NFC West down to two after Rams dispatch Cardinals to near bottom of division
By Steve Rivera
After a convincing win by the Los Angeles Rams over the Arizona Cardinals 32-16, little doubt remains about where the power in the NFC West is located.
When the final gun sounded bringing the Los Angeles Rams 32-16 victory against the Arizona Cardinals to an end, it was also a signal that the pecking order in the NFC West has changed now and for the foreseeable future.
Don’t blame the Rams Arizona fans.
The primary sin here for the Cardinals is they got old. Ithappens to a lot of teams, but in the NFL, it can be a brutal relegation to the bottom of a division if you don’t have a plan. Arizona didn’t have a plan, especially at quarterback.
For Los Angeles, their sweep of the Cardinals is another sign that the Rams and the Seahawks are the teams to beat in the division. A decision of who will finish on top could happen in Week 15 when LA goes to Seattle to possibly extract some revenge for a Week 5 loss in the Coliseum.
But make no mistake about it. There IS a power shift in the NFC West happening.
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With the “Legion of Boom” effectively out of business in 2017, the Rams have destiny in their own hands as the season begins to wind to a conclusion. Los Angeles may also be able to put an exclamation point on the division standings on December 31, when Week 17 has LA and San Francisco in the Coliseum to close out the season.
With the Cardinals now out of the way, only two remain in the Seahawks and 49ers.
It’s hard to ignore, especially after Sunday afternoon in the Arizona desert, that the road to an NFC West title will now go through Los Angeles and no longer Seattle.
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Count on fans of the Seahawks and San Francisco to get that new reality before either city rings in the New Year of 2018.
Fans in Los Angeles are beginning to get a sense that already.