If The West Is The Best, Then Who Is The Best In The West?

So far there have only been FOUR inter-conference games through 3 weeks. 

Utah beat Chicago 29-15. In Salt Lake, at altitude. They ran away from a close first half.

Seattle beats Miami 29-18. Miami on the road, new vs. old. This was expected.

Houston beat Miami 30-19. Miami looks good, Houston looks better ... but again this was expected.

Dallas throttled Anthem 68-28. Is this a one-off, or a trend? Is Dallas lethal, or is Anthem just defenseless?

A mere 4 games is not enough for a trend line, but enough for the ridiculous headline ... The West has been better (straight up!). No denying the early results ... but will the trend hold? That would be unlikely. If it does, we'll see a severely wounded Eastern conference team limp into the QF's with the #4 seed come July.

Some Old Faces in New Places

With the battle of the two remaining undefeated teams (Seattle vs. Houston) looming, let's look into the past to try and predict the future. 

Here's Seattle vs. Houston head to head since 2018 (and it's not even close ...)

2018 - Seattle beats Houston 20-7 at Dyer Stadium.

2019 - Seattle defends home turf with a 27-14  at Star Fire.

         - Seattle smacks Houston 52-10 at the new SaberCats Stadium.

2020 - 3/4's of the season cancelled, teams did not play.

2021 - Houston finally draws first blood with a 30-24 win at home in Week 1.

         - Seattle fires back three months later with a 40-21 win in Week 18.

2022 - Houston wins at home 21-19.

         - Seattle fireworks come alive back home, 43-36 win.

         - Seattle beats Houston handily in the Western Conference Final 64-27 in Texas. 

2023 - Seattle wins 24-12 in Tukwila.

         - Seattle wins 34-17 in Houston.

         - Seattle wins Quarter Final 37-26 in Houston.

It's almost like the throttling in the 2022 Western Conference Final was a back breaker for Houston. Since then, they haven't settled the score, with the total historic record favoring Seattle 9-2. But does history always predict future outcomes? When picking games, Never EVER, say the words "always" or "never". We do know 1 thing though, whoever wins tonight will be the Best in the West. Until the West is Bested.