Ram Digest

NFC West Roundup: A Look at the Division After Week 4

After a strong start by the NFC West division, where do things stack up as we head into Week 5?

Hunter Hodies

Week 4 featured the NFC West bowls as the Arizona Cardinals faced off against the Los Angeles Rams, while the Seattle Seahawks took on the San Fransisco 49ers. Here's how each team fared after this past Sunday. 

Los Angeles Rams

L.A. came into this matchup against Arizona at 3-0 following their statement win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 3. They were looking to send an even stronger message to Arizona in the form of being the best team in the NFC West. Unfortunately for the Rams sake, it wasn't to be, as L.A. squandered a great first quarter to the Cardinals offense and never recovered. The Rams were up 10-7 heading into the second quarter but from then on, it was all Arizona. The Cardinals outscored L.A. 17-3 in that quarter to go up 24-13 at halftime and then eventually won the game 37-20. 

Quarterback Matthew Stafford finished with 280 yards and two touchdown passes, though the offense left a lot of points out there, especially in the red zone. It also didn't help that Sony Michel fumbled while the Rams were down 14-10. Arizona took over deep in Rams territory and scored a touchdown to make it 21-10. The closest the game got after that point was 21-13 just before halftime. This was a game that was there for the taking early on but turnovers and missed opportunities doomed the Rams.

In Week 5, L.A. will play on Thursday night against the Seattle Seahawks in another NFC West battle.

Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals got to 4-0 and are now the only team to still be undefeated in the NFL. Quarterback Kyler Murray was sensational against the Rams as he finished with 268 yards passing with two touchdowns, though the running game also shined as well. Former Pittsburgh Steeler James Conner added two touchdowns of his own on 18 carries for 50 yards and Chase Edmonds added 120 more on the ground as well. Overall, Arizona finished the game with over 200 combined rushing yards, making them the first team to do so against L.A. this season. 

Arizona also got contributions from A.J. Green and Maxx Williams as they both hauled in touchdowns. They finished with 67 and 66 yards receiving, respectively. Splash plays were also going to be a deciding factor in this matchup and Arizona got two of them. As mentioned above, they recovered a Sony Michel fumble which led to points and Byron Murphy Jr. picked off Stafford while L.A. was up 3-0. He was trying to hit Desean Jackson on a deep route but Murphy was able to get in front of him and intercept the pass.

It was a stellar performance from the Cardinals and in Week 5, they'll take on the 49ers. 

Seattle Seahawks

In the other NFC West matchup, it was the Seahawks who came up with the victory against their nemesis from San Francisco. Quarterback Russell Wilson had another fantastic day as he threw two touchdown passes and was 16-of-23 for 149 yards. The two touchdown passes went to DK Metcalf and Freddie Swain as Tyler Lockett had an unusually quiet day. In addition to that, the Seahawks also ran the ball well, which has been a struggle at times in recent seasons. Alex Collins finished with 44 yards rushing and had a touchdown, while Wilson also had a rushing touchdown of his own.

Seattle's defense was able to stifle the 49ers' offense, well except for Deebo Samuel. He finished with eight receptions for 156 yards and two touchdowns and was arguably the only reason this game was decided by one score at the end. Other than that, their defense intercepted Jimmy Garropolo once and held him to just 165 yards passing. They also didn't allow the 49ers rushing attack to beat them as they held Trey Sermon to 89 yards on 19 carries. 

Quandre Diggs was able to get the lone interception for Seattle and with this win, they improved to 2-2 on the season. It was a result they desperately needed after they dropped their opening two games to Tennessee and Minnesota. 

San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers started off their game against Seattle in a good way but only to see it falter in the second half. They were up a touchdown going into the second quarter thanks to a great touchdown catch from Ross Dwelley. The 21-yard grab ended up being his only catch of the day. Seattle then responded by tieing the game up before halftime and then took it from there in the second half. To make matters worse, Garoppolo was injured during the game and didn't return so that meant rookie Trey Lance got to come in for his first look in an expanded role. He completed 50% of his passes (9-of-18) and threw for 157 yards and two touchdowns to no interceptions. It's unknown if he'll get the start against Arizona on Sunday but as of right now, Garoppolo isn't expected to miss much time at all. 

With this loss, San Francisco drops to 2-2 and are now last in the division due to Seattle having the tiebreaker over them (at least for now). They couldn't get turnovers when they needed them but they'll look to try and change that fortune when they travel to Arizona on Sunday to take on the Cardinals at 1:25 p.m. PT. 

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Hunter Hodies
HUNTER HODIES

Hunter covers the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated.

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