Seahawks rivals: The best NFC West team of week five

The Seahawks made a strong move to keep pace in the NFC West in week five. Which of their rivals had the best week of all?

Let me clarify, this article is about which of the Seahawks rivals had the best week. In my mind, there’s no doubt Seattle had it the best of any NFC West team. After all, they did beat the two-time division champs. We’ll get to that game as we discuss the rest of the division.

Arizona Cardinals. The guys in the desert had a very good week indeed. They posted their first win of the season, 26-23 over the Bengals. I know, the Bengals aren’t a very good team, despite how tough they played the Seahawks. But when you come into week five without a win, any win is big.

Arizona ran all over Cincinnati as they piled up 266 yards. Both quarterback Kyler Murray and running back David Johnson had over 90 yards on the ground. Johnson’s second-year running mate Chase Edmonds added nearly 70 yards. Murray had a solid game through the air as well. None of it would have mattered if the Cardinals kicker Zane Gonzalez hadn’t converted four of his five field goal attempts. Again, a winning week in the NFL is a good week.

San Francisco 49ers. I take no pleasure in writing this, but I must admit it nevertheless. The Niners had a very good week indeed, as they knocked off the Browns 31-3. Much like Arizona did to Cincinnati, San Francisco ran roughshod all over Cleveland. Matt Breida and Tevin Coleman combined for 211 yards and two rushing touchdowns. Like Kyler Murray, Jimmy Garopplo had a fairly effective game. He threw two touchdowns, but was picked off twice as well. He didn’t win the game for the 49ers but he certainly didn’t lose it either.

What won it for the Niners was their defense. They sacked Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield four times, including two by Nick Bosa. They picked him off twice and held him to just 100 yards passing. Cleveland barely broke 100 yards rushing as well. Time after time, San Francisco shut Cleveland down, holding them to nine first downs and a ridiculously low time of possession of 22:17. That is winning football.

Los Angeles Rams. I’m pretty sure you know what happened here. Chris Carson carved them up, Russell Wilson lit them up, and the defense came up with enough big plays to pull out a 30-29 win. It isn’t that the Rams didn’t play well. It’s that the Seahawks played just a bit better. That was nowhere more apparent than in the comparison between the quarterbacks.

As noted, Wilson had one of his best games ever. His counterpart with the curlicued helmet threw for 395 yards. Pretty impressive until you see Jared Goff also accounted for just one touchdown and threw one interception. Any talk of Goff being in Wilson’s league can just stop. The Rams themselves are still an extremely dangerous team. They still have Todd Gurley, after all. Considering he hasn’t averaged over four yards per carry in the past month, I have to think all is not right with Gurley. Although they’ve lost two straight, the Rams are still a very tough team.

All things considered, the 49ers had the best week of any of our NFC West rivals. Overall the Seahawks did better as they beat a team in the division, but there’s no denying how good the Niners looked when they dismantled the Browns Monday night. At 4-0, they’re leading the division. Any doubters will be answered when the Niners visit the Rams next week.