Week 5 NFC West Talk

With the Rams having the day off on Sunday, it gave me a chance to keep a little bit of a closer look at the competition in the NFC West. I have to admit, unfortunately, that I was actually impressed with what I saw for the most part.

First of all, let’s start with the Arizona Cardinals. As far as surprises go, the Cards have to be placed in the “negative” category along with the Rams at this point. Before the season started I thought they would be the team the Rams were competing with for the division title. Not only are they 1-4 on the year, but they got man-handled by the Minnesota Vikings today 34-10. Kevin Kolb, their prized offseason acquisition, has been average at best so far, and he tossed two picks in the loss today. They have some nice pieces there, but they have yet to put it together.

Now, on to the biggest surprise to me so far: the San Francisco 49ers. I kind of thought their win over the Eagles was a fluke, but I think they erased any doubt about whether they are for real today with their 48-3 whooping of the Tampa Bay Bucs. They pretty much did it all today against what I believe is a pretty good team. Alex Smith only threw for 170 yards, but he was 11-for-19 and tossed three TDs and no picks. Frank Gore picked up 125 yards on the ground (6.3 YPC) and added a score, and their defense forced three Tampa turnovers, one of which came back for a TD. They look like a very good team right now, but I’m still not completely sold on Smith. He has proved me wrong so far, but he has a long way to go before he makes me a believer. Next page…