Williamson’s Look Around The League: NFC West

Arizona Cardinals (Last year’s record: 11-6)

• The Cardinals produced points on 46.5% of their drives last year. That was eighth best in the league. Arizona only turned the ball over 15 times all year. Only three teams were better. Just five offenses possessed the football at a higher rate than the Cardinals. Last year the Cardinals led the league in the usage of four or more wide recievers for the third straight season and they averaged 8.3 yards per play with their 10 Personnel (1 RB/0 TE). Arizona lost Christian Kirk and Chase Edmonds from this side of the ball in free agency and will have to withstand a six-game suspension to DeAndre Hopkins. To make up for the loss of Kirk and Hopkins, the Cardinals used their first round pick to trade for Marquise Brown and also used their first pick on Trey McBride, the first tight end drafted this year.
• The Cardinals took the ball away 27 times, which was the seventh most in football in 2021. Only three defenses blitzed a higher percentage of the time than Arizona. When the Cardinals rushed six or more defenders, they averaged a paltry 2.6 yards allowed.
• The Cardinals +12 turnover differential was by far the best in the division and ranked fourth in the NFL last year. They recovered 69% of their fumbles, the highest percentage in the entire league. Arizona was 8-1 on the road last year. They opened last season with a seven-game winning streak but went on to win just one of their final five contests before losing to the Rams in the Wild Card round. The biggest news around this team of late of course is the massive contract extension that was very recently given to Kyler Murray.

Los Angeles Rams (Last year’s record: 12-5)

• The Rams 6.0 yards per offensive play was better than every team in the league except for San Francisco and Tampa Bay. Just six offenses produced more points per game as well and only two offenses finished drives with points a higher percentage of the time than Los Angeles. The Rams offense was in 11 Personnel…