Gull Poll: Best in the West

Also, I am told I have a “pretty useful mouth”.

And nothing has really changed since then. Sorry if that is being overly critical.

I’d prefer your thoughts on G. Tate’s NASCAR tweets.

I woulda thought Arizona would have been last in the voting.

Anyways, I voted Hawks. I’m too blindly optimistic to think otherwise.

I live in Reno, Nevada and I have that hat!!! My heart says the Seahawks but I feel the niners might actually live up to potential this year. But Seahawks should make a run if we sign some key free agents, OG, CB, QB, DL.

Maybe the hawks can do it with Kolb or Palmer, but until the seahawks get consistent, quality QB play I think the Rams will be a better team

STL: 11-5 (not as good as this record, but they beat up on the NFC West, and the defense isn’t terrible. Bradford makes The Leap.)
AZ: 7-9 (assuming a trade for Kolb)
SF: 6-10 (Start with Smith, switch to Kaep who lights a fire under their ass)
SEA: 5-11 (assuming Clipboard Jesus is QB, and Mebane leaves. The days of getting by simply by being in the NFC West are coming closer to the end.)

I hope I’m wrong. I just have really bad vibes right now. The Seahawks need to address the defense in free agency and then hold on to their balls and hope Whitehurst can handle the heat. Sans Mebane, the only interesting parts of this team are the O-Line / running game, Mike Williams, ET & the rest of the young DB’s, and the hope that Curry can figure it out and do something this year. This is all very much up in the air, however. Whichever team adds the best quarterback can probably challenge the Rams.

Here is my reasoning:

1.) Whisenhunt’s job is on the line, and its no secret that Arizona had the worst QB performance in the league last year. Arizona has a good team with no QB. John Morgan said it best when he pointed out that the Seahawks pretty much made the playoffs in 2010 thanks to Kurt Warner’s retirement. With the division being so winnable, no way their FO stays put. They didn’t draft a QB, which to me indicates that they will push hard for a guy like Kolb or Orton. With either of those QBs, especially Orton, Arizona is probably a 10 win team in this terrible division.

2.) Arizona had I thought the best draft in the division this year, and got a guy who many said was the best player in the entire draft with their first pick.

3.) If the new salary cap rules are to be believed, Arizona is going to be in a very good position for free agency once it starts.

As far as the rest of the teams:

Seattle: As fun as last season was, the Seahawks 7-9 record and playoff win concealed some deep flaws. The team was bottom 10 in both offense and defense, and great special teams alone won’t cut it two years in a row. Even in a best case scenario, one where Seattle lands Palmer and the new OL manages an average offense, the defense figures to still be atrocious, especially since Mebane is almost certainly gone. Also, since Seattle overachieved in 2010, they could very well improve in 2011 and still finish with fewer wins. Depending on who the QB is, I could see Seattle winning a wide range of games, but if AZ gets a decent QB, I wouldn’t favor Seattle for the division.

Rams: Bradford was statistically dead average last year, and will be learning a notoriously difficult offense next year under McGenius. The defense could improve further, but I’m thinking the Rams will be a 5 to 8 win team and likely 2nd or 3rd place.

49ers: I like Kaepernick, but I doubt he contributes in 2011. So pretty much, I’m expecting the same 49ers team this year we’ve grown accustomed to: bad, but not “embarrass themselves” bad.