[News] Biggest Weakness Of AFC North Foes

[BR News]

The Steelers, Bengals and Browns each have holes in their armor entering 2015.

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[C.Gooche]

Pitt's secondary - Shamarko 5'9, Allen 6'1, Webb 5'11, Gay 5'10. Hopefully the Raven wide outs will have some field days against them.

[Bruce_Almty]

Our divisional opponents play us tough no matter what. Splitting with the Bengals and Steelers is not good enough to win the division, and that's always our goal in the AFCN.

[MichaelJ34]

I see a lot of jump balls to our 6'2 6-4 WRS and our 6'6 TE Pitts secondary has a serious height issue that we can exploit and maybe we can get lucky with our speed too

[b93333]

I believe the Ravens need to make Dalton their number one priority. He kills us and then plays poorly against much of the rest of the league... go figure. If we want to win the division and get a home field playoff game for a change... we need to figure out something about this guy.

[salamander]

Losing both games to the Bengals last year still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. We need to return the favor this year and win both matchups.

Edited July 27, 2015 by salamander

[MichaelJ34]

Weaknesses or not we wont take these teams for granted because we know all to well how dangerous each team is. We will do what we have to do to win each game one at a time and win the division then on to January where Joe is going to run rampant

[rmcjacket23]

Our divisional opponents play us tough no matter what. Splitting with the Bengals and Steelers is not good enough to win the division, and that's always our goal in the AFCN.

I'd say it is, as long as you beat the Browns twice.

 

The last three seasons, no team went 5-1 or better in division play in this division. Two teams went 4-2 and won the division, and the Bengals won it in 2013 I believe with a 3-3 division record.

 

You can't go 4-2 in the division and lose 4-5 games elsewhere and win the division most likely, but you stand an excellent chance of winning the division by going 4-2.

[hen826957]

@MichaelJ34 don't say "Jump Ball" because it will reminds us about people calling our QB "Jump Ball Joe" just say make contested catches the next time. LOL :-)

[Ravensfansince03]

Met Jameel McClain last night at work in dc. Very respectful and humble man. The club was very lively and music was loud, I was in the front and just happened to see him walk out, and I tapped him on the shoulder and said "Jameel!", he turned around with a big smile gave me a huge dap up with the bro hug lol. I told him thanks for everything he did as a Raven, and he said back "hey you know im still a Raven". That was real cool.

[757RavensFan]

Pitt's secondary - Shamarko 5'9, Allen 6'1, Webb 5'11, Gay 5'10. Hopefully the Raven wide outs will have some field days against them.

 

dont forget their 2nd round pick Golson at a towering 5-9".  That being said, the Steelers DBs have to go up against; Brown, Sammy Coates, Bryant, and Wheaton every day in practice.  They'll definitely get better defending those guys every day.    

[757RavensFan]

Losing both games to the Bengals last year still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. We need to return the favor this year and win both matchups.

 

We've lost 3 straight to them.  When it comes to playing us, they definitely drop their "Bungles" nickname.  

[dirtybird66]

I wish we could add BERNARD POLLARD again since he's back on the market,he would be a great equalizer for the RAVEN'S secondary and he's still ranked #9 in NFL corner's,I wish the coaches and him could put their differences aside,he has stated he want's to be on a winner, he's very vocal because he wants to win.we would DOMINATE the AFC NORTH with him.

[PersianRaven]

I see a lot of you talking about the Bengals 3 game win streak on us. Remember one thing tho, they beat us on some crazy plays. Don't you remember the AJ Green TD that was god given??

[bioLarzen]

I believe the Ravens need to make Dalton their number one priority. He kills us and then plays poorly against much of the rest of the league... go figure. If we want to win the division and get a home field playoff game for a change... we need to figure out something about this guy.

 

In fact, Dalton hasn't been plaing as great against the Ravens as we are inclined to think. He played 8 games against us, I would definitely take out the week#17 game of the 2012 season, because it was a game that didn't matter, and so Dalton only played a quarter, and even that largely against non-starting lineup on our D (and even that way he only posted a 10/15, 78 yards, 1/0 stat line).

 

The remaining 7 games he produced the following average stats:

 

22.71 comp./39.85 att.; 278.28 yards; 0.86 TD / 1.71 INT

 

These are by no means huge numbers - I would much rather call them average. Less than 1 TD and more than 1.5 INT'S per game... under 300 passing yards... slightly over 50%  completition percentage... Never more than 2 TD's in one game, and only 2 full games without an INT. No, these are definitely not great numbers.

 

We remember a much better Dalton because he had an AJ Green who somehow developed a habit of making an absolutely ridiculous circus catch each game against us... If he doesn't collect the hail mary two seasons ago, it would have been a simple W for us, not an overtime one. If he doesn't make that incredible catch of the ball dribbling off our CB's hands Week#1 last season, we would have probably won that game...

 

No, it's not Dalton we need to focus on IMHO, but AJ. Green. That guy always has at least one special trick up his sleeves for us...

[salamander]

 

We've lost 3 straight to them.  When it comes to playing us, they definitely drop their "Bungles" nickname.  

I was already annoyed enough remembering the last 2 losses, now you have to remind me it's actually 3 losses in a row to the Bungals? How can that even happen? They have obviously have figured out how to play us well so we had better be ready with some new looks to put them back in the loss column this year. 

[FloridaRaven]

I think it's all on Marvin Lewis. He's played us tough since he left. If anyone out there does, Mavin has our number!

[Raven1995]

We played great in the 2nd Bengals game last year, Ngata with the Sack Strip of Dalton and Taliefaro with a couple great runs and 1 nice catch. The pass to SSS was great and the penalty was debatable. I think we will take both games this year.

