Seahawks Vault Into First Place in NFC West During Bye Week
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Seattle Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams (99) celebrates after defeating the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images [/caption]
Though the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams did not play this weekend while enjoying their bye week, the two NFC West rivals proved to be the division’s biggest winners in Week 8.
With Seattle and Los Angeles both idle, the San Francisco 49ers faltered on the road, falling 26-15 to the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium to drop to 5-3 on the season. As a result, the two teams jumped into first place, with the Seahawks currently holding a tiebreaker over the Rams due to a superior division record. The Seahawks defeated the Cardinals to move to 1-1 in the NFC West and the Rams lost their lone divisional game so far to the 49ers.
San Francisco traveled to Houston as a slim underdog with starting quarterback Brock Purdy still sidelined and fell behind 16-0 in the first half, yielding three field goals and a touchdown pass from C.J. Stroud to rookie Jayden Higgins. Backup quarterback Mac Jones managed to bring the 49ers back within eight points in the third quarter with his second touchdown pass of the afternoon, connecting with tight end Jake Tonges for six points, but they couldn’t get any closer as the Texans added another field goal to win by 11.
While no other games on the Week 8 docket had much significance for the NFC West, the Seahawks and Rams also benefited from a wild card perspective with the Bears slipping up in Baltimore and losing to the Lamar Jackson-less Ravens as well as the Panthers getting crushed by the Bills at home, giving the two teams their third and fourth losses respectively.
Looking towards the upcoming schedule, the Seahawks will hit the road with a cross country date to battle the Commanders on Sunday Night Football, followed up by back-to-back divisional matchups at home against the Cardinals and on the road against the Rams. As for the Rams, they will face the 1-6 Saints at home before traveling to Santa Clara for a rematch with the 49ers followed by their first contest against the Seahawks at SoFi Stadium.
Coming off the tough loss in Houston, San Francisco will have a good opportunity for a bounce back next weekend against the 2-6 New York Giants before hosting Los Angeles and hitting the road to face off with Arizona in Glendale in Week 11. Now three full games out of first place, Arizona has a tough road game looming in Dallas in Week 9 followed by a rematch with the Seahawks in Seattle and the aforementioned home date against the 49ers.
The NFC West remains wide open with more than two months left to play, but with all four rivals set to take part in games against one another over the next three weeks, this could be a pivotal stretch that plays a major role in which team ultimately wins the division come January and determine where the Seahawks, Rams, and 49ers fit into the playoff picture rolling towards the holiday season. It’s also possible these games in the next few weeks could make late season matchups such as a Seattle/San Francisco rematch in the season finale all the more important for division and postseason seeding purposes.
