Category: NFC WEST

Golden Tate believes the Seahawks can ‘shock the world’

Golden Tate believes the Seahawks can ‘shock the world’

It is simply amazing the world of difference even a single win can mean in the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks likely saved their season from going under with their 20-17 upset win over the San Francisco 49ers. It may only be a single win, but it was the difference between falling to 4-6 or improving to 5-5, which puts them right back in the middle of the NFC West hunt.

Folks around the league are noticing it, such as former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate. On Good Morning Football, Tate explained how this team can potentially “shock the world” given the opportunity presented to them in the near future.

Namely, the Arizona Cardinals, who Seattle faces twice in the next three weeks. Including this weekend, for a crucial divisional showdown.

When Tate says the next few weeks could “make or break” the Seahawks’ season, he is not exaggerating. Arizona is the only team in the NFC West with a winning record, but they are only 6-4. Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco are all close behind with identical 5-5 records. In fact, the NFC West is the only division in football where not one team is below .500 on the year.

Facing the Cardinals twice in a three-week span is a tall order, but an excellent opportunity to potentially find a way to get back into first place.

Right now, the NFC Playoff picture looks like the North is going to send three teams to the postseason – Detroit, Green Bay and Minnesota. In the East, the Eagles look back to their usual winning ways, but the Washington Commanders are perhaps the shock team of the conference. Should all those teams qualify for the playoffs, then the only path for a West team to get in the dance would be to win the division outright.

So, why not Seattle? Like Showtime Tate said, it’s make or break time.

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NFC West News: 49ers do want to keep WR Brandon Aiyuk

NFC West News: 49ers do want to keep WR Brandon Aiyuk

The Seattle Seahawks’ primary rivals are, undoubtedly, the San Francisco 49ers. It is painful to watch a team be so loaded and have so much success while being in the same division. The 49ers are stacked at almost every position, including their pass catchers.

Among them is wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who is in the final year of his contract. San Francisco picked up his fifth year option, but the former first round pick is seeking a new deal. As is typical, there has been contract negotiation drama, mostly driven by Aiyuk. But theĀ 49ers claim they do want to resign him.

How San Francisco is able to keep all these contracts on the books is astonishing, and mostly driven by the fact they are paying comparitive peanuts to quarterback Brock Purdy. However, the piper is going to need to be paid eventually.

The 49ers are currently over the cap at the moment, and as the Los Angeles Rams found out, you can’t keep putting everything on the credit card. Eventually, the bill comes due. San Francisco may want to keep Aiyuk, but they may not have the ability to do so.

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Earlier this week NFL.com ranked all eight divisions around the league on the strength of their starting quarterbacks.

The NFC West remains one of the toughest divisions in the NFL going into 2024.Ā One reason it’s such a strong division is the QB play, which is well above average everywhere outside Santa Clara – where it doesn’t seem to matter. Earlier this week NFL.com ranked all eight divisions around the league on the strength of their starting quarterbacks.

The AFC North came in first, headlined by Lamar Jackson in Baltimore, Joe Burrow in Cincinnati, Deshaun Watson in Cleveland and the combo of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields in Pittsburgh. The NFC West’s quartet of starters came in second on the list, with Seahawks backup QB Sam Howell also getting a shout-out from Eric Edholm.

“All four starters are established. IĀ also listed Howell, a 17-game starter for the Commanders last season, because I believe the Seahawks want someone to push Smith after the veteran slid back a bit last season. Geno’s 2022 campaign was a career-changer, but getting back to that level of play — in a new offensive system — won’t be automatic. I’ll be a bit surprised if Howell doesn’t start games for Seattle this season…”

Interesting stuff. As far as we know Geno Smith has a very strong lead for the QB1 position inĀ  Seattle, but there’s a fair amount of smoke and rumors around Sam Howell as a potential successor, perhaps as soon as this year. We’ll believe that when we see it, but as far as 2025 goes all bets are off.

