10-6

[Tiz]

I really don't see our pass rushing taking that big of a hit. I mentioned this about a month or 2 ago. AD is a great player make no mistake, however if u follow the Ravens D and pay attention(which the national media never seems to do). You will notice that with guys like Scott, AD, Landry, Ivy and even Ray, as good as they were at rushing the passer it was moreso the 10 guys around them being in the right place to allow them a free shot at the QB. AD wasn't like Pryce and Suggs who had to fight off olinemen just to get in the backfield. For the most part AD, Scott, and others in the back 7 had clear paths to the QB or at the most had to fight through a RB or TE. Now i give AD all the credit for making it count once he got their, but i promise u if a guy like Suggs has the chances to rush free as much as AD did he would be a 15-20 sack guy. Again this is not a knock on AD i just don't see guys like Johnson, Barnes, Cody(if healthy) and Sapp, failing to get to the pass rusher once given a clear lane. Now to be fair to AD there were plenty of times when he lined up as a DE and still was able to get to the QB. If u ask me AD benifited from this defense just as much as many wanna beleive this defense benifited from him.

True, and the fact that we had nearly 4 guys with 10 sacks each shows that we can get pressure on the QB even with the loss of a great talent like AD.

[Raven07]

yep yep....no one needs to worry about anything, our defense will be the same as it always is (our SuperBowl Defense didnt have A.D. either and look where it got us....a RING BANY muhahahahahahahahahaha)

[wingman419]

ahh we will probably go 13-3 like last year... but u never know

[FootballMasta20]

I think our O-line will be more athletic this year, certainly younger. I think our running game will be improved. I think our passing game will also be improved as D-Will sees more playing time.

I don't think our D took that much of a hit. Although I would have LOVED to keep AD, his loss will not hurt the D as much as some people think. Rex will find a way to keep offenses guessing.

DUDE right on man. Check it out guys. We finally got rid of the incumbent Jamal Lewis and added McGahee. Ill agree w/ Birdfan about our offensive line. That will help McGahee. So what if we lost AD. People act like just because we lost him were gonna lose 5-6 games and be in the 5-10 best defenses???!!!! Thats crazy. As long as we dont start the terrible Samari Rolle ,and do start Corey Ivy or Ronnie Prude we still have the best defense. Look, we have a better rushing game and OL. If anything were better than last years team. If we start Clayton and D.Williams at receiver and our offensive line blocks 4 McGahee and McNair like i think they will. We'll be in the top 10 offenses this year. Id like to say wed go undefeated but 2 be realistic ill say 14-2!!!!!!! so ha

[Neil]

I don't think that Thomas was as big a loss in the pass rush as he was in other areas. I mean, here was a big linebacker who could cover like a safety, sideline-to-sideline. He could shut guys down, which is something that not too many LBs can say. Now, JJ is an athletic player, and maybe a better pass rusher than Thomas. But I'm not sure yet that he'll be all over the place the way Thomas could be.

[willis mcgahee run u over]

if a 3-4 DE can get double digit sacks AD isnt gonna hurt our pass-rush

and we have 3 of the 10 best LBs in the game as far as hitting goes w/out AD

[baltimoreravens00]

i dont want to say my input on what i think the final standings will be, but i can say i think our offensive will have imroved greatly. Last year, i wasn't real sure about McNair. I mean i heard he was really good with the Titans, but i wasnt sure if he would be able to adapt quickly enough to start for baltimore. i was proven wrong. he exceeded my expectations. now i think, if McNair can do all that in 1 season, imagine what he can do in 2! He'll most likely feel more welcomed and more confident in the plays, coaches, and the team.

Now, my feeling on who will start if McNair does get injured [knock on wood] i think, and i hope, that Boller will be placed in the game. Yes i know, Boller hasnt had the greatest games, but if you ask me he didnt look horrible last year. And with McNair helping him, i believe he would have improved greatly. Smith i believe will have a very bright future here in Baltimore, but i dont think its right for him to jump at the bullet like Boller did. [and we all know we dont want another Boller insident]. So i think he can learn a lot this season from the bench. But i could be wrong.

all i can say is i cant wait for this season to start. and i really beleive we're going to the superbowl. woohoo =]]]

[remember its just my opinion]

[Raven07]

^agreed....Boller will be our 2nd string QB for now.....he just hasnt had all that great of circumstances to learn from and things, now that he has McNair (a future Hall of Famer) guiding him on what to do/what not to do....i believe he is Finally developing PROPERLY....meaning he's learning from a Proven starter, how to play the game and not to make those Costly Mistakes he has been doing over the years.....when McNair went down last year and Boller had to come in...he did just fine, sure we all thought "oh no...here comes dang Boller again...gonna cost us teh game from his fumbling and Tripping over his own feet and what not" and im sure we all were saying that the very first snap that he took when he stumbled after taking the snap, but after that initial Snap of the ball...he was fine.....

