cloppbeast
09-22-2010, 11:29 AM
......that without question the Steelers are the best team in the league, and the Ravens are second.
I'm buying the Steelers, especially once Ben comes back, but I'm not so sure about the Ravens. They have shown the ability to pick on the little guy and manage to dominate bad teams, but I have yet to see them consistently beat good teams under Harbaugh. Last year they were 6-0 against losing teams, 1-0 against .500 teams, and 2-7 against winning teams. One of their two wins against winning teams came against the Steelers in OT, when they were down to their 3rd string quarterback, and their other win came in week 2 against the notoriously slow starting Chargers and it still came down to the last play.
When it comes to gut-check time, The Ravens are going to have to convince me they can do it. They aren't making a strong case early this year. In week 1 they barely beat a horribly unprepared Jets team ill-equipped to attack the Ravens weak pass defense. In week 2, Flacco just showed he isn't really poised to have a the great season all the talking heads anticipated. If the Bengals can shut Flacco down and force him to throw 5 interceptions, I don't see how any other defense will have problems with this supposed high flying offense.
I'm buying the Steelers, especially once Ben comes back, but I'm not so sure about the Ravens. They have shown the ability to pick on the little guy and manage to dominate bