ESPN NFL

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando

*Quick, how did the second week of the NFL exhibition schedule shake out last season? Oh, that's right, no one remembers. For the record, the Dolphins and 49ers won games on this weekend one year ago. The Patriots, Colts and Seahawks lost. Very meaningful stuff. With that, we take a look around the NFC West, noting that all four teams won Saturday night.

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is still waiting for the Rams' first-team offense to score a preseason touchdown during the Scott Linehan era. The Rams were without Torry Holt and Steven Jackson, but a first-team touchdown every 10 exhibition games seems like a reasonable request.

Also from Thomas: charting the revival of Rams defensive end Leonard Little. On the down side, backup offensive lineman Mark Setterstrom could be out for the season.

Bryan Burwell of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sees progress in the Rams' running game. He thought the offensive line started playing well together.

Bill Coats of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch isn't sure what's wrong with Rams quarterback Marc Bulger. Also in this story: Chris Long makes a play.

Also from Coats: The Rams' defenders were feeling good about holding the Chargers to six points. Of course, the Chargers played without Philip Rivers, LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates, among others.

Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle says the 49ers hardly resembled the team that struggled against Oakland last week. The pass rush was much improved, led by Ray McDonald. Rookie receiver Josh Morgan caught five passes for 114 yards. Quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan was hot and cold, while Alex Smith was lukewarm. Also: a closer look at the pass rush.

Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle waves off the 49ers' quarterback competition, projecting O'Sullivan as the winner. Of course, winning the job does not equal keeping the job.

Kevin Lynch of Niners Insider thinks Tony Wragge might win the job at right guard. Incumbent David Baas is recovering from pectoral surgery.

Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic sorts through the performances of Cardinals quarterbacks Kurt Warner and Matt Leinart against the Chiefs. Warner was more impressive, but Leinart finished strong.

Also from Somers: The Cardinals committed three penalties against the Chiefs, down from eight penalties in the exhibition opener. Fantasy note: Tim Hightower is emerging as the Cardinals' short-yardage and goal-line running back.

Postscript from Somers: Travis LaBoy led the Cardinals in tackles. He also had two sacks. Bert Berry's recent injury history tells me LaBoy will probably start games this season. And if he keeps sacking quarterbacks, the Cardinals will find more snaps for him.

Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee thinks 49ers coach Mike Nolan has been more sympathetic toward Smith during a tough week for the quarterback. Also: no known injuries for the 49ers.

Matt Maiocco of Instant 49ers has the play-by-play from the Packers-49ers game. Also: Maiocco explains why offensive coordinator Mike Martz called this game from the sideline as opposed to the booth. Martz: "There are so many things I have to talk to the players about it just works out better if I'm down on the sideline."

Daniel Brown of the San Jose Mercury News says the 49ers' quarterback race overshadowed other developments, including Allen Rossum's 67-yard return touchdown.

Clare Farnsworth of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer closes his game story with an interesting note: Seattle is 2-0 in the preseason for the first time since 1998, the year before Mike Holmgren arrived as coach. This looks like the deepest Seattle team I've seen in 10 years of covering the organization.

Note: I hit the Seahawks-Bears game pretty hard last night. I'll share some followup thoughts today. I'll also take a look at some of the other NFC West games on video.