Midseason Grades for EVERY NFC West team: Seahawks, Rams, 49ers, and Cardinals

Midseason Grades for EVERY NFC West team: Seahawks, Rams, 49ers, and Cardinals

It is a tight race out west. The Seahawks and the Rams sit a top of the NFC West at 7-2. Why big wins over the last weekend, man? The Seattle Seahawks dropped 44 on the Cardinals. Cardinals dropped down to three and six. And how about the Rams and my 49ers Rams got their revenge for that week five loss, 42-26 to advance to 7 and2. And it’s time to hand out some report cards for one of the NFL’s toughest divisions, the NFC West. Let’s bring in the guys from the Pushing the Pile podcast, Mike Rener and JP Aosta. Fellas, good to see you. Time to break it all down and dish out some midseason grades. And Mike, let’s start with Seattle. Sam Darnold’s poise and that revamped offense. Has the Seahawks tied for first in the division. How are you grading the first half? And what has stood out most to you about this group through 10 weeks? I don’t think there’s a higher grade through the first half in the NFL than the sales. I give him an A+. I I mean, things could not have gone better given their off season. You have Sam Darnold playing like an MVP candidate. He’s only the fifth quarterback all time through nine games to average over 9.0 yards per attempt and over 70% completion percentage. Jackson Smith and Jigba has 45.7% of their receiving yards this season. He looks like the best receiver in the NFL. And you have a top five scoring offense and a top five scoring defense. I really don’t know how this could have gone better. Uh so for the Seattle Seahawks, they look like the best team in the NFC right now. Heck, they look like the best team in the NFL right now after going out to 28 nothing leads in back-to-back weeks for only the third time in NFL history. All that put together, it’s an A+ start. I actually gave him an A as well. And I think the biggest thing that I want to talk about is how they’ve been able to still be a great defense without having a lot of their stars out on the field. Devin Witherspoon is miss time. No worries. Nick Mory, second round pick, is going to look like the next version of Kyle Hamilton that Mike McDonald’s going to use. They have so many different guys on that defensive line who can take over games. Demarcus Lawrence scored two touchdowns last on Sunday. You’re getting great play from Tyoka, Drake Thomas, and Nehemiah Pritchette in the in the back seven. So Mike McDonald’s doing an amazing job with this defense. And like Mike said with this offense, they have been incredibly explosive. And that’s still without having a run game that hasn’t played very well yet. They still haven’t gotten a super great run game uh game yet. So, you’re looking at this team and you’re still saying there’s meat left on the bone for this offense. And that’s even after jumping out to a 28 nothing lead in the last two weeks. If they’re able to get to a good spot in their run game, this team really could be the best team in the NFL. Well, we’re starting off high. I mean, A+ Mike Rener gave the Seattle Seahawks. JP coming in with the A as well. Let’s move on to the other team that’s at the top of this division and it is the LA Rams. Matt Stafford has been absolutely dealing that offense absolutely shredded. uh my 49ers this weekend. So, I’ll start with you JP. How are you grading LA right now and just what has impressed you the most about McVeyy’s group? I’m giving them an A minus and I think the biggest thing that stands out and why I’m giving them that grade is their offensive evolution. Shawn McVey has always been at the forefront of offensive evolution in the NFL. going from being a super 11 personnel outside zone bootleg, then moving to a little bit more counter, a little bit more gap scheme stuff in their run game, and now they’re just hammering teams with three tight ends on the field. I never would have thought that a Shawn McVey team would have three tight ends on the field for 44% of their plays, and they’d have six yards a play using that personnel grouping. So, I think the offensive evolution combined with the fact that Matthew Stafford is playing MVP level football at 37 years old, I give them an A minus for that. I still think I have a I have a few more questions about their linebacker and their secondary group, especially in pass coverage. But when you have a quarterback playing the way Matthew Stafford has, and you have a pass rush that’s playing the way that the Rams pass rush is, that’s a Super Bowl winning formula. And we’ve seen it because the Rams have done it before. Yeah, I’m a little kinder, greater than JP. I went with an A because I didn’t think this team would, you know, you mentioned the back seven of this defense, the linebackers in the secondary. I thought it would be a bigger issue than it is. This is still a top five scoring defense in the NFL and they’re