The first week of the NFL season provided a reasonable degree of clarity to many with questions regarding the strength of the Ravens. Not only did the Ravens beat the Bengals, but they did so in Cincinatti 20-0. For the first time in half a decade, A.J. Green appeared mediocre when facing the Ravens secondary. Bengals rookie running back Joe Mixon flashed fantastic lateral movement and burst for a big back, but it wasn't before long that he found himself running into the figurative buzz-saw that is the Ravens defensive front 7. Andy Dalton had frustrated Ravens fans many times with late game heroics against Baltimore, but he did nothing of the sort last week. Suffice it to say that the off-season hype surrounding the Ravens bolstered, retooled defense proved quite justified with 5 sacks and 4 interceptions.
That isn't to say, however, that questions about the Ravens' true strengths and weaknesses don't still remain. Many sports analysts remarked about the fact that Joe Flacco only completed 9 passes in the game, and they insisted that he would need to do much more in the future to be able to seriously contend in the league. Reading statements like that made it clear that whoever wrote them didn't actually even watch the game. First, of COURSE Joe Flacco is going to have to complete more than 9 passes in most games going forward if the Ravens are going to have success this year, but it was Joe's first action against an opposing team since the previous season because Flacco missed all of this year's pre-season games. Second, the fact that the Ravens were able to get first downs in the second half and even complete a nearly 10 minute offensive drive in the third quarter without Joe completing a single second half pass means that questions about the Ravens ability to run the football at will were finally and unequivocally answered.
Baltimore made no secret about their intention to run the football on nearly every second half play, and yet the Bengals could do almost nothing to stop them. I can't remember a time since Ray Rice's rookie season that the Ravens have been able to impose their will on a team like that without mixing in passes to keep defenses from stacking the box. In essence, if a team knows basically what you're going to do, but they can't stop you from doing it, you must be quite dominant at that particular feat. Greg Roman's influence on the rushing attack was immediately apparent with a far greater and different variety of formations and plays than we've seen from the Ravens in recent years on the ground. This rushing style takes advantage of a Ravens offensive line that is much heavier and stronger than over the past 4 seasons.
The Ravens rushing attack certainly saw plenty of action, but little offensive emphasis was given to the Ravens trio of receivers including Mike Wallace, Breshad Perriman, and Jeremy Maclin. Maclin did however, put his speed and athleticism on display with a nearly 50 yard catch and run for a touchdown over the middle of the field that he made appear rather effortless. Seeing even just one such play from Maclin gave me comfort knowing the Ravens have a new proven veteran receiver in the tradition of Derrick Mason, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Smith Sr. to make explosive plays and blow a game wide open. Smith Sr. will hopefully go into the hall of fame, and he made some absolutely spectacular plays as a Raven, but Maclin represents a significant upgrade over Steve in the departments of age and speed at this point. It is for this reason that I delight at the idea that teams will struggle to cover all three of the Ravens speedy top receivers at once--they'll have to essentially pick their poison.
The Browns will have their hands full with Ravens wide receiver speed as they'll undoubtedly feel compelled to commit to stopping a rushing attack that ran its way right down the throats of a strong Bengals defensive line on the road last week. The Browns may have committed too much to trying to make sure Le'veon Bell didn't run them over that they allowed Antonio Brown to light them up for 184 receiving yards. I don't expect any Ravens receiver to have that kind of a day considering Brown is one of the top 2 or 3 receivers in the league, but if the Browns secondary could do that little to stop one speedy threat, they're going to give up some big plays to 3 threats with elite game speed. Oh, and if the Browns DO drop most of their linebackers into pass coverage to double coverage the Ravens' speed merchants, expect Joe to hand the ball off and make Cleveland pay for their choice.
That isn't to say that the Browns aren't a vastly upgraded team from last season. The fact that their rookie quarterback kept them within a field goal of the Steelers would indicate major improvements over a team that failed to win more than a single game last season, though I would argue it also indicates the Steelers aren't quite as good as many assume they'd be right now, but we'll leave that discussion for another week. It certainly doesn't bode well for Cleveland that their first overall pick, Myles Garrett, is not going to play this weekend. Garrett is absolutely as good as advertised, and there's a good chance he would have given a still-recovering Flacco at least a shot or two over the course of the game. Without Garrett, however, and without a serious shutdown corner with the departure of Joe Haden, it's difficult Joe being under a tremendous amount of duress at home in Baltimore this Sunday. Even the shot that Flacco DID take against the Bengals didn't appear to do any significant damage to the veteran gunslinger.
As for the rest of the league, we appear to have gotten a bit of clarity with regards to several teams that may have been a tad overhyped or underestimated. The greatest example of both was the matchup between the Titans and Raiders. I must admit I bought into the Titans hype a tad too much, and I assumed that Derek Carr's ACL tear late last season would take away enough of his mobility to hamper the Raiders offense to the point where they'd lose this game. I also assumed the Raiders defense would not be good enough to make up for a less-effective-than-usual offense. I was, of course, incorrect as the Raiders handled business against the Titans and walked away with a 26-16 victory.
Elsewhere in the league, the Seahawks looked rather inept against the Packers in their 17-9 loss, the Rams absolutely smashed a Colts team that has run out of Luck (heh heh) 46-9, and the Falcons only barely beat the Bears in Chicago 23-17. I wasn't surprised by the Eagles beating the Redskins, and that game certainly was made controversial by the referees, but at 30-17 it didn't end up being close. It's safe to say that letting Desean Jackson and Pierre Garcon leave in free agency meant less weapons for Kirk Cousins. I didn't predict the Jaguars would beat the Texans like a drum, but the Texans redeemed themselves on Thursday night by squeaking out a win over the Bengals after deciding to end the Bortles experiment and go with rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson.
