The Sports Guru

Projected Record

6-10, 3rd Place AFC North

Projected Schedule W/L
@Tampa Bay    (L)
Oakland            (W)
@Cleveland      (L)
San Diego        (W)
@Denver          (L)
Carolina           (L)
@New Orleans  (L)
Cincinnati        (W)
@Tennessee     (L)
Atlanta            (W)
Pittsburgh        (L)
@Cincinnati      (L)
@Kansas City   (L)
Cleveland         (W)
@Pittsburgh      (L)
Buffalo             (W)

To watch Ray Lewis, or Jamal Lewis or even Head Coach Brian Billick you’d think the Ravens defending champions this year as opposed to clinging to the title they won 6 years ago.  There has been some success since, a couple of 10 win seasons, but nothing awe inspiring.  There have been more quarerback failures in those years then playoff wins.  But to watch the smug manner that the team goes about thier business you’d think otherwise.  It seems that Billick is a genious in his own mind.  That attitude continues to hurt the Ravens, there is no improvement when you don’t believe you need to improve.  It’s that belief that he and his team are better than they actually are that will be the downfall of the Ravens again.

Team Strengths – Finally the Ravens scrapped the Kyle Boller experiment for the time being to try and win now.  They did go out and get a warrier in Steve McNair.  McNair rejoins his favorite target Derrick Mason.  Jamal Lewis is also back, joined my former Bronco Mike Anderson.  The O-Line is anchored by Jonathon Ogden and the defense still has Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.  Leadership will not be a problem for the Ravens.  They have talent all over the field and this team has a chance to be very good, especially with a known commodity at quarterback.

Team Weaknesses -  Some of the strengths may also be weaknesses for the Ravens.  McNair was beaten and battered in Tennessee.  Jamal Lewis ran soft and looked to be afraid of contact.  Ray Lewis talks much better than he plays and the two big free agent acquisitions, Trevor Pryce and Mike Anderson, are nearing the end of their career.  The O-Line is suspect after Ogden and the Ravens still don’t have explosive targets at Wide Receiver.  Billick is a wekness as well, thinking his team is better than it actually is.


Best Case Scenario – The Ravens still act like it’s 2000, and to be successful they are going to need to play like it.  McNair needs to stay healthy, Jamal Lewis needs to run the way he did a couple years ago.  Ray Lewis needs to be the dominant force he was before age and injury started to take it’s toll.  The O-Line needs to block again and Ed Reed needs to revert back to the way he played when he earned Defensive Player of the Year award.  If that happens the Ravens may get to double-digit wins.

Worst Case Scenario –  The more likely scenario, McNair gets hurt, Jamal Lewis continues to run like a girl and Ray Lewis spends more time in the training room than the locker room.  Playing in the North means no easy games with even the Browns looking better this year.  Even if McNair stays healthy he’ll need to learn a new offensive systems for the first time since he entered the league.  There is alot of pressure on Billick and if the losses start to mount the questions that Billick doesn’t want to answer will start to be asked.  The Ravens are looking to win now and if they don’t Billick could be out in Baltimore.

My Opinion – If any team needs the fountain of youth it’s the Ravens.  They are old at every skill position and the major question is, Are they too old?  I am leaning towards yes.  At this point you have to assume that McNair is going to miss 3-5 games meaning the Boller is going to need to come in a play well for the Ravens to have a shot at the playoffs.  It isn;t going to happen.  Any strides Boller made at the end of last season were squashed when then Ravens went after McNair.  Jamal Lewis just doesn’t look like he wants to play, and Ray Lewis is a better talker than player.  There was talk after last season that the Ravens nearly fired Brian Billick, and if the team doesn’t win big this year they probably will.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 3rd, 2006 at 4:22 pm and is filed under Broncos/NFL, 2006 NFL Preview. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.