here are the Facts:

Week 6 - In three quarters of action, Boller played as well as could be expected for a backup quarterback against the Panthers' defense, accumulating a passer rating of 97.0 and averaging 7.3 yards per passing attempt while completing 55% of his passes. Boller certainly benefited in this game by the fact that Mark Clayton was in the right place at the right time, and that he had a veteran tight end in Todd Heap who was able to come down with the tough catch.

Week 12 - Boller entered the game in the fourth quarter to mop up for QB Steve McNair. Boller got some light work in, completing all three of his pass attempts for 21 yards.

Week 15 - Filling in for the injured Steve McNair, Boller completed 62 percent of his passes for an average of 11.3 yards per passing attempt to finish with a passer rating of 112.8. Even without the 77 yard touchdown pass to Demetrius Williams, Boller still would have averaged over eight yards per attempt in this game. Despite the high average gains, Boller appeared to favor throwing to Todd Heap over any other receiver in this game.

-excerpt from FootballGuys.com

so with that information, i still believe that Boller is still a good player (if you also remember during his workout on '03... they had him kneel on 1 knee at Mid-Field and throw the ball....when he threw the ball...it went all the way pased the Endzone and into the Lower stands...i also heard (not to Long ago on NFL network that Kyle Boller "has THE Strongest arm in the NFL" almost positive those are the eaxct words.....

so he has the potential to be a phenominal player..yes he's made mistakes but he's working hard to correct them and do alot better and from what we all saw from his performance in '06...he's making some great progress indeed

As For Troy....there is NO DOUBT in my Mind that he IS our Starting QB of the Future....i know that for a fact....the guy has GREAT speed, agility,accuracy,humility,humbleness, and leadership qualities (i know we ALL know) in which (with time) will lead him to take over the Starting Quaterback job after McNair has retired, and after he has learned from McNair on Mechanics and how everything works.....

Go Troy..........Our Quarterback of the Future....

[baltimoreravens00]

i agree with everything you just saidd =]]]

[Tiz]

Ravens07 While it's hard to argue against the numbers Boller put up and I don't think any one doubts Boller's Strength it's his poise that comes under fire. In the Carolina game, despite good stats, he tripped over his own feet and often looked rushed and antsy. This is where he draws criticism from most people.

[Tripleb4444]

im worried that now that were not flying under the radar, how well will the team do this year? Especiall facing san diego, colts, and NE in consecutive weeks towards the end of the season.

[Tiz]

im worried that now that were not flying under the radar, how well will the team do this year? Especiall facing san diego, colts, and NE in consecutive weeks towards the end of the season.

As long as the team has players that have a grudge and want to show they are the best this team will be fine.

This year the biggest chip is being carried by Willis and Mcnair with a full off season to work with the offense can only mean great things, imo.

[raysqueen]

14-2!

[Jesse Conroy]

There is an active thread about this discussion HERE

[Guest The Fanatic]

im worried that now that were not flying under the radar, how well will the team do this year? Especiall facing san diego, colts, and NE in consecutive weeks towards the end of the season.

Quite frankly, if you read and listen to the national media, to a certain extent, I think we're still a little bit under the radar.

The natinal media has all but handed the AFC crown to New England followed by the Colts and Charegers providing the strongest challenges for that Crown.

There are a few that seem to be wise enough not to over look us, but.....

I'm not one to predict records at this point as way too much still can happen prior to the regular season, but I'd be shocked to see us pull off a 13-3 season again.

I'd be over joyed if it did, but shocked as well.

Nor do I expect to see San Diego go 14-2 or New England to completely run the table.

We'll see, but I come from the school where getting to the playoffs any way you can is goal #1.

[Go Ravens]

We're still way under the radar. The media still claims that there is a debate over who has the best defense (look at the stats, we're far better than everybody else, whether you look at points or yards allowed). The media paints San Diego as a "great" defense even though they allowed over 300 points last year, which is average.

We've got the best offense in team history (probably a top 10 offense this season) and the best defense in the league. Record-wise, I think we win at least 13 and we may make a run at 16-0. If the offense had showed up in those games against Denver, at Cincinnati, and against the Colts in the playoffs, we'd have only lost 1 game last year.

One Steelers fan I know actually was telling me about some newspaper article he read that said that the Steelers may have a "better" defense than us. That's laughable.