It's certainly satisfying to get predictions mostly correct, but I wouldn't be unhappy with some early season surprises again this Sunday. With that said, let's take a look at this week's predictions!
THE PICKS
LIONS AT GIANTS- The Giants won't be dangerous until OBJ returns to health, and the Lions actually look pretty impressive thus far. LIONS 28-17
PACKERS AT FALCONS- This is always a shoot-out when Matt Ryan faces Aaron Rodgers. The Packers have a better defense, but the Falcons are at home. Hmmmmm... I know they'll be at home, but I wasn't crazy about how the Falcons offense moved the ball against an atrocious Bear team last week. The Packers are the more complete team and defense typically travels well. PACKERS 35-28
49ERS AT SEAHAWKS- This will give the Seahawks a chance to work out their frustration from last week. SEAHAWKS 28-10
REDSKINS AT RAMS- The Rams will continue this pleasantly surprising start to their season against a Redskins team trying to figure out how to become competitive again. RAMS 31-21
COWBOYS AT BRONCOS- This game will tell us a lot about the true strength of the Cowboys offense and the Broncos defense. I do believe in the end that the Broncos are the more complete team and they're playing at home in one of the physically most difficult environments to play in the world of sports due to atmospheric conditions. BRONCOS 21-17
JETS AT RAIDERS- Should there just be a forfeit option each week for the Jets? Letting all of their impact players go might have felt like some kind of rebuilding effort, but it was really just signifying to their fans that they've given up on this season before it even takes off (I'm full of bad jokes today). RAIDERS 38-13
DOLPHINS AT CHARGERS- Without a week 1 game it's difficult to know what to expect from the Dolphins. Sure would like to see Miami get a win here after what that poor state has been through with Irma. It's always tough to win when traveling across the country, especially when terrifying weather messes up your practice schedule. I hope they prove me wrong. CHARGERS 27-21
BEARS AT BUCCANEERS- BUCCANEERS 30-17
VIKINGS AT STEELERS- The Steelers got a gift with Sam Bradford as a game-time decision with a knee injury. The Vikings defense should be able to do a lot to keep the Steelers in check, but if Bradford is either out or hobbled by his injury, the Steelers upgraded pass rush will bring the pain. Ultimately the Steelers should find a way to win this game because Antonio Brown tends to make big plays late in games. If not, well then that would be awesome! I sure hope I'm wrong. STEELERS 24-14
PATRIOTS AT SAINTS- The Patriots often take roughly the first month of a regular season to figure things out before rounding into dominant form. Losing Edelman for the season and with Danny Amendola out, Tom Brady doesn't have his usual array of shifty receivers with which to execute precision timing passes on short and intermediate routes. The Saints have plenty of experience with Brandin Cooks, Chris Hogan isn't likely going to be a devastating force without the likes of Edelman and Amendola to open things up. With that said, the Saints defense made Sam Bradford look like Tom Brady...imagine what they'll make Tom Brady look like. Gronk is still a matchup nightmare, and I expect to see Dion Lewis get utilized more as a pass-catcher with the smaller receivers all out. PATRIOTS 31-28
EAGLES AT CHIEFS- This will tell us a lot about the Eagles, and it will certainly tell us if what the Chiefs did against the Patriots was just a really good game for Kansas City or an indication of the emergence of a dominant new AFC power. CHIEFS 33-23
TITANS AT JAGUARS- I've often had trouble predicting the out come of games within this division, but let's see if the Jaguars defense can come up with another big performance this week. JAGUARS 24-21
CARDINALS AT COLTS- The Colts may be the most depressing team in the league until Andrew Luck gets healthy, and even then I don't believe his presence will be enough to salvage their season. I don't believe there are more than 1-2 teams who could go into Indy right now and lose a game. CARDINALS 28-14
BILLS AT PANTHERS- The Bills are capable of pulling an upset here, but as long as it took for them to pull away from a Jets team that gave up before the season even began, I can't see the Panthers losing. Carolina's defense appears to be back in working order, and it will come up with enough impact plays to put this one away at home. PANTHERS 23-20
BROWNS AT RAVENS- The last time the Browns visited Baltimore, they were blown out 28-7. The Steelers sacked DeShone Kizer a whopping 7 times last week, so I expect the Ravens to get a tremendous amount of pressure on the rookie QB as well. This Ravens defense is fast, physical, and opportunistic. With Suggs playing as well as he has ever played and the best safety tandem in the league going up against a rookie passer, it's safe to say I don't like Cleveland's chances in this game. I will, however, concede that the Ravens offense could stall at times if Flacco still finds himself mired in growing pains as he plays catch-up developing chemistry with his receivers. If the Ravens can go on the road and blank the Bengals, they should be able to win handedly at home against the Browns. RAVENS 27-13
WELL LETS SEE IF THE RAVENS DEFENSE CAN PUT UP ANOTHER DOMINANT PERFORMANCE, AND LET'S SEE IF THE RAVENS AERIAL ATTACK CAN DO SOME DAMAGE AGAINST A BROWNS TEAM THAT NO LONGER FEATURES JOE HADEN.
AS ALWAYS
GO RAVENS!!!
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