doing it through scheme in that front four and kind of have a back seven that doesn’t have a lot of if any household names yet not a lot of teams get to pick on them on a week in weekout basis. And on the flip side, we spent all training camp talking about Matt Stafford’s back. Could he get through healthy? Not only is he healthy, he might be playing the best football of his NFL career right now. He has 22 straight touchdowns without an interception. That’s the second longest streak in NFL history. So, with all the things clicking, with Devonte Adams not looking like he’s aged a day since his prime, I I think this Los Angeles Rams team has to be an A and has to be feeling about as good as anyone outside the Seahawks in the NFL. Outside of the Seahawks, yeah, Matt Stafford, all those no-look passes he was throwing yesterday, I mean, the man was feeling himself and he absolutely should have. Let’s talk about this 49ers now. They battled through a ton of injuries. They’re still sitting at six and four, a top five offense and signs of real progress under Robert Salah’s defense. How are you going to grade San Francisco? I’ll start with you on this one. Uh Mike, it’s tough, right? Because it’s the next man up, but how many men can we can we move up the ladder? Yeah, I mean, I went B minus because I had to give a grade, but like realistically, this is one of those courses in like college where you you know, you get sick, you miss half the season, so you have to get an incomplete. you know that the professor doesn’t give you a grade, you got to take it again next semester. That’s what this 49ers team feels like. It’s like we just don’t know. We never saw it. You know, Ricky Pieraw has been out most of the year. George KD was out most of the year. Brandon Aayuk still hasn’t played. Fred Warner goes down for the year. Nick Bosa goes down for the year. Brock Pury has missed most of the season. It’s like the team that we hoped we were going to get just didn’t exist. The results are still good. They’re still a game out of the last wild card. It’s crazy that they’re still six and four given all those injuries. And you got to be happy about that as a 49ers fan. But unfortunately, this is just an incomplete season because the injury bug hit them harder than anyone else in the NFL. I like that they have deferred because they got menitis or something. They can’t finish the semester. JP, down at the bottom of the division, the Cardinals sit at three and six with a handful of close losses and major injury issues really on both sides of the ball. How could you grade Arizona so far? And what if anything gives you hope that they could turn this around? As someone who was really high on the Cardinals going into this season, I thought Jonathan Ganon was a coach of the year candidate. The fact that they are where they are right now, I’m giving them a D+. Anytime that your star receivers, Hall of Fame father has to get involved and figure out why the offense isn’t working, that’s always a terrible sign for how sustainable the offense is. It really revolves around the fact that they’ve lost Clayton Adams. He used to be their offensive line coach and that offensive line has taken a precipitous drop from what they were last year. James Connor went out for the season with a an with an Achilles injury. You you missed Marvin Harrison Jr. Kyler Murray just hasn’t been the same quarterback. Even before he got hurt, Kyler Murray was not the same quarterback that he has been in his career. You can see some of the athleticism has sort of lost a little bit of a step. And I think that the defense has tried to fight through injury. I actually think I’m pretty impressed with that defense, but it’s the offensive side of the ball that’s always been the issue for Arizona. And now that they have the defense that might look ready for what could be a playoff push, the offense hasn’t been able to keep up its end of the bargain. So for that, I’m giving them a D+. All right, Rener wasn’t as generous as you were giving them a D minus for the Arizona Cardinals. But Mike Rener, JV Acasta, appreciate you helping us break down and grade the NFC West. Here’s a look at what we have to look forward to for week 11. And the 49ers take on those lowly Cardinals for my say. Hopefully they can bounce back in that one. And here’s the big one. The one that everyone’s going to be looking forward to. The Seahawks and the Rams. Rams favored just under a field goal there. I can’t wait for that one, Jack. I know.

JP Acosta and Mike Rener join CBS Sports HQ Spotlight to bring you midseason grades for every NFC West team.

[0:00:00] Week 10 NFC West Results
[0:00:43] Seattle Seahawks midseason grade
[0:02:41] LA Rams midseason grade
[0:04:59] San Francisco 49ers midseason grade
[0:06:12] Arizona Cardinals midseason grade
[0:07:39] Week 11 NFC West games

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