As for the rest of the division, Matt Stafford is not getting any younger but he’s still good enough to deserve another big contract. Kyler Murray looked to be his old self again last season after he returned from a major knee injury, and he’s the only reason Arizona will win more than three games this year. Brock Purdy isn’t very good, but he has an obscene amount of talent around him to prop him up and minimize his mistakes. If Purdy grows into a legitimate starter Seattle is screwed. Until then, there’s still a window.

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Watch: Rams react to the Seahawks drafting Byron Murphy II

Now we have video of how the Rams front office reacted when Byron Murphy II got picked by the Seahawks.

Turns out the Rams really had their hearts set on Byron Murphy II going into the 2024 NFL draft in order to replace Aaron Donald. It didn’t happen that way and Murphy ended up with the team that he grew up rooting for.

We already knew that LA’s front office attempted to move up in the draft in order to get Murphy, but they were rebuffed. Now we have video of how the team reacted when he got picked by the Seahawks. Watch.

What stands out immediately is how eager Sean McVay was to get his hands on Murphy. The silence after the pick says a lot, as well. This feels like a significant victory for GM John Schneider.

While they won this round, the Seahawks still have one hell of a smart competitor in McVay to contend with. How well Mike Madonald matches up against him will go a long way towards determining how this next era of Seahawks football goes, no matter how good Murphy ends up.

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NFC West Roundup: 49ers extend CMC, Matt Stafford contract update, more

NFC West Roundup: 49ers extend CMC, Matt Stafford contract update, more

The Seattle Seahawks have been on the move this offseason. They traded for quarterback Sam Howell, they had an excellent draft, and they re-signed their prize acquision from last year in Leonard Williams. However, they certainly are not the only NFC West teams on the move.

I’d say it is about time to get a quick NFC West update from the three division rivals, and see what they have been up to so far:

49ers extend RB Christian McCaffrey

One of, if not perhaps the best, running backs in the NFL is regretably staying in the division. The San Francisco 49ers, Seattle’s most loathsome rival, recently re-signed the best player on the team. Christian McCaffrey signed a two-year deal worth $38 million. In a league where running backs rarely get paid, McCaffrey just got another major payday.

Rams QB Matt Stafford wants new deal, too

The 49ers may have extended one of their stars, but the Los Angeles Rams have not. At least not yet. Quarterback Matthew Stafford is looking for a new contract, but he is still expected to attend minicamp despite the dispute. Considering the Rams were reportedly looking to trade Stafford last year, it seems unlikely they are going to be forking over more guaranteed money, even to the quarterback who helped win them a Super Bowl.

Budda Baker wants to stay with Cardinals

Matthew Stafford is not the only star in the NFC West who wants a new contract. Arizona Cardinals’ Pro Bowl safety Budda Baker has been eyeing one for some time now. Like Stafford, Baker was available at his team’s voluntary offseason program. Baker made it clear to the media that his goal is to remain a member of the Cardinals. While I’m sure there are plenty of Huskies fans in Seattle who would like to see him return to the Emerald City one day, right now Baker wants to stay in the Valley of the Sun.

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Cardinals RB DeeJay Dallas wants to play the Seahawks Week 1

Watch Dallas calling out the Seahawks at the end of practice for the Cardinals.

With Kendrick Lamar having verbally decimated Drake, we will have to look elsewhere for the next great beef. Perhaps former Seahawks running back and kick returner DeeJay Dallas could be part of it.

Tonight the NFL is releasing the full schedule for the 2024 season, and apparently Dallas wants a piece of his former team. Watch Dallas calling out the Seahawks at the end of practice for the Cardinals.

Unless he runs back a kickoff for the first time in his career, Dallas probably won’t get much of a chance at a revenge game. James Conner is firmly established as a strong No. 1 option in their backfield and Arizona also drafted Trey Benson out of Florida State, considered one of the top three running back prospects in this draft class. So, much like last season Dallas is a distant third on the depth chart at this spot.

