San Francisco, along with quarterback Alex Smith, gets ready to play an NFC West matchup against Arizona on Sunday.
Now that the San Francisco 49ers have established their dominance over most of the rest of the league, it’s time to put away their division.
The first step in what could be a very early clinching of the NFC West comes Sunday at home against Arizona. The 49ers have built their 8-1 record, second only to Green Bay’s perfect 9-0, with only one win in the division, beating Seattle in the season opener. Now San Francisco gets a hefty dose of NFC West foes, a good thing considering the rest of the division is 8-19.
The 49ers have won the past four meetings with the Cardinals, who were held to 13 total points in the two games last season. And those Niners weren’t anything like these Niners under rookie coach Jim Harbaugh.
“This is not a trap game for us. This is a rivalry game,” left tackle Joe Staley said. “We expect the best effort out of them. It’s always a very physical game regardless of records. We came into their place when they went to the Super Bowl that year (2008), went to their house and beat them. We had a bad record that year.”
Indeed, San Francisco went 7-9 then; it already has surpassed that victory total.
The Cardinals have shown some progress recently and won their past two by excelling — or getting lucky — down the stretch.
“I’m not going to say that we are 100 percent there or that we are very proficient at it now,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said, “but it’s nice to have been able to make the plays, move the ball, and score touchdowns in a situation where we needed to do that.”
The other two division teams also go at it, with Seattle at St. Louis.
Also Sunday, it’s Cincinnati at Baltimore, Tampa Bay at Green Bay, San Diego at Chicago, Tennessee at Atlanta, Carolina at Detroit, Philadelphia at the New York Giants, Dallas at Washington, Oakland at Minnesota, Buffalo at Miami, and Jacksonville at Cleveland.
Monday night, Kansas City is at New England.
Week 11 began with Denver beating the New York Jets 17-13 on Thursday night.
Off this week are New Orleans (7-3), Houston (7-3), Pittsburgh (7-3) and Indianapolis (0-10).
Seattle (3-6) at St. Louis (2-7): On the final weekend of the 2010 season, these “powerhouses” met for the division title. The Seahawks got the prize, at 7-9, then somehow stunned New Orleans in the first round of the playoffs.
Neither team is thinking playoffs right now. Seattle comes off an energizing upset of Baltimore and has seen RB Marshawn Lynch break out.
The Rams have won two of three, the loss coming in overtime at Arizona, as their top runner, Steven Jackson, has stepped up.
Cincinnati (6-3) at Baltimore (6-3): The winner will be tied with idle Pittsburgh atop the NFC North, but this is much more of a statement game for Cincinnati, whose six victories are against teams with a combined 22-36 record.
“If you want to make a playoff run, if you want position and you want a chance to extend your season, then all seven of these games matter and this is the next one,” left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. “All seven of these, to me, are extremely important.”
Baltimore will be angry with itself after following a comeback win at Pittsburgh with a dud in Seattle.
“They weren’t in our conference, but at the same time, you want to beat the teams that you are supposed to beat,” said running back Ray Rice, who got only 27 yards on five carries against the Seahawks. “It was one of those situations where they got after us pretty good, and it was pretty emotional.”
Tampa Bay (4-5) at Green Bay (9-0): This one could get ugly judging by the way each team is playing.
Tampa has lost three straight and four of five. It ranks at the bottom of the NFC in red-zone offense, which the Packers top. The Bucs have 13 sacks, and not getting pressure on Aaron Rodgers is suicidal.
With the Pack averaging more than 35 points a game and Rodgers throwing to as many as 10 targets each week, the matchups look lopsided.
San Diego (4-5) at Chicago (6-3): If Chicago was going to get into a brawl with the opposing quarterback, it figured to be this weekend, not against Matthew Stafford and Detroit, as happened in the Bears’ rout of the Lions.
San Diego’s Philip Rivers and Chicago’s Jay Cutler have a nasty history with each other, although both downplay it now.