We're still way under-the-radar. The media is biased against us. Most teams don't take us seriously. I've actually seen fans of other teams complaining that we've got 3 Monday night games.

We can beat Indianapolis easily. I doubt the Colts make it to the playoffs with all the defensive players they've lost. They're gonna allow about 3000 yards rushing this season. McGahee could run for 300 against them. San Diego isn't much of a worry, either, because Norv Turner is an awful coach. He'll find a way to lose. New England's going to be run into the ground by that coach killer Randy Moss (he single-handedly got Art Shell fired last year, after only one season as Raiders coach).

I actually pity Pittsburgh. They've got the tough schedule in the division. Instead of San Diego and Indy, they've got Denver (Dre' Bly is going to be playing with Champ this year and Cutler's poised to have a breakout year, plus Travis Henry is their best RB since Portis) and Jacksonville (Byron Leftwich is the most underrated QB in the league, Jacksonville's defense is way underrated, and Jacksonville's running game is the best in the league, with Fred Taylor, Maurice Jones-Drew, and Greg Jones). Not to mention, the Steelers can look forward to losing to us again by lopsided scores such as 27-0 or 31-7.

We don't have a hard schedule, the Steelers have a hard schedule. Cincinnati's is soft, since they've got Kansas City (their offense is too old and their defense is awful) and Tennessee (Vince Young is the only good player on the Titans and he's Madden cursed). However, San Diego and Indy really aren't as tough as what the media wants us to think.

Remember, defense wins championships, and that is what we do best.

[RavensMania]

I'll go with my gut feeling of 11-5. Its goings to be hard to repeat at 13-3 ( our best regular season record ever). I think we lose to the pats, colts, steelers, seattle, and cincy.

I wouldnt be susprised if we slipped all the way to 10-6. Just get into the postseason is all that matters for the 1st 16 games. Then once your in you have a 1 outta 6 chance of getting to the superbowl as the other 5 teams in the conference. I think we wont live up to OUR expectations we put on ourselfs. Were saying superbowl or bust, basically the fans attitude.

[NaptownShorty]

I say either 11-5 or 10-6... with losses at Cincy, at San Diego, at San Francisco, and home against the Pats and Colts... and drop possibly one of the Steelers games.

[Reed_4_President]

Don't feel like typing a lot at the moment I will add to my post later but we will go 14-2 no doubt!!.

[PuppyPuncher]

I can't believe what I'm reading. There is no way we'll lose to the Colts, Patriots and Chargers. I think we'll crush the colts as they will have one of the worst defenses ever, after overpaying Dwight Freeney and releasing playmakers like Cato June. Plus the Ravens will absolutely want to destroy the Colts after that playoff loss. Norv Turner will find a way to screw up San Diego. Mike Tomlin will look foolish for putting the offense in Roethlisberger's hand and totally ignoring that they have a great running back. San Francisco is easily the most overrated team coming into this season. I don't see how overpaying Nate Clements gives you one of the best offseasons ever. I'll say we'll repeat the 13-3, Super Bowl, entire defense goes to Pro Bowl, Ray Lewis becomes President.

[#1 D]

I can't believe what I'm reading. There is no way we'll lose to the Colts, Patriots and Chargers.

Well, I would probably expect a sleeper loss somewhere here. We could win against the colts, because of our moreso balanced offense and their poor run defense. I'm not so sure against the Pats though. Tom Brady didn't need big name recievers like manning, he had the average ones. Now he has more of a talanted recieving core than the past seasons, with moss and others. I think we can win against the chargers though because we beat the chargers once and we can beat them again with a better running back and their new coach. My guess is a loss against the pats. We'll see though

[NaptownShorty]

I like keeping my predictions low, that way if they win more, I'll be happily surprised.

[Sec. Of Defense]

Why is it when people predict the win/loss record, 99.9% of the time they choose 10-6? This is an elite team. Elite teams don't finish with 10-6 records. I can not find 6 losses anywhere on this schedule.

[ravens123]

Yo, I don't think we will repeat our stunning record from last year, due to a harder schedule and injuries, etc, etc. But, I do see us hittin' the 10 and 6 mark and winnin' the division.

Which is all right with me... playoffs, and another banner in stadium!

Randy and the Pats ain't got nothin' on us.

