffs for sure.
 

52brandon

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Nice write up. I think having Veldeer and Cooper on the blind side of Palmer will make a huge difference up front. Plus speed at receiver and a better return game should help a lot as well. I agree that we take a small step back on defense losing Dansby. Hopefully Cromarti will make up some of the loss. I do expect us to make the playoffs for sure.

agreed. I think the O-line will prove to be our biggest improvement. And it will improve every facet of our offense. Plus that year of Palmer, Fitz, Floyd and Ellington/Taylor being together and in BA's system should prove to be beneficial. I expect to see a huge jump in offensive production

as for the OP, I don't think our DBs are in much of a better position than SF's. We added 2 new in Cromartie and Bucannon. Mathieu is coming off a serious injury and may or may not be ready to play, and who knows how long it will take him to reach 100% even when he IS playing. Not to mention our LBs will be an interesting situation. DWash will likely be out, Dansby is replaced by Minter (luckily we've had him for a year to learn the position), we were missing our top 3 OLBs for 2.3rds of last season (though Abraham rocketed up his production and up the depth chart). I think our D will need some time to gel too. But I do expect our offense to be capable of winning games this year, not just not losing them
 

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