Joe & Daphne's Preview: The NFC West

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe) and Daphne Parello (@DaphnePup)

We took an extra long weekend, but Daphne and I are back to preview the NFC West, home of reigning conference champion Seattle, (mostly) involuntarily revamped San Francisco, and a pair of nasty defenses in St. Louis and Arizona.

Other than the Seahawks, major questions linger for each of these teams, and even Seattle comes into 2015 with something to prove after coming up one play short of back-to-back titles in last February's Super Bowl.

Will the Seahawks make it back to Super Sunday, or can somebody like Arizona or St. Louis possibly snatch the division from them? Daphne and I investigate.

Rich Gannon on the NFC West

Our Adam Lowenstein spoke with current CBS commentator, former NFL quarterback, and guy I always thought was going to bite off his own tongue, Rich Gannon.

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

Ed. Note- Correspondent Adam Lowenstein won the California Almonds Ultimate Bro Snack Sweepstakes he entered earlier this year at Gillette Stadium, and his prize was a 15-minute phone conversation with CBS Sports commentator Rich Gannon.

Adam spent most of that conversation talking football (duh), though the conversation did take place before yesterday's NFL action. Still, he got to speak with a former NFL quarterback, and we think that's pretty cool, so we're gonna run this a day after the fact and adjust records accordingly. Enjoy!

Earlier in the week, I had the pleasure of speaking with CBS commentator Rich Gannon about a lot of the goings on in the National Football League as we head into Week 10. The former quarterback and I discussed quite a few storylines, but the most intriguing conversation that we had was about what most deem the league’s best division, the NFC West.

Although the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers have both underachieved thus far this season, the Arizona Cardinals own the league’s best record at 8-1, and Rich does not think that this will change any time soon.

“The Cardinals are going to win the division” Gannon said when asked how he sees the NFC West shaking out.

He spoke highly of Arizona head coach Bruce Arians and defensive coordinator Todd Bowels, as well as Patrick Peterson. The Pro Bowl cornerback played so well in the Cardinals’ 28-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 9 that Gannon went so far as to say “(Peterson) owned Dez Bryant.”

However, Gannon does see a weakness in Arizona’s rushing attack, which ranked 28th in Football Outsiders’ DVOA heading into Week 10.

Long And Suite Preview: The NFC

Both of our experts are unusually optimistic about Aaron Rodgers and the Packers this year.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin) and Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

We're just gonna blow through these quickly - just post our picks for how each division will finish, what each team's record will be, and how the playoff seedings stack up. The heavy analysis as to how and why those things will come about will be in tomorrow's full-season preview. This is just quick and dirty picks. First will be each division's order of finish. The second section will have each team's record (and a pick for each team's respective over/under). The third section will be our top six teams.

Long And Suite Preview: The NFC West

Russell Wilson is poised to lead the Seahawks on another Super Bowl run.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin) and Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

There is one common thread in the NFC West: Defense. Each of these four teams has a potentially elite defense - some of them have already established themselves as such (Seattle, San Francisco), others have been at that level without anyone really noticing (Arizona), and one has several budding superstars that could coalesce to be the best unit of the bunch (St. Louis). For the divisions playing the NFC West this year (the AFC West and NFC East), they'd better bring a lunch, because it's going to be a long fight.

The top of the division is a two-team race between the usual suspects: Seattle and San Francisco. The title very well could come down to scheduling. Both teams play the AFC West, but Seattle gets the Broncos at home. San Francisco has to travel to Denver for their matchup. As the first place team from a year ago, Seattle has the good fortune to play against Carolina (who will almost certainly take a step back from their NFC South Division Title last year), while San Francisco has to go on the road to play New Orleans, the second-place team from the South a year ago. This seems to point to Seattle being the favorite (and this is born out in Seattle's steeper odds for the division title), but as we've seen in recent years, especially in this division - weird stuff happens.

Long And Suite Preview: The NFC West

Pete Carroll (left) and Jim Harbaugh (right) already have the most intense coaching rivalry in football, dating back to their days in the Pac 10 (now 12). The stakes are even higher this year, as Carroll's Seahawks and Harbaugh's 49ers might just be the two best teams in the NFL.

 By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin) and Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

The transformation that this division has undergone over the last three years is pretty incredible. In 2010, A Week 17 matchup between the 7-8 Rams and 6-9 Seahawks actually decided which of the two teams would HOST a playoff game the following week. It was pretty embarrassing. Now there’s an argument to be made that it’s the best top-to-bottom division in the league. Even 2012’s last place finisher Arizona had wins over Seattle and New England.