[#20=DA MAN!!]

the bengals have always given us fits when it comes to our offense because it took a while before Joe learned how to successfully beat the cover-2...and now the bengals have a balanced offensive attack with a creative minded hugh jackson to go along with that good D and its a tough day at the office for us. Thats why i believe our division is the best because just look at last year, the browns were actually division leaders halfway into the season. Each team held 1st place at some point or another. no other division can say that after half the season had been played. I hate the other teams as much as anybody but those are some of our best games. The only team i love beating more than division foes is that team of cheaters in boston!!!!

[gametime]

Our secondary this year will be legit.......this is our year

[ravenwildman]

I think the Steelers losing Dick LeBeau is going to be a big time problem for them (GOOD!).....Bengals seem to start strong every year, then go all ragdoll by December.....The Browns....well, what can you say? They just seem to stay confused lol. This is going to be a great Ravens year!!!! GO RAVENS!

[Bruce_Almty]

Big Ben wants his offense to put up 30 pts/gm. That's an achievable goal and one Marc/Joe and the rest of the Ravens offense needs to strive for and accomplish also.

[rmcjacket23]

I think the Steelers losing Dick LeBeau is going to be a big time problem for them (GOOD!).....Bengals seem to start strong every year, then go all ragdoll by December.....The Browns....well, what can you say? They just seem to stay confused lol. This is going to be a great Ravens year!!!! GO RAVENS!

Based on what I've seen from LeBeau and his defense the last few seasons, I'm of the mindset that its entirely possible their defense will be better without him.

[b93333]

In fact, Dalton hasn't been plaing as great against the Ravens as we are inclined to think. He played 8 games against us, I would definitely take out the week#17 game of the 2012 season, because it was a game that didn't matter, and so Dalton only played a quarter, and even that largely against non-starting lineup on our D (and even that way he only posted a 10/15, 78 yards, 1/0 stat line).

 

The remaining 7 games he produced the following average stats:

 

22.71 comp./39.85 att.; 278.28 yards; 0.86 TD / 1.71 INT

 

These are by no means huge numbers - I would much rather call them average. Less than 1 TD and more than 1.5 INT'S per game... under 300 passing yards... slightly over 50%  completition percentage... Never more than 2 TD's in one game, and only 2 full games without an INT. No, these are definitely not great numbers.

 

We may emember a much better Dalton because he had an AJ Green who somehow developed a habit of making an absolutely ridiculous circus catch each game against us... If he doesn't collect the hail marry two seasons ago, it would have been a simple W for us, not an overtime one. If he doesn't make that incredible catch of the ball dribbling off our CB's hands Week#1 last season, we would have probably won that game...

 

No, it's not Dalton we need to focus on IMHO, but AJ. Green. That guy always has at least one special trick up his sleeves for us...

If you multiply his 278.28 yards per game by a 16 game schedule he would have about 4,450 passing yards... a banner year... better than Joe has ever gotten.  The Bengals didn't beat us the last three games without Dalton hurting us repeatedly.

[rmcjacket23]

If you multiply his 278.28 yards per game by a 16 game schedule he would have about 4,450 passing yards... a banner year... better than Joe has ever gotten.  The Bengals didn't beat us the last three games without Dalton hurting us repeatedly.

You're ignoring the fact that those 4,450 yards would come with a poor 57% comp pct, 14 TDs, and a whopping 27 INTs.

 

Can't even vaguely be described as a banner year by any QBs standards. That type of year would have 32 NFL teams scrambling for QB competition the very next season.

[Bohica5]

If anyone has watched any of our cincy games Dalton looks like johny unitas against us.....we make him look so good he wishes he played us every week!! He was inconsistant against every other team out there..............He slays us and its gotta stop! smh Ryan....Get it straight next time!! I think cincy's weakness is their schedule.......they only play us twice.........

[Bandit666]

The Ravens are primed to win it this year. Cincy doesn't scare me. We should have won opening day. SSS dropped 3 or 4 passes, one would have been a TD. Jacoby dropped a TD pass, Tucker, who never misses, missed a FG. And we still had the game won until some how, I believe C. Brown, let AJ Green get behind him for the game winner. Pitts is the opposite team now, good offense, no D, but always finds a way to win. Cle sucks.

[law215]

It's time for Ravens to reclaim the division. I'm tired of the Steeler hype and the Bengals 15 minutes are up. We have the potential to be a great team for years. A lot of young talent across the board. Our secondary has to be at least improved and if we are healthy, I don't the NFL is ready for them ready.

[NJ Raven]

If anyone has watched any of our cincy games Dalton looks like johny unitas against us.....we make him look so good he wishes he played us every week!! He was inconsistant against every other team out there..............He slays us and its gotta stop! smh Ryan....Get it straight next time!! I think cincy's weakness is their schedule.......they only play us twice.........

Lol thats too true and their defense usually has Joe looking badd!!

[huntrgathrr]

This is a very easy topic that can be summed up very quickly:

Browns.....Quarterback, don't have one.

Steelers...Defense, don't have one.

Bengals...Quarterback, chokes under pressure, he and his coach can't win in the postseason.

Fortunately, this year, the Ravens don't really have a weakness. They are strong across the board and have quality depth. It will be a very special year if a few rookies step and play the way they are expected (Williams, Davis, Urban, KLM, Perriman, Waller). Even if they take time to develop we have a seasoned crew that can bring them along.

The Ravens are the class of the AFC North and IMO the AFC. This might be the best overall team we have EVER had.