Well before I go all Marshall Mathers, this question is asked every season by the true contenders for a division. The Broncos faithful have to wonder if the Chiefs or Chargers are going to matter. The Colts have to hope for four more years of sucking for the Texans and Titans. The Patriots have, uh, the Patriots have, uhm, OH WAIT I GOT IT! The Patriots have to figure out how to make the NFL look like a bunch of morons each season and whether or not someone in their division might get out of mediocrity. While us in purple country, MD wonder who is going to be a bigger thorn in our side. The Steelers or Bengals.
If we all want to believe Sports Illustrated's Peter King who recently said we could go to the Super Bowl this season with the only thing being in our way....the Cincinnati Bengals. Citing that they have won 4 out of the last 5 meetings between us. That lone victory was the insane overtime home game where AJ Green caught that TD pass to tie the game off of a deflection from Ihedigbo. I had a Bengal fan drop this gem on me, "Andy Dalton (regular season version) always seems to be the Red Rifle against you, (terrible) against most everyone else." Easy bro, Dalton hasn't exactly been precise in our meetings. Surprisingly productive in crunch time yes but his TD-INT is terrible. He has 7(passing) TDs compared to 12 INTs. His QBR isn't that impressive either with only eclipsing a 90 rating twice (out of eight meetings). So while the Bengals fan may have said something silly, King points towards the Bengal defense as their reason for success. While our defense aged and hit kind of a rut, the Bengals have improved significantly on offense and defense over the past few years. Their D has held us to 18.8 points per game. Doesn't bode well for getting another important factor for success in the playoffs. King believes that for the Ravens to go to the promised land we need homefield advantage. I got to say, I 100% agree with that fact. The Harbaugh led Ravens are 45-11 at home and a measly 27-29 on the road during the regular season. Would you rather enjoy playing in the nest in downtown Baltimore for the AFC championship or freezing your nether regions off in Denver/New England?
That being said, let's look at who is actually playing New England on Thursday night. The Steelers will be opening the season against the reigning champs from New England where there are probably going to be a total of 90 points put up. The Steelers, like us, have had a severe change in their lineup over the past few years during our rivalry, arguably the best one in the sport. Their defense is just straight doo doo. While we (surprisingly) finished in the top 10 last year, Pittsburgh fell down into 18th. Not terrible but also not the Steeler football that we are used to seeing. On the flip side of that, they were the second in the league in both total offense (a mere .3 yards behind the Saints) and passing (behind Indy by 69 yards). The killer B's (Big Ben, Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown) all
have something to do with that. Brown and Bell are arguably the best at their position. Ben is the best QB in the division, ouch that hurt to type. Anyway the man is more than likely going to post a 5,000 yard season this year especially with Bell out the first two games of the year while going against okay pass defenses. New England doesn't really have a shut down corner(and Ben has done well before since Belichick hasn't figured him out). San Francisco may have one, in the year 2020. So he might legitimately have nearly 1,000 yards by the end of week 2. No Bell means little to no run game (sorry DeAngelo Williams) and even though the team is without their deep threat in Bryant they still have a bevy of other weapons they can use. The cupboard isn't bare in Pittsburgh. What does this have to do with the Ravens you say? Well in all honesty, as far as the season series goes we can usually pencil whip a 1-1 split between the teams. Most times they will be close, someone may die/get severely injured and we are going to have one of a battle with some jerkwad on social media about something Suggs does. Happens every time. The thing is, Pittsburgh always plays well later in the season, you know when the season is on the line, and we do get to play them in a part of their schedule that they are usually in a groove.
In all honesty there is a wrong answer here. That answer is what King said. I don't see how, with the chip on our shoulder from last year, we don't march all over Cincy when we play them in week 3. Harbs seems to be quite pissy lately when the team isn't performing up to par and I don't see them doing that again against the Bengals. Hell, by week 17 they could be out of the playoff picture. They have a tougher (first place) schedule, an aging oft injured defense, their star player is coming back from several injuries from just a season ago (A.J. Green) and a QB who (most of the time) chokes under pressure. I hate/respect Big Ben. If we aren't up by 9 or more against the Steelers with more than :35 on the clock I'm nervous. If anyone says other wise they are lying more than Tom Brady in court.
All in all I expect this year to be a down year for the Bengals and Coach Lewis to finally be cut loose. The Steelers, whether we like them or not, get the Ravens to play their best football. Even in the Boller years (ugh) we always got amped up to beat/play them. Plus that high powered offense utterly destroyed us last season and considering our lack of depth in the secondary it could happen again. Look for the Ravens and Steelers to be going blow for blow all season.
That being said, let's look at who is actually playing New England on Thursday night. The Steelers will be opening the season against the reigning champs from New England where there are probably going to be a total of 90 points put up. The Steelers, like us, have had a severe change in their lineup over the past few years during our rivalry, arguably the best one in the sport. Their defense is just straight doo doo. While we (surprisingly) finished in the top 10 last year, Pittsburgh fell down into 18th. Not terrible but also not the Steeler football that we are used to seeing. On the flip side of that, they were the second in the league in both total offense (a mere .3 yards behind the Saints) and passing (behind Indy by 69 yards). The killer B's (Big Ben, Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown) all
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| The Killer B's Photo Credit: Bleacher Report |
In all honesty there is a wrong answer here. That answer is what King said. I don't see how, with the chip on our shoulder from last year, we don't march all over Cincy when we play them in week 3. Harbs seems to be quite pissy lately when the team isn't performing up to par and I don't see them doing that again against the Bengals. Hell, by week 17 they could be out of the playoff picture. They have a tougher (first place) schedule, an aging oft injured defense, their star player is coming back from several injuries from just a season ago (A.J. Green) and a QB who (most of the time) chokes under pressure. I hate/respect Big Ben. If we aren't up by 9 or more against the Steelers with more than :35 on the clock I'm nervous. If anyone says other wise they are lying more than Tom Brady in court.
All in all I expect this year to be a down year for the Bengals and Coach Lewis to finally be cut loose. The Steelers, whether we like them or not, get the Ravens to play their best football. Even in the Boller years (ugh) we always got amped up to beat/play them. Plus that high powered offense utterly destroyed us last season and considering our lack of depth in the secondary it could happen again. Look for the Ravens and Steelers to be going blow for blow all season.
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