Kurtenbach

What makes it funny is that I don’t know if the new favorites in the West, the Seattle Seahawks, are, in fact, an excellent team. What I do know is that they have the best quarterback in the game right now in Russell Wilson.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some good players around Wilson on offense and the Seattle secondary is worthy of note, but the Seahawks are hardly some 53-man juggernaut.

They just have The Dude — the man who has been the best QB in the NFC West for years now. And because that guy has taken his game to a new level this season, Seattle is 5-0.

The Arizona Cardinals are the proto-Seahawks. Kyler Murray hasn’t quite figured it all out yet, but he flashes such brilliance that you can’t help but forecast a future where his play is always bright. And while Arizona’s roster — on the whole — was the worst in the division coming into the season, it’s that play from Murray and some surprising yearover-year improvements have the Cards at 3-2. They might make a run at a wild- card spot.

You could have argued that last year in his rookie season, Murray was just as good as Garoppolo. That was mere extrapolation, though — an appeal to that bright future. Don’t get me wrong, it was close, but so far this year, it is not. Murray has progressed. Garoppolo has regressed.

But no one has progressed more than Rams quarterback Jared Goff.

There was never any doubt that the former

No. 1 overall pick had the physical skill set to succeed at the NFL level, but his first three years at the helm of Sean McVay’s offensive have been a roller coaster. In Year 1, he made the Pro Bowl. Then he was an adequate enough game-manager that the Rams went to the Super Bowl. But last year, the game around Goff deteriorated and the Rams took a big step back. This year, though, the offense is humming again, in no small part because Goff has seemingly taken a step forward.

San Francisco’s roster took a step back from its juggernaut status in 2019. That was inevitable given how the NFL salary cap structure creates parity. Injuries have turned that into a fall.

Meanwhile, they’re also getting bottom- of-the-barrel (and bottom of the division) quarterback play.