As for the video, it’s objectively hilarious that he’d have bad feelings about the Seahawks because it was absurd that they kept him as long as they did. As a rusher, Dallas has averaged 4.2 yards per carry in his career and has as many fumbles (4) as scores, which he hasn’t done since the 2021 season.

Then again, Seattle can’t exactly take any running back lightly these days. No team in the NFL has allowed more rushing yards over the last two seasons.

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Seahawks great KJ Wright says he’s joining 49ers coaching staff

Wright will also get to work with one of the best linebacker groups in football.

Former Seahawks linebacker KJ Wright says he’s joining the 49ers coaching staff as an assistant linebackers coach.

Wright broke the news himself in his most recent podcast, which came out this morning.

Wright will be working under Nick Sorensen, who has replaced Steve Wilks as San Francisco’s defensive coordinator.

Sorensen previously worked with the Seahawks in a variety of roles from 2013-2020, including as their secondary coach for four years. This past season he served as the Niners’ defensive pass game specialist and nickels coach.

Wright will also get to work with one of the best linebacker groups in football. The combination of Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw is as tough as they come at the inside linebacker spots.

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Richard Sherman to 49ers: ‘That’s on you’ for not knowing overtime rules

However, Seahawks legend and former Niners cornerback Richard Sherman says it’s on the players.

The San Francisco 49ers imploded in their Super Bowl loss on Sunday night, blowing another 10-point lead against the Kansas City Chiefs, this time going down in overtime. While Patrick Mahomes is admittedly a notoriously tough out, one of the most enjoyable elements of the Niners’ collapse was how strange and self-inflicted the loss was.

They couldn’t do anything about Dre Greenlaw’s freak Achilles injury as he came off the sideline, but the 49ers beat themseles in several ways down the stretch. The worst of it may be that players were simply not aware of the new overtime rules. Most of the blame has been going towards head coach Kyle Shanahan for not making sure they know the score. However, Seahawks legend and former Niners cornerback Richard Sherman says it’s on the players.

Even better, San Francisco is now going through an assistant coach exodus, including another significant unforced error when Shanahan fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks.

The 49ers have dominated the NFC the last five seasons like no other team, but this week’s events have inspired hope their Super Bowl window may finally be starting to close.

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The gap between these two teams is not only wide – it also goes much deeper than what’s happening on the field.

For some reason, this latest loss to the 49ers stings worse than the previous four. Maybe it’s because the Seahawks seem to be totally overmatched against their most-bitter rivals, who look like the best team in the NFL right now by a massive margin. The gap between these two teams is not only wide – it also goes much deeper than what’s happening on the field.

According to a report by Mike Silver at the San Francisco Chronicle, last week 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan showed his players several different clips of DK Metcalf throwing tantrums during games – and made a plan to get Metcalf to lose his cool again. He even promised a holiday gift for the player who got Metcalf to blow his stack.

“WeĀ will get ’14’ to lose his mind… Christmas present for whoever gets him.”

DK deserves the lion’s share of the blame, even if he was provoked by Fred Warner by getting shoved in the back of the head. Metcalf’s anger can be put to good use, but more often than not it’s hurting the Seahawks more than it’s helping them.

However, this is yet another example of Pete Carroll getting outcoached by one of his division rivals. This year Carroll went 0-4 against Shanahan and Sean McVay – both of whom seem to be out of his league. That’s a huge long-term problem and either Carroll needs to figure out a solution or the organization needs to find a head coach who can.

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NFC West Watch: How the division fared in Week 5

NFC West Watch: how the division fared in Week 5

The Seattle Seahawks may have been sitting idle during Week 5, but the rest of the NFC West was in action. Overall, it was a bit of a mixed bag in terms of positive results for the Seahawks. Two division rivals did lose, which helps Seattle in the standings, but one did not… and they’re continuing to loom larger and larger each week.

As the season moves forward, the landscape of the league this year is forming into a clearer picture, learning new things each week – especially about the NFC West. Below is how the rest of the division handled business on Sunday.