[aeneas1]

so much for vegas's 2021 darlings, the 49ers, a team that most sportsbooks picked as having roughly the same odds at winning the super bowl as the rams, and so much for the other so-called tough guys in the nfc west, the seahawks, who were going to be uber dangerous in 2021 because, rumor had it, they installed mcvay's offense! what a difference 6 weeks of nfl football makes!

here's a look at caesar's super bowl odds on august 8th 2021:

chiefs +500
buccaneers +650
bills +1200
ravens +1400
49ers +1400
rams +1400
packers +1400
browns +1600
seahawks +2500
titans +2500
saints +3000
cowboys +3000
dolphins +3000
patriots +3000
chargers +3000
colts +3500
broncos +4000
steelers +4000
cardinals +4000
vikings +4000
bears +5000
washington +5000
falcons +6000
panthers +8000
raiders +8000
giants +8000
eagles +8000
bengals +12500
jaguars +12500
jets +12500
lions +20000
texans +25000

so thru week 6 who is the toughest guy on the block? seems like the cards have earned that bragging right, but do they really look unbeatable? these look like the 5 best teams from each conference ahead of tomorrow's mnf game:

cards 6-0
rams 5-1
bucs 5-1
packers 5-1
cowboys 5-1

bills 4-1
ravens 5-1
chargers 4-2
chiefs 3-3
raiders 4-2

if the postseason started today, the seeds would look like this:

nfc:

1. cards
2. bucs
3. packers
4. cowboys
5. rams
6. saints
7. vikings
--------------
8. bears
9. panthers
10. 49ers
11. falcons
12. team
13. eagles
14. seahawks
15. giants
16. lions

afc:

1. ravens
2. bills
3. chargers
4. titans
5. bengals
6. raiders
7. steelers
-------------
8. broncos
9. chiefs
10. browns
11. patriots
12. colts
13. jets
14. dolphins
15. texans
16. jags

[PARAM]

so thru week 6 who is the toughest guy on the block? seems like the cards have earned that bragging right, but do they really look unbeatable?

They look good but not unbeatable. Of course we had one shot already and failed. I watched much of that Cleveland/Arizona game yesterday and the defense were disciplined in their rush of Murray. They sacked him twice and limited his runs.

His longest run was 8 yards and that was nullified by a holding call. He ran for 4 yards, -1, 3, 4 and 3. He had a snap fly past him before he was ready and fell on that for a huge loss. He fumbled a snap and fell on it. And he flubbed a handoff and fell on it.

They're definitely beatable.

[AvengerRam]

The preseason hype for the 49ers seemed odd to me. Essentially, Vegas and other prognosticators treated them like a Super Bowl team that was merely the victim of a slew of injuries in 2020.

My question at the time was, if that's the case... why would you give up a huge asset (12th pick in the draft) and future assets to acquire a QB who clearly was not going to be "camera ready" this season? Wouldn't you, instead, try to get a player who would be an immediate impact guy for 2021?

[PARAM]

The preseason hype for the 49ers seemed odd to me.

The niners have the "history". 5 time SB Champions. Shanahan has the name and pedigree. And Jimmy G is 24-10 as a starter in SF. There's always a lot of love for SF!!! Come to think of it, there's always a lot of love for Wilson and Petey.....and rightfully so. 98-45-1 together with 2 SB appearances and one Lombardi. And now, this year, tons of love for the 2021 MVP, Kyler Murray!!! Stafford is just a loser from Detroit who's never won a postseason game!!!

[snackdaddy]

Media darlings tend to fizzle out. For a while the Browns were the darlings. Then they fell flat and the media moved on. After that they finally got better and now are playoff caliber. Although I wouldn't call them Superbowl ready.

Then it was the Cardinals. They disappointed and the media moved on. Now the Cardinals are looking very good. Maybe even Superbowl ready.

The 49ers were this year's media darlings. They won the offseason according to the experts. Are the experts gonna continue promoting them next season? They have more excuses because of another injury riddled season?

They sure seem to love Shanahan. He had excuses for year one. They weren't settled at quarterback. They were still trying to build a defense. Funny how McVay took a team that didn't seem to be settled at quarterback year one and turned them into division winners. Shanahan had excuses that year. McVay didn't need any.

After that excuses for Shanahan in year two. Great in year 3. Back to excuses in year 4. Now more excuses in year 5. At some point will they ever acknowledge McVay is just better than Shanahan? Les Snead is just better than John Lynch at building a winner?

[max]

Here’s the deal. If the Cards sweep us, they deserve the division title.

I think if we win in AZ we’ll get the title.

[Hacksaw]

Cream of Cardinal soup. yummmm.

[aeneas1]

so what happened to washington? most experts thought they would give the cowboys a run for the nfc east crown on their defense alone given how strong it was in 2020, finishing 4th in offensive points allowed.... but after 6 weeks of football washington ranks dead last in offensive points allowed giving up almost 32 per game.

[LoyalRam]

It was curious to me about all the Niner love in Vegas before the season. But really, Shanahan behaved like he got his toy stolen by a friend, when the Cabo connection happened between McVay and Stafford. Then, instead of building around Jimmy G., they went and got a rookie QB with their highest pick. Shanny obviously wasn't as confident with his most important position on the team as Vegas was....

[Elvis]

I'm new to math, is .8% good?