Mike Singletary seemed to be the savior last season for a franchise still trying to regain the glory of previous decades. His brash and upfront approach was refreshing and welcomed. It now seems to be going a bit too far, and, quite possibly, could be dividing the locker room. Modern day players can handle the constant in your face approach when things are going well, but after a while they just tune you out and your "lessons" fall on deaf ears. But the blame cannot fall on Singletary alone; the players need to play at a higher level then what they have been. The Alex Smith project has been nothing short of a failure. The constant changing of coordinators is not going to hide the fact that he will never be a consistent NFL starting QB, but they have to keep playing him because the alternative is not much better. They need to use the second half to find some positives and try to mold your team around them. Don't worry though because you are off the hook this season any ways thanks to the SF Giants winning the world series!!!
Seahawks- B+
Pete Carroll has done a fantastic job with this team this season. I, like many others, expected this experiment to blow up all over the place. Well, my apologizes to Pete! He has brought a fun brand of high tempo football to Seattle. This team still does not have all the weapons some of the more elite teams in the league have, but they do seem to united behind their coach and could be a real surprise going thru the rest of the season.
Rams- B
Ok, ok, so they aren't great but look how many more wins they have this season ALREADY compared to last season. What's so impressive about this team is that they are doing this with a rookie at QB in Sam Bradford. Bradford has been shaky at times (which is to be expected) but he possesses the moxie of a future NFL great. He needs to stay healthy, and so do the Rams receivers, or what's left of them. Jackson may be talked about often, but i still feel he is under-rated. Is there anything he cant do? Up the middle, bouncing outside, screen pass, across the middle, and even blocks!!! He can do it all. Bright future for this Rams team, and for the rest of the year who knows, they could catch and pass some teams if things fall their way.
Cardinals- C-
How can this be the same team that was just recently in the Super Bowl? They don't even look
like a shell of their former selves. By them letting Boldin go, they completely changed their
receiving corps. They needed to pick a QB up in the draft or thru free agency because we all saw the
Leinart disaster coming. Upon further review, a C- might be too high. Considering this team is no threat to win anything this season. Sorry Larry Fitzgerald, you are all they have!!!
San Francisco 49ers (2-6). Another disappointing team. I thought they were ready to assume the division title from Arizona, but they have taken a big step backward. Josh is right, Alex Smith is not an NFL caliber QB. They've started to play a bit better in the last 5 weeks, and they still have 5 division games remaining; however, they don't appear to be talented enough to come back from a 1-6 start. Grade: D
ReplyDeleteSeattle Seahawks (4-3). Surprisingly, they're atop the NFC West. They have a tough test this weekend at home against the Giants, so we should get a pretty good idea of how good the Seahawks are. As bad as they are on the road, 1-3, they are that good at home (3-0), and they should be around 8 or 9 wins at the end of the year, which will have them in contention for a division title. Grade: B
St. Louis Rams (4-4). I thought that the Rams would be in for another long year, but I thought wrong. Sam Bradford has proven himself worthy, so far, of the #1 pick in the draft, and the defense has played well under coach Steve Spagnuolo. 3 of their losses have been by 4 points or less, while they only have 1 win in such a contest. The Rams-Seahawks matchup on January 2 should decide the division title. Grade: A
Arizona Cardinals (3-4). After losing QB Kurt Warner and WR Anquan Boldin could you really expect them to play at the level they had for the past few seasons? I expected them to take a step back, and they have. They're still good enough to be able to compete for the division though, but without a bona fide QB at the helm it's going to be tough. Grade: C+