{"id":78790,"date":"2014-06-24T11:21:39","date_gmt":"2014-06-24T18:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=78790"},"modified":"2014-06-24T12:02:08","modified_gmt":"2014-06-24T19:02:08","slug":"2014-nfc-west-division-preview-handicapping-odds-23614","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/nfl\/2014-nfc-west-division-preview-handicapping-odds-23614\/","title":{"rendered":"2014 NFC West Division Preview – NFL Handicapping Odds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Handicapping The\u00a0NFC West<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Most Interesting Division in the World<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 2014 NFL season is just around the corner and the NFC West promised to be the toughest division in the game once again with the Hawks and the 49ers among the two or three betting favorites to win the Super Bowl and the Cards and the Rams making giant strides toward legitimacy the last couple of years. <\/p>\n

The four teams in the NFC West went a combined 42-22 last season and could realistically be better this upcoming year.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s break down the division and see who should emerge from this impressive group \u2013 could there be a surprise team that will knock off the Seahawks?<\/p>\n

\n

Seattle Seahawks<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Seahawks Odds to win the 2015 Super Bowl XLIX: 6\/1<\/strong>
\nSeahawks Odds to win the 2015 NFC Conference: 15\/4<\/strong>
\nSeahawks Odds to Win the 2014 NFC West: +120<\/strong>
\nSeahawks Odds from Sportsbook.ag<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s pretty hard not to love the Seattle Seahawks again in 2014 \u2013 from top to bottom they are stacked. They will return as the hunted this year with their patented top defense, their intense home field advantage and the X-factor Russell Wilson who is another year older and another year wiser \u2013 scary for the rest of the league.<\/p>\n

The only perceived \u201cweakness\u201d of the Hawks was the offense \u2013 something that should be improved this year assuming that game changing receiver Percy Harvin is able to play the season. Marshawn Lynch \u201cSHOULD\u201d be back and the young guns behind him should provide some quality touches as well.<\/p>\n

\n

CLICK to GRAB OUR BEST Expert Sports & Football Picks for 2014 GAMBLING!<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Seattle will be tough to beat again this year \u2013 assuming they go at least 7-1 at home, a 5-3 record on the road should seal the West for them. I definitely like that to happen!<\/p>\n

A tough first place schedule, a grueling road slate and a Super Bowl hangover loom but Coach Pete Carroll is among the best at getting the absolute most from his squad.<\/p>\n

It could be a dynasty in the making in Seattle folks \u2013 like it or not!<\/p>\n

\n

San Francisco 49ers<\/strong><\/h3>\n

49ers Odds to win the 2015 Super Bowl XLIX: 7\/1<\/strong>
\n49ers Odds to win the 2015 NFC Conference: 4\/1<\/strong>
\n49ers Odds to Win the 2014 NFC West: +140<\/strong>
\n49ers Odds from Sportsbook.ag<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The San Francisco 49ers are definitely a threat to the Seahawks \u2013 three straight NFC Championship appearances and no reason to think that they won\u2019t challenge for a fourth. The 49ers on paper look just as balanced and just as complete a team as the Seattle Seahawks heading into 2014.
\n[soliloquy id=”82219″]
\nThere are a couple of glaring question marks for the 49ers heading into the season however \u2013 namely the running game that saw Frank Gore slow down substantially as the season rolled along. San Francisco wasn\u2019t as consistent running the ball as you\u2019d like to see from an elite team. There is also the absence of a speed receiver.<\/p>\n

The Niners have a ton of top tier possession guys \u2013 the addition of Stevie Johnson furthers adds to the impressive list of players that can catch the ball but won\u2019t necessarily burn a defense with their speed. San Francisco has to hope their draft pays off or the passing game looks a tad one-dimensional.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t like the San Francisco 49ers to be one of the top dogs in the NFL again this season \u2013 I just like another team a little more.<\/p>\n

The Niners are a great team but the few question marks have me shying away this year.<\/p>\n

\n

Arizona Cardinals<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Cardinals Odds to win the 2015 Super Bowl XLIX: 40\/1<\/strong>
\nCardinals Odds to win the 2015 NFC Conference: 22\/1<\/strong>
\nCardinals Odds to Win the 2014 NFC West: +700<\/strong>
\nCardinals Odds from Sportsbook.ag<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Arizona Cardinals were perhaps the biggest surprise of the 2013 season finishing 10-6 and just missing the playoffs \u2013 there are few teams with bigger \u201csleeper appeal\u201d than the Cards. Coach Bruce Arians has made all the difference in the desert \u2013 his boys believe and they come to play every game!<\/p>\n

The biggest question here is Carson Palmer \u2013 his lack of mobility is well documented and in a division with insanely quick and aggressive defenses, he could be running for his life. A second big question comes in the form of an unproven and perennially poor running game which does nothing to take the pressure off the quarterback.<\/p>\n

Arizona\u2019s defense will win some games by themselves this year but in a division full of completely well rounded teams the Cards look very much like a team in need of two or three more pieces in order to challenge for the crown.<\/p>\n

The Cards aren\u2019t far away but they are certainly aren\u2019t there yet!<\/p>\n

\n

St. Louis Rams<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Rams Odds to win the 2015 Super Bowl XLIX: 50\/1<\/strong>
\nRams Odds to win the 2015 NFC Conference: 28\/1<\/strong>
\nRams Odds to Win the 2014 NFC West: +800<\/strong>
\nRams Odds from Sportsbook.ag<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No team had a better draft than the Rams. They got perhaps the best NFL-ready talent in the draft \u2013 Greg Robinson who will be in charge of protecting Sam Bradford and then they added six pieces on an emerging defense. Jeff Fisher is building a nice team in St. Louis but they may be a couple years away from serious consideration.<\/p>\n

First of all there is the Bradford factor. Do you trust him to lead his team to an NFC crown? Me neither? He is too brittle, too unsure of himself and he simply doesn\u2019t have the weapons outside of Tavon Austin to keep defenses honest.<\/p>\n

Defense will only go so far in the toughest division in football!<\/p>\n

The 2014\/15 NFL futures betting<\/a> season is here in full force! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting.<\/b><\/p>\n

CappersPicks.com has NFL odds<\/a> up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Handicapping The\u00a0NFC West The Most Interesting Division in the World The 2014 NFL season is just around the corner and the NFC West promised to be the toughest division in the game once again with the Hawks and the 49ers among the two or three betting favorites to win the Super Bowl and the Cards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":64080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[62614,62613,62616,14911,8350,62615,49550,799,1618,869,14726,15143,61091],"class_list":["post-78790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-2014-nfc-west-odds","tag-2014-nfc-west-preview","tag-2015-super-bowl-lines","tag-49ers-odds","tag-cardinals-odds","tag-las-vegas-nfl-lines","tag-nfc-conference-odds","tag-nfc-west","tag-nfl-futures","tag-nfl-sportsbooks","tag-rams-odds","tag-seahawks-odds","tag-super-bowl-xlix-odds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78790"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78879,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78790\/revisions\/78879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}