GrogansArmy

It's that time of the season - Football season about to begin. Around this time of the year I like to go around to our rival teams websites and our own, and see whats new, whats going on, what changes have been made, etc.. etc...

One thing I have noticed the past couple of years - and it seems odd to me - is that everyone thinks we have no shot at beating the Ravens. This seems to be a common theme across the football world.

I don't get it.

Yes, we always have a hard time with them. Yes, Brady seems to get happy feet when we play them. For the most part though, we usually beat them. Unless I'm misremebering (palinism!), haven't we only like lost once to them in like the last 10 match-ups?

What am I missing? Why does it seem to be a "given" to everyone that we will lose to Baltimore this year? Last year too if I recall correctly. We lose 10% of the time to them and its an automatic loss for us now??

I've visited several of our rivals' forums - jets, fins, bills, steelers, ravens, broncos, and chargers - they all pretty much say the same thing about us:

"Ripe for the picking"
"Easy schedule"
"No way they beat the Ravens"
"Brady slow and old"
"Defense is crap"

These seem to be the most common arguments about us sucking. And the Ravens beating us seem to be a no-brainer to pretty much everyone.

Are the Ravens really that much better? I admit I do get nervous when we play them (more so than other teams), but if history is a glimpse into the future, wouldn't that say that more than likely we'd beat the Ravens?

I guess I just don't understand the thinking that we have no shot against the Ravens. Especially since we've beaten them so often in the past. If it was just one or two rival teams fans that thought this, I'd just write it off to hatred, but from what I've seen it seems to be most all fans. Even some of our own that think this.

Have the off-season changes really put us that far behind the Ravens where its a almost a given that we have no shot at winning?

SMH.

Sciz

Suggs won't be playing week 3 and will be severely limited if the Pats and Ravens meet in the playoffs. That, combined with the Pats' upgraded receiving group, makes me awfully confident.

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randomk1

Brady had a mediocre game and they still lost.

Bring it on!

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Three out of Four. Back-to-back.

Ive_Killed_People

misremember is a clemens-ism please keep the politics off of this forum

PATRIOTSFANINPA

In that division I think the Bengals will be the overall best team but we don't play them unless it's a playoff game.

I would fear Cincy more than Baltimore whose 2 best players in Lewis and Reed are aging quickly and thier best pass rusher is out for most of this season.

Andy Dalton to AJ Green combo and that defense is looking pretty good.

I see the North Division this year as ....

Cincinnati 11-5
Baltimore 10-6
Pittsburgh 8-8
Cleveland 6-10

To sum it all up,Baltimore is a formidable foe but I don't think they are even the best team in the North Division

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GrogansArmy

I have to disagree. I think Steelers will be back on top. They got embarrassed by Tebow last year. Regardless of the fact they had a lot of injuries and had a valid excuse, they still were embarrassed to lose to a running back QB. They're healthy again and I expect them to win the division as usual.

randomk1

I agree but what bothers me about them is wallace. brown got his contract and i wouldn't be suprised to see if he pulls a desean jackson - the move where you ***** all season long and develop bricks for hands.

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Three out of Four. Back-to-back.

MrNathanDrake

Steelers lost a lot of veteran leadership.

Hines Ward, Aaron Smith, James Farrior...

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Bring on the 2012 Season

supafly

Personally, I think that Cincy is tremendously overrated in general.

What was their record last year against teams with a record above .500? Did they even win one game? If they did that was it.

Dalton had an okay year for a rookie, but I don't know that I believe in the hype that is coming with him. I wouldn't be remotely worried about playing the Bengals, especially in the playoffs.

Their defense will be their wildcard this year. If they can have another decent year, then they may have a shot at the playoffs again. I personally don't expect their offense to put up a tremendous amount of pts, but that's just my opinion. You are certainly not alone in thinking that CIN may be on the uprise, so please don't take my comments personally. It's just my 2 cents of course

They play 4 games against the NFC East this year, not exactly an easy schedule. On top of that, they still have 4 more vs PIT and BAL. I certainly would be downright shocked if they won their division.

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Patiently waiting to defend the next "bubble" player in this summer's training camp.....

resdubwhite

will be interesting to see what Dalton does in his Sophomore year.

Cinci have a lot of expectation to live up to.

In the past they've usually tanked in moments like this.