Schrager’s Cheat Sheet: Why the wide-open NFC West battle is just heating up

Peter Schrager

NFL Insider & NFL Reporter

Every week, FOX Sports NFL Insider Peter Schrager opens his notebook and opines on three of the biggest storylines around the league. Here are his takes heading into Week 9, including a four-team division battle that will supply plenty of intrigue down the stretch.

The Wild, Wide-Open NFC West

The NFC North is the best division in football this year. The NFC West is the most intriguing. It’s as if the season starts right now, and in a race to the finish, each team has a different path to a division title and a different storyline to that opening-round home playoff game.

I look at the Arizona Cardinals, winners of two walk-off games in a span of six days, and they’re currently on top of the NFC West standings at 4-4 and 2-0 in the division. In Sunday’s dramatic win over the Miami Dolphins, Kyler Murray looked like an elite NFL quarterback and someone worthy of the No. 1 overall pick status that he bestows. And yet, the story has been the Cardinals’ offensive line. Unheralded, unknown, and relatively under the radar, Arizona’s O-Line has been a brick wall. They haven’t given up a sack for the last 3 games. It’s the best we’ve seen from their line since the 1975 season when the team played in St. Louis and Jim Hart was handing the rock off to Jim Otis and tossing to Terry Metcalf. Arizona is undefeated in the division, boasts one of the youngest rosters in the sport and has a home game against the Chicago Bears this weekend.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Rams are this surging locomotive that is suddenly re-energized after being put down for dead a few weeks back. Los Angeles has a new vibe, their stars aren’t being shipped anywhere, and having talked to head coach Sean McVay this weekend (while he was celebrating his son’s 1st birthday at his house on Saturday), there’s a belief that this team can go on a run. The bright spot for L.A.? Rookies Jared Verse and Jaylen “Tank” McCullough have both been outstanding. Verse had a national coming-out party against the Minnesota Vikings last Thursday, including a Mic’d up segment posted by the team that made the rounds all weekend. McCullough is an undrafted superstar at safety out of Tennessee. When the NFL Network put together their binder of 412 draftable players in April, he was not included. It’s the mix of veterans who’ve been there (Cooper Kupp, Matthew Stafford), rookie and second-year standouts, and arguably the best coaching staff in the league, all working on the “Nobody Believes in Us” fuel.

And then there are the San Francisco 49ers, who will likely get Christian McCaffrey back following their bye, and the Seattle Seahawks, who are as up and down a team in the NFL as there comes. Yet both are currently tied with the Cardinals for first place in the division.

There are 10 weeks remaining in the regular season, the division is wide open, and the best is yet to come.

Can Kyler Murray and the Cardinals run away with the NFC West title? (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

The Eagles’ Defense is Flying Again

Funny thing, isn’t it? All that ink spilled and voices lost on Philly sports radio in September over this team’s shortcomings — and look now, the Eagles are pretty damn good, no? The offense can’t score in the first quarter — a weird oddity — but they seem to have figured things out over the past three weeks. We knew they’d get it right. But the defense is what’s worth highlighting. There’s been so much frustration over the past two seasons with the Philly D. The Eagles were 10-1 and fired their defensive coordinator last season. No one blinked. Objectively, looking back on it, it was a wild decision. But that’s how high the expectations were a year ago and after Sean Desai, it only got worse under Matt Patricia.

So, insert Vic Fangio, who consulted for them and worked with Jonathan Gannon for their Super Bowl LVII loss to the Chiefs, flirted with the Philly defensive coordinator job before taking the same gig in Miami, and then, bolted from the Dolphins to join the Philadelphia staff last January. The early returns weren’t great, but then came the bye week. And suddenly, Philly’s defense — with all those young Georgia kids playing hard, with their first two draft picks starring in the defensive backfield, and with key stops in big moments — is back on the map. It was 17-17 on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, and you could hear the WIP-FM phone lines already lighting up. But, then, on three of the final four drives, the D stepped up and put the game away. On the road, against Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, and the D made two critical stops and forced two turnovers.

The rookie tandem of Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean has been a revelation over the last few weeks. With so many eyes on the Eagles draft, they took not one, but two players at their biggest position of need of cornerback. And both players…have been good. DeJean was outstanding on Sunday vs. the Bengals. In his third NFL start, the slot corner was a demon in the open field with key tackles, including the crucial fourth down stuff of Chase in the fourth quarter. DeJean has also been an effective punt returner. Mitchell was the best player on the field not named Saquon Barkley against the New York Giants two weeks ago. One by one, you go through the names, and whether it’s Carter, Dean, or Josh Sweat — they’re all starting to come together. Though there are still some moments of stress — that’s natural — this defense is much improved. And quietly, the young guys are leading the way.

The Eagles’ defense has been a bright spot over the past few weeks. (Photo by Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Ken Dorsey’s Big Day

Coaches get their moments, too. Ken Dorsey was persona non grata after being fired by the Buffalo Bills mid-season in 2023. The former University of Miami star quarterback was rolling with Josh Allen until the offense hit a rut last year. Dorsey was canned, and then Joe Brady’s unit got hot and rolled all the way to a division title. Dorsey took the second half of the season off, watched from afar, and hit the trail to find a new gig. Kevin Stefanski tapped him to help the Browns offense, and he was back and employed by an NFL team. But last week, Stefanski, a two-time Coach of the Year who has long called plays in Cleveland, turned to Dorsey and gave him the keys to play-calling and the offensive gameplan for Week 8. With Jameis Winston under center, the Browns’ offense came alive. The numbers are staggering. In Week 1-7, the Browns averaged 15.6 points per game. In Week 8, the Browns put up 29 in a shocking win over the Baltimore Ravens. The Browns had more than 400 yards of offense for the first time all season and committed no turnovers. It was an emotional win for the franchise — with Winston starting, and in the first game since the passing of long-time radio announcer Jim Donovan — but Dorsey coming in mid-season to draw up the gameplan worked wonders. It might be too little too late for Cleveland in a loaded AFC, but Sunday was a testament to sticking with a dream and believing in one’s self. Jameis, of course. But Ken Dorsey, too.