NFC West Updates: Seahawks shockingly in first place after 7 games

The 2022 NFL season went further into the twilight zone while the Los Angeles Rams enjoyed their week off.

On a Sunday where Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers lost to career backups, the Seattle Seahawks decided to make things a lot more interesting in the NFC West and the conference as a whole.

I should’ve known that Pete Carroll and his squad wouldn’t just roll over and die. As much as I was praying for the Seahawks to finish with a godawful record and a top-five draft pick, they deserve a lot of credit. Their draft class was special, nailing picks like Charles Cross, Abe Lucas, DROTY favorite Tariq Woolen and Kenneth Walker who has been a beast since being named the RB1.

Quarterback Geno Smith also deserves his due, completely outplaying the robotic Subway spokesperson he replaced this offseason. His success doesn’t appear to be a fluke so far which only begs the question as to how well he’ll do once the stage becomes bigger.

Pete Carroll and company could very well mess around and earn a wild card spot. Given how uneven the NFC has been, a playoff spot is the expectation for them now. They aren’t viewed as a pushover any longer. Again, I can’t say enough how much that sickens me to my core.

As for the team many expected to compete with the Rams for divisional hierarchy, the San Francisco 49ers laid a fat turd across their home turf in front of Joe Montana. Isn’t it funny, I thought trading the farm for Christian McCaffrey was going to solve all their problems.

Instead they got run off the field by Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. After taking an early 10-0 lead, the Niners were outscored 44-13 the rest of the way in a brutal loss. SF came in with one of the best defenses in the league and decided to take a sick day as they got carved up by the young MVP gunslinger.

Zoo-Wee Mama! Maybe they just had a rough game as Patty Mahomes will do that to teams. State Farm has protected him well after all. Perhaps the Chiefs exposed deeper flaws for a team that many perceive as a Super Bowl contender.

I also know the Cardinals won back on Thursday night but they aren’t in the same stratosphere as the rest of the division. Beating a weak Saints squad just isn’t all that impressive compared to how the rest of their season has played out.

Next Sunday, the Rams will play host to the 49ers, a team that manhandled them 24-9 back in week four. Two of their first three games out of the bye will be against divisional opponents.

That’ll be a huge indicator as to where LA belongs when looking at the rest of the division once the regular season comes to a close. Let’s hope the Rams enter the second-half with a vengeance (and an improved O-line) like we all have been waiting for.