We have four more games before our bye in week 9. Pretty sweet time for that to be right in the middle of the season. Considering our lack of depth at receiver earlier may have been better but we can't foresee our receiving core falling apart. The four games are split into two roadies after this week's home game against the Browns. That dumpster fire at the QB position leads me to believe that we should be able to hold strong at home. While I know this is a division opponent and anything can happen, the Ravens are the better team and should win this one. We head out to the west coast for the next two starting with the San Francisco 49ers. What the hell happened to this team? Half of their defense retired, their QB forgot how to play football and they have been an utter disappointment since week 2. I'm pretty sure that Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin are going to put on a little show to rub in us not having them. That is, if Kap can even get the ball to them. More than likely the team will not stay on the west coast (due to their utter failure earlier in the season doing the same thing) so expect them to come home and practice out the week before heading off to Arizona for their first Monday night game of the year. I was high on the Cardinals and figured Larry Fitzgerald found the fountain of youth. They aren't unbeatable, hell the Rams just beat them at their house so it is possible. We follow that up with an epic rematch against the Chargers back at home. We owe them for that heartbreaking loss from a year ago and this is a team that is hurting as much as us on the offensive side of the ball but by then could be healthy. Gates is back after serving his four game suspension but who knows if he stays healthy through the next three games.
So my fearless prediction:
vs. Browns - W, @49ers - W, @Cardinals - L, vs. Chargers W
Which would bring us back to a .500 record before the bye. At this point kiddies we have to take that considering the circumstances.
Our next four seem a bit easier all things considered. The toughest opponent is the second game after the bye. We start with the Jags, that doesn't even seem fair. Blake Bortles does seem to have improved since last season but honestly how couldn't he? Harbaugh has only lost 1 game after the bye week. However the Rams come to our house the following week to throw a wrench in our plans of fixing the season. The team is too inconsistent to really sway this game one way or the other. One thing that is certain is we need to contain Gurley and hope to God Tavon Austin is sick that day. We follow that up by heading to the toilet bowl of the AFC north when we stomp into Cleveland for another Monday night game. Now before you get all, "oh we're gonna stomp those idiots into the ground!" Remember that we have stumbled on Monday night before against a subpar team (cough cough Jack Del Rio's Jags cough cough) so anything is possible. Not plausible, but possible. We then head off to south beach to visit the steaming pile of mess that is the Miami Dolphins. New coach, no problem? Not really, he has called the team "soft" and by week 13 he may have toughened them up. No one on offense really scares me, Tannehill is still proving his worth and the defense has been subpar at best. The Jets just ran all over London on them. It's like they just opened the holes for them. Suh was supposed to plug those! This stretch is where we need to come off the bye strong and dismantle everyone.
Fearless prediction:
vs. Jags - W, vs. Rams - W, @Browns - W, @Dolphins - W
Okay so we have started to turn the season around and are finally pushing for what could possibly, maybe, hopefully a playoff season!
Then our final four games set in. There is some good news. Three out of our final four are at home. Especially with one of those being the Seahawks that is great news! The bad news is that Seattle is more than likely going to be in one of their playoff stretches where they are winning constantly. More than likely both teams will have the longest winning streak in the league at that time (unless no one wants to beat the Pats). Unfortunately I don't think our team has an answer for Jimmy Graham nor do we have a stellar playmaker to let loose on the legion of boom. The only hope is that they lay a stinker coming across the country. Another lucky home game is that against the Chiefs. Two places I would like to avoid playing in are Arrowhead in KC and Century Link in Seattle. KC has been playing a rough schedule so far but they have not been a good road team especially against good teams. The third game in the stretch is against every Raven fans favorite team to hate, the Steelers. By that time they should be running full throttle with Big Ben and Martivis Bryant back in the lineup. They also have a new kicker to blame other than Josh Scobee when they lose. Generally we split the season series with the Steelers unless they are especially bad or hurt. This could be a year that we sweep but it all depends on how our defense performs. They played like garbage against AJ Green so being at home won't matter when this high powered offense comes to town. Especially since you know Big Ben has revenge on his mind. We then finish the season on the road in Cincinnati where I will more than likely have to eat crow as they get ready for another postseason "run". I said they would be terrible, I said they wouldn't matter in the division, I said they would miss the playoffs and I admit, as of right now I'm wrong. By week 17 who knows where they will be, doubtful they will be undefeated but may need to win to lock up the division. These four games are going to determine whether we make or break our chances at the playoffs. Especially with two of the last four being against teams in the division that are fighting for the same spots as us.
Fearless prediction:
vs. Seahawks - L, vs Chiefs - W, vs. Steelers - W, @Bengals - L
This would bring us to a 10-6 record which will probably only get us a wild card spot. Way better than what we all were thinking at the beginning of the season.
If this all plays out like I think it will, we will be laughing (or kicking ourselves) about how this season started. Out of all of the quarters, that last four at season's end are going to be rough. All could be playoff teams that we play, but it will lead to tons of drama in the last month of the season. If we manage to pull this off its going to have me like...
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