The Arizona Cardinals have posted a mark of 22-42 straight up over the past four seasons which is by far the worst winloss record of any team in the NFC West Authentic Trevor Story Jersey , however, that鈥檚 all about to change in 2005 as I fully expect these Cardinals to win this division and make the playoffs, remember that you heard it here first!
Cardinal HC Denny Green had another fantastic draft highlighted by picking CB Antrel Rolle and RB J.J. Arrington with his first and second choices followed by selecting CB Eric Green and LB Darryl Blackstock with his third and fourth picks, Rolle and Arrington will in all likelihood be immediate starters while Green and Blackstock will add depth to a defense that improved from 26th overall in 2003 to 12th overall in the league in 2004.
Denny Green got a draft steal in the forth round by picking up OG Elton Brown out of Virginia who may very well be another immediate starter Authentic Charlie Blackmon Jersey , Brown is a mountain of a man at 6鈥? and 339 lbs and was a two time recipient of the Jacobs Blocking Trophy which is given annually to the ACC鈥檚 top blocker.
The Cards did very well in the free agent wars by signing two time league MVP Kurt Warner to lead the offense and play catch with WR鈥檚 Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin who comprise one of the best WR tandems in the NFL, to help protect Warner in the pocket the Cards signed OG Oliver Ross away from Pittsburgh and for good measure also brought in OT鈥檚 Ian Allen and Adam Haayer for added depth.
Arizona has managed to interject a lot of young talent on their roster via excellent drafting as evidenced by the fact that 13 of the Cards 14 draft choices from 2003 and 2004 are on the roster for 2005, and to think that 7 of those 14 draft picks from 2003 and 2004 are starters!
Seattle can鈥檛 seem to get out of their own way with regard to posting an overall winloss mark of 35-31 over the past four years which has led to them being what is referred to as a 鈥渕iddle of the road鈥?team, not bad enough to be in line for higher draft picks but yet not good enough to capitalize on opportunity when it knocks on their door.
The Seahawks finished 2004 with an offense ranked 8th overall in the league but defensively fell from 19th overall in 2003 to 26th overall in 2004 Authentic Daniel Murphy Jersey , the Hawks really didn鈥檛 help themselves too much in the draft and instead concentrated on free agency to shore up their defense as 8 of their 11 free agent signings were defense related as they picked up two DE鈥檚, two LB鈥檚, two CB鈥檚, a DT Authentic Carlos Gonzalez Jersey , and a Safety.
The Hawks brought in WR鈥檚 Joe Jurevicius and Jerome Pathon to ease the release of problem child WR Koren Robinson who had an off season DUI, the loss of backup QB Trent Dilfer to Cleveland will hurt the Hawks tremendously if QB Matt Hasselbeck goes down to injury and RB Shaun Alexander is threatening to sit out most of training camp in protest of the Hawks not honoring him with a new deal, ahhhhhhh nothing but problems problems problems for HC Mike Holmgren.
St. Louis by far has the best four year record of any team in this division with a winloss mark of 44-26, however Drew Butera Jersey , the continued bad play calling and terrible clock management by HC Mike Martz has led to this team falling well short of expectations given this teams immense talent level over the past few years.
The Rams have made the playoffs four of the past five years during Martz鈥檚 tenure, however, bone headed play calling in 2000 led to a first round loss at the hands of the Saints 31-28 and to think the Rams were 6.5 point road favorites playing at New Orleans, the following season saw these Rams completely out coached when they were installed as 14 point favorites in the Super Bowl against New England but lost 20-17.
2003 saw these Rams once again exit the playoff picture in a 29-23 first round loss to Carolina in a game played at St Louis with the Rams installed as 7 point home favorites Todd Helton Jersey , then of course how can we forget the 47-17 pasting the Rams absorbed last season in the playoffs against an Atlanta team that was nowhere near as talented as the Rams?
The Rams had a very average draft and didn鈥檛 really help themselves in the free agent wars other than picking up LB鈥檚 Dexter Coakley and Chris Claiborne to help shore up a defensive unit that ranked a shoddy 29th in rushing yards allowed in 2004. I fully expect to see these Rams finish below the .500 mark in 2005 and if Georgia is smart she will give Martz the ole boot at seasons end.
The Niners had a pretty good draft but they are still at least two years away from being able to compete for the divisional crown, HC Mike Nolan has already stated that his intention is to go ahead and start the NFL鈥檚 first overall draft pick QB Alex Smith under center and let him gain experience, meaning of course that the Niner organization is expecting nothing from this team in 2005 and neither do I.