NFC West

So, folks, I had a nice, nice time, full night's sleep.

Had visions of first place in the NFC West dancing in my mind, uh, with a sprinkling of Rams crisis, week one crisis for the Rams already.

Um, it, it could have gone better, like the first two days of the NFL season, but it couldn't have gone a lot better, uh, than it did.

And yes, I will talk about it wasn't just that the Rams got their doors blown off.

The 49ers also our team to pay attention to.

I'll talk about that.

But what I wanted to kinda do is sort through the, sort through the news and information that we have after two games, but two games that happen, happened to involve three of the four NFC West teams and the three teams that a lot of people expect to be battling for the division title.

So I think there's, there's some things to pay attention to.

It's, you know, th- they've, they've battled each other so many times in that division.

They're the two seemingly brightest offensive minds in the game today, and they play potentially a game that could decide way down the road who wins the division in the NFC West.

And so if I were the 49ers, I absolutely would have done what they did.

And the Rams, we'll see if Miles Garrett and company look more so like themselves.

Matthew Stafford looked terrible.

How much do you put on things that outside of just these two teams battling it out that are so familiar foes here in the NFC West?

So, to pull back the curtain, you and I did not discuss this, you know, going down this avenue.

And part of me didn't even want to, because I think it sells the, your Niners short.

And they just – the guys come on back and they kind of just do – it just – it's that division itself.

The NFC West is going to be a fun one to watch this year if you're an NFL fan.

I got to update y'all on my vibes because, you know, when I saw the Seahawks lose, I was, yeah, the Cowboys beat a shot at the Seahawks.

That's just how I feel.

We're always going to remember what happened on that day.

Um, But it's a day to celebrate, too, because our team is headed back to the United States and they're headed back as leaders in the NFC West.

They're the number one seed as of right now in the NFC West.

And that's something to definitely stand up and give a round of applause to.

Now, usually we don't start to show off this because we don't have these type of comments, but let's go ahead and get to it.

They looked good.

Here's my question to you guys.

Where do you rank the San Francisco 49ers right now? Where do you rank them right now after a win? They're already number one in the NFC West, right? No matter what, even if Arizona wins, I forgot who Arizona's playing, but they're not playing a division team, right? So the Niners are going to be number one after week one.

When he has a quarterback who is performing at worst as a top 15 quarterback in the league, they are going to find a way to win.

And when they did, the 49ers take their first game in the matchup of NFC West foes.

We have travel plans to discuss.

We have the Gullocks here on ESPN Radio, the ESPN app, Sirius XM Channel 80, Mike Gullock Jr. and Mike Gullock Sr. We're presented by Progressive Insurance.

Kalen Black, their rookie out of Indiana, had a great start to his NFL career in this game.

The second half, they turned CMC loose, and it was Swiss cheese up front for this Rams defense.

So I think there's going to have to be some conversation, especially because This is a matchup in the NFC West that's going to be part of what defines your season.

And they did split with them last year.

They're good.

But they're not going to go and run through the NFC West.

They're in the toughest division in football.

They're already 0-1 in the division.

You know, he wants to prove that he was right, that Tampa should have signed him and that he can get right back on track this season.

And I'd love to see it.

And the point also, I feel like we could do an entire like post postgame show on what do you think is the most difficult division in football? Because you say NFC West and you probably have a very valid point because there are One, two, three legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

NFC North would like to at least be heard from.

A little bit of an interesting game there, but maybe the Rams should look over their travel plans as they did not look great today.

in Australia falling to the 49ers proving that they're no NFC West pushover either Brock Purdy throwing three touchdowns in that game but we're focused on the Pittsburgh Steelers here on Steelers Central the Steelers versus Falcons look ahead the Steelers open up their season against the Falcons Sunday at one a familiar opponent having faced them two years ago on opening um Opening weekend, defeating them 15-9 in a game that Justin Fields started and Pittsburgh did not score a touchdown.

And this is a Falcons team that has struggled against the Steelers.

2-16-1 versus them.

[laughs]

With how competitive the NFC West is supposed to be this season, there's a very good chance that at the end of the season, this game matters when it comes to tiebreaker.

And it's like, okay, maybe the Rams didn't have the, put their best foot forward because they had to travel halfway across the globe to, to compete in a week one game.

Mm-hmm.