Kansas City (4-5) at New England (6-3) (Monday night): New England might have set things back on the usual course in the AFC East when it handed the Jets a prime-time whipping. All of the Patriots’ issues on defense disappeared for one night as end Andre Carter got a franchise-high 4½ sacks, LB Rob Ninkovich had two interceptions, returning one for a touchdown, and New England made Mark Sanchez and the Jets look amateurish.
Kansas City is among the most schizophrenic clubs in the league, with consecutive home losses to Miami and Denver following a four-game winning streak — which followed an 0-3 start.
Tennessee (5-4) at Atlanta (5-4): Two more teams who need to be thinking wild card as they trail by two games in their divisions.
The Titans manhandled Cam Newton and Carolina on the road last week, coming up with a season-high five sacks, forcing two turnovers and allowing a season-low in points in the 30-3 victory. They did it with three rookies starting.
If Falcons coach Mike Smith is haunted by the decision to go for a fourth-and-inches in overtime at his 29-yard line, he isn’t letting on. His players like the confidence he showed in them by gambling against the archrival Saints, even if it led to a crushing defeat.
Carolina (2-7) at Detroit (6-3): Carolina has won the past four meetings, but the Panthers come off their worst performance all season in that home loss to Tennessee. They might match up decently with slumping Detroit because the Panthers can run the ball and the Lions struggle to stop it.
Detroit desperately needs a win here after dropping three of its past four, two of those at home. The Lions have plenty of company in the wild-card race, and they still have two games left with Green Bay, including on Thanksgiving Day.
Philadelphia (3-6) at N.Y. Giants (6-3): What looked like a juicy NFC East matchup for the division lead when the schedule came out has lost much luster as the Eagles disintegrate. If they can replicate their last visit to the Giants, when DeSean Jackson capped their fourth-quarter rally from a 21-point hole with a 65-yard punt return TD on the final play, maybe they can get things turned around. But Jackson was suspended for last Sunday’s home loss to Arizona, and Michael Vick is nursing broken ribs.
Dallas (5-4) at Washington (3-6): Tony Romo is 17-2 in November and, considering how anemic and banged-up Washington’s offense is, he might not need many points to get the Cowboys their third straight victory and fourth in five games. Dallas has won five of the past six against the Redskins, who have gone back to Rex Grossman at quarterback and are using backups at far too many positions.
Washington coach Mike Shanahan had never lost five in a row, and No. 6 isn’t unlikely if the Redskins remain so inept with the ball: 27th in overall offense, 31st running it, only 20 points scored in the past three defeats.
Oakland (5-4) at Minnesota (2-7): In his fourth game and third start, Carson Palmer should be more comfortable running Oakland’s offense, although he likely won’t have top running back Darren McFadden (sprained right foot). It didn’t matter in the Raiders’ victory over San Diego as Michael Bush rushed for 157 yards and caught three passes for 85 yards, the most productive day from scrimmage for a Raider since 1963.
Adrian Peterson is tied for the league lead with 10 touchdowns on the ground, and Minnesota must rely on him as rookie QB Christian Ponder finds his way.
Buffalo (5-4) at Miami (2-7): Nothing is coming easy for the Bills anymore. Their 3-0 start has turned into a mad scramble to remain relevant in the AFC playoff race. They’ve played very poorly the past two weeks, when Miami was winning for the first and second time.
The Dolphins seemingly have taken themselves out of the Andrew Luck Derby by getting solid production from Reggie Bush and rookie Daniel Thomas in the backfield, and Brandon Marshall in the passing game. The defense has a league-low six takeaways, however.
Jacksonville (3-6) at Cleveland (3-6): You know things are going dead wrong when your long snapper, in this case Ryan Pontbriand, has his snap on a short field goal attempt to beat St. Louis deflect off left guard Alex Mack’s right foot. The reliable Phil Dawson’s timing was thrown off and Cleveland lost its third straight, 13-12.
Jacksonville isn’t having any better of a season, but at least has seen some progress from rookie QB Blaine Gabbert while the Browns’ second-year passer, Colt McCoy, has stagnated. The Jags also have a steady defense, especially against the pass.
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