It would be rad if a sane Ravens fan would turn up for some football talk, like such posters as JWCFalcon. Where did he go, anyway?
I'm here, but I need to be provoked before I say anything
Seriously though, I, too, think that the Ravens will lose this game, but not because they're not a top five team in the league, rather because this game is in New England, we're due for a loss, and last week's game looks like a good launching pad for the Pats going into next week.
Don't let the Kansas City score fool you, we absolutely crushed both the Chiefs and Browns, and went all the way across the country to beat a top 5 (offensively) Chargers team in the home opener.
Last year the Ravens were trashed for weeks and weeks as critics said that we didn't play a tough enough schedule; things turned out just fine in the playoffs.
My take on the offense/defense of our team is that the defense will work its way up top 5ish caliber by the season's end, with a strong chance of finishing 6th/7th, though, and the offense will fall from the number two spot, but still end up in, the top 10.
Quite simply, the defense isn't playing as well as they should be, and the offense is playing better than they should be.
We have a top five defensive line, a top five running game, a top five/seven/ten offensive line, a top five linebacking corps, and a top five safety tandem.
Our receivers are probably still in the lower half of the league, though not as bad as advertised, Heap still has to distinguish himself after a few injury plagued seasons to get back into the top 10, and our cornerbacks are a bottom half of the league unit.
However, if we have a top 5 defense and top 10 offense, though, Baltimore will be mighty scary as our defense doesn't always finish first in the league in terms of yards allowed, but finish 5th while still forcing the most turnovers in the league.
Most turnovers + top 10 offense = lots of points.
I think Ravens fans are expecting Welker to be back, and we've seen that Brady is getting into more of a rhythm now.
If this game was in Baltimore, the Ravens would be the clear favorites, but this game is in New England, and the only two threats to our entire team are big wide receivers (Moss), and elusive wide receivers (Welker).
Guys like Marvin Harrison, Chad Johnson, or any other breed of wide receiver are always manageable, but the big, tall guys, and the small, elusive players are the only weaknesses on our entire team besides wide receiver issues.
No one can really fathom a team with Moss/Brady/Welker/Bellicheck NOT being good, and that is probably why you have so many fans picking the Pats, myself included
