Are the Ravens for real?
By SBGGlobal.com
Last year the Baltimore Ravens were a huge surprise, making it all the way to the AFC Championship game before losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Many people believe that the Ravens will be a serious contender in Super Bowl odds in 2009 as Baltimore is 20-1 but there are some concerns for the Ravens heading into the new season.
The Ravens are always tough defensively but they suffered a huge loss in the off-season as coordinator Rex Ryan went to the Jets. New coordinator Greg Mattison has the job now and he does have a lot of returning talent including Pro Bowlers Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs but all is not rosy as Ryan took linebacker Bart Scott and safety Jim Leonhard with him to New York. The Ravens are getting older and the losses of Scott and Leonhard are huge. Not having Ryan’s schemes is definitely going to hurt Baltimore this season.
The offense is led by second year quarterback Joe Flacco who was excellent last year as a rookie. Now Flacco gets a six-time Pro Bowl center to work with as the Ravens signed Matt Birk from Minnesota. The Ravens drafted right tackle Michael Oher and he should be a starter immediately. The receiving corps is led by Derrick Mason and tight end Todd Heap but the Ravens are still missing a deep threat though and that is an issue. The running game has three solid returnees in Willis McGahee, Ray Rice and Le'Ron McClain. One off-season loss that may go under the radar is the loss of fullback Lorenzo Neal. All he did was open holes for the trio of runners and help protect Flacco. Baltimore was very efficient last season on offense but that may not be enough this season if the defense slips as expected.
Normally a team is not defined by a kicker but Baltimore has relied on Matt Stover for years and he was not re-signed. Unless the Ravens bring in someone new they are looking at rookie Graham Gotto and Steve Hauschka battling for the kicking job.
One thing that should help Baltimore is the NFL’s fifth easiest schedule in 2009. Repeating last season’s 11-5 record may not be as easy as some people believe though, but the Ravens should still be in contention for the playoffs in 2009.
Geez man, can we wait till training camp before we start passing out trophies