NFC Western Division: 1) Seattle: These Seahawks better watch their collective backs because the past five straight Super Bowl losers have followed up their SB loss with a losing season. The Hawks had a very average draft with CB Kelly Jennings topping their list with the 31st overall draft pick. The loss of all world LG Steve Hutchinson will hurt the Hawks run game because they ran predominately to the left, no one will miss Hutchinson more than RB Shaun Alexander who scored more than half of his TD total running behind Hutchinsons big body. Seattle posted a 15-4 straight up and 11-8 ATS record last season but five of those wins were decided by 4 points or less, this season the Hawks will play a much tougher schedule that has them playing at Chicago, at Kansas City, at Denver and at Tampa, and that is in addition to hosting the Giants and San Diego. Projected record: 11-5 **Look to play AGAINST these Hawks on September 17th when divisional rival Arizona visits Quest Field, Seattle opened their season up with a trip to Detroit and will return home in week 2 to face a much improved Cardinal team that in turn opened their season up at home. This travel factor along with Arizona being in the same division and thus playing at Quest Field once a year will somewhat negate the Hawks home field advantage. We will receive excellent line value because the public will surely back Seattle in a big way much like last year when the Cards were spotted 6 points in their visit to Quest Field. It is also nice to know that according to the ole history book Seattle is a very shoddy 2-10 ATS at home when facing a divisional opponent during the month of September. 2) Arizona: Last season I predicted good things for these Cards, unfortunately for them those good things never materialized, their shoddy 5-11 straight up and 6-10 ATS season was mainly due to injuries and HC Denny Greens inability to decide on a starting QB. This year the Cards are healthy once again and have settled on QB Kurt Warner as the starter. The Cards had the best draft and free agency pick ups of any team in their division highlighted with the drafting of QB Matt Leinhart out of USC and the signing of RB Edgerrin James from the Colts. As already mentioned these Cards only won five games last year but consider that they lost five games by 7 or less points and were the only team in the NFL to finish with a top 10 ranking in both overall offense and overall defense! Projected record: 10-6 **Look to play ON these Cards in their September 17th visit to Seattles Quest Field, Seattle opened their season up with a trip to Detroit and will return home in week 2 to face a much improved Cardinal team that in turn opened their season up at home. This travel factor along with Arizona being in the same division and thus playing at Quest Field once a year will somewhat negate the Hawks home field advantage. We will receive excellent line value because the public will surely back Seattle in a big way much like last year when the Cards were spotted 6 points in their visit to Quest Field. Its also nice to know that according to the ole history book Seattle is a very shoddy 2-10 ATS at home versus their division in the month of September. 3) St. Louis: A new era starts in St Louis with the ouster of mad bomber Mike Martz, in the mad bombers place St. Louis hired first time HC Scott Linehan to take the reins. Linehan was the architect of the Viking offense which allowed Vike QB Daunte Culpepper to flourish during the 2003 and 2004 seasons, last year Linehan was hired by Nick Saban to install that same offense for the Dolphins, however, dont expect Linehan to install a high flying offense with the Rams, his main concern will be to protect often injured QB Marc Bulger. I would expect to see more two tight end formations this year which will better utilize the running ability of RB Steven Jackson as well as protect QB Bulger from taking his usual beating with former HC Martzs offense. In the big picture this is a rebuilding year for the Rams who must replace aging players in addition to learning new schemes under a new HC. Projected record: 3-13 **Look to play the UNDER when Detroit visits on October 1st, both teams are in transition with new first time HCs who want to control the games tempo by using the running game, meanwhile, the public will in all likelihood expect a high scoring affair because that is usually what they got in Ram home games. 4) San Francisco: This once proud organization posted a 4-12 record last year and is a shoddy 13-35 over the past three seasons, they were a team in transition last year with new HC Mike Nolan and suffered a multitude of injuries on both sides of the ball which led to San Francisco finishing dead last in the NFL in both overall offense and overall defense. The 49ers had a decent draft highlighted by first round picks TE Vernon Davis and OLB Manny Lawson and were active in free agency in acquiring QB Trent Dilfer to teach as well as backup young starting QB Alex Smith, they also brought in WR Antonio Bryant and OG Larry Allen from Dallas but in the big picture this team has a long way to go before they become a contender once again. Projected record: 3-13 ** Look to play the OVER on September 24th when the Eagles come to town, the 49ers ranked 32nd overall in total defense as well as 32nd overall in total pass defense last season, meanwhile, the Eagles ranked 23rd overall in total defense last year and ranked 22nd overall in pass defense last year. Philly with QB Donovan McNabb will be anxious to prove he can get it done without T.O. and the 49ers finally have a good offensive coordinator with the signing of Norv Turner. |