BRING IT ON!

i think 10-6 is a definite even 11-5 we can beat cincinatti twice and the stealers are beatable twice two the only really tough part of our schedule is the colts pats and the chargers in consecutive weeks followed by seattle but seattle doesnt really scare me and we never seem to beat the colts but i have a feeling this year the chargers will be our toughest opponent

[rockonravens]

Well, I would probably expect a sleeper loss somewhere here. We could win against the colts, because of our moreso balanced offense and their poor run defense. I'm not so sure against the Pats though. Tom Brady didn't need big name recievers like manning, he had the average ones. Now he has more of a talanted recieving core than the past seasons, with moss and others. I think we can win against the chargers though because we beat the chargers once and we can beat them again with a better running back and their new coach. My guess is a loss against the pats. We'll see though

Ya, I'd have to say the Pats will be a tough one. Maybe we'll get lucky, and Brady might be injured for that game. Sounds mean I know, but I'm just looking out for our team.

[Ravensfan23]

Ya, I'd have to say the Pats will be a tough one. Maybe we'll get lucky, and Brady might be injured for that game. Sounds mean I know, but I'm just looking out for our team.

The Pats game will be a tough one as well as hard fought. They have a pretty good team on paper but that is all it is right now is on paper. If McGahee and the young Oline can produce to the level we all expect then i don't think the Pats 30 and over crew(linebackers) will fair well vs our rushing attack. Defensively i don't think we have much to worry about. CMac usually does a great job against Moss, and we proved that we can rattled even the best QBs in this league. We should fair well against their rushing attack as we are always stout vs the run. If Rolle can bounce back this season our secondary should be among the best. The Pats have a potentially great offense, we already know the Ravens have a great D. Last season we were able to win 13 games dispite having the 25th ranked rushing attack. This season with more speed, balance, and unpredictibility the Ravens offense should do well enough to be able to win any game this season with the way our defense plays.

P.S. Message to all Baltimore Ravens fans.

Stop allowing the national media to trick u into believing that there are only 3 elite team in the NFL. Yes the Pats, Colts, and Bolts are great teams but guess what? So are your Baltimore Ravens.

If u allow them to trick u then they'll tell u how old the Baltimore Ravens are but fail to tell u that the Pats have 20 guys that they will depend on this season that is either 30+ or will be 30 at some point doing the season. They'll tell u how McGahee will be nothing more then a marginal upgrade over Jamal Lewis, but they will fail to tell u that Randy Moss was out played by 2 of the pats leading WRs last season. So how much will Moss actually help them?

If u allow them to trick u they will convince u that the Bolts have the greatest offense and best defense. However they will fail to mention the fact that the Chargers did next to nothing to improve their less then impressive receiving core. How will that defense respond to losing Wade philips, Did Philip Rivers start to fade towards the end of the season because of fatigue or did defenses start to catch up with him.

If u let them they'll tell u how good the Colts are and how they are Superbowl bound again. However they will fail to tell u that none of the last 5 superbowl winner have made it back to the big game. Now i give the Colts all the props in the world. They did what 31 others teams couldn't, and they did it fair and square unlike some other team we know. But look at their Superbowl run. Did Manning really look like a QB that led his team to the promise land with his 3TDs and & 7INTs, or was he just along for the ride. Is the Colts defense really championship caliber? or did they just get really lucky to run into 2 very predictible offenses.

Now i'm not hating on any of these teams as i feel they are all great teams, I just don't think they are the only great teams. I have watched the Playoff lose at least 6 times. From the first time when my emotions were running high, to the last time when i could close my eyes and still know exactly what was going on i came away with the same feeling. That feeling is that we were the better team. The Ravens lost that game because it wasn't their time, not because they were beat by a better team.

Lets just look at all the facts. We held the Colts to 5 FGs, up until the last drive we had a chance to win the game. Heap is one of the most sure handed players on this team, yet he fumbles on the Colts side of the field. Clayton gets behind the defense makes a big play then fumbles. McNair is a vet in every since of the word but he makes a rookie mistake in trying to force the ball into heap on the goal line instead getting the ball to MA and giving him the chance to take it in, even if he didn't we still get a FG. Our defense is known for taking tipped passing and turning them into turnovers, but in this game 2 Ray Lewis tips costed us turnovers. Also Ray being the playmaker he is trys to recover a fumble that he ends up tipping away from AD. I consider myself a pretty good student of the game so i don't want any of this to come off as me being bais to the Ravens. I just want my fellow fans to know that regardless of what the national media thinks or says our Ravens are elite. So don't short change them, but more importantly don't short change yoursleves.

Oh yea i also wanna give props to the guys/girls that are able to make it out to the stadium for games. Over the last couple of years it has been clear that Ravens Stadium has been one of the toughest places for team to come in and play well. Just another fact that the national media won't tell u. So keep up that loud noise BMore