NFC West Roundup: Seahawks can make up ground on Sunday
By Keith Myers
With the top two teams in the division both on their bye week, there was little movement in the NFC West this week. The Arizona Cardinals are still on top, and they still have a two game lead on Seattle.
That’ll change this week no matter what. The Seahawks and Cardinals square off on Sunday Night Football this week. Either Seattle will move to within one game of the division lead with the first part of the all-important tiebreaker, or they’ll be three back and need to focus on the wild card.
Division Standings
| W | L | Pct | PF | PA | Net Pts | |
| Arizona Cardinals | 6 | 2 | .750 | 263 | 153 | 110 |
| Seattle Seahawks | 4 | 4 | .500 | 167 | 140 | 27 |
| St. Louis Rams | 4 | 4 | .500 | 153 | 146 | 7 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 3 | 6 | .333 | 126 | 223 | -97 |
San Francisco Update
It is difficult to believe, but it turns out that the 49ers were able to win with Blaine Gabbert at QB. They also did so without starting RB Carlos Hyde, backup RB Mike Davis, TE Vernon Davis (who was traded to Denver) and WR Anquan Boldin.
Their 17-16 win over the Atlanta Falcons was one of the most surprising results the NFL has seen in some time. Very little of that result makes sense, especially given that Gabbert threw two picks and Falcons didn’t turn the ball over.
Ultimately, the 49ers won because of their defense. They held the Atlanta rushing attack to just 17 yards on 14 carries. Throw in two sacks for -18 yards, and the Falcons had -1 total yards on plays that weren’t completed passes.
St. Louis Update
The Rams’ trend of beating divisional foes and losing to almost everyone else continued again this week. The Ram lost 21-18 in overtime to a Minnesota Vikings team that was without their starting QB down the stretch.
The real problem for the Rams is that QB Nick Foles hasn’t proven to be an upgrade over the parade of backups that he was supposed to replace this year. Even with Todd Gurley continuing to dominate on the ground, the Rams cannot manage enough offense to score points.
Foles managed just 168 passing yards on 33 attempts. That’s a dismal 5.1 yards per attempt. Include sacks, and the net yards was only 4.7 per pass play. That isn’t going to cut it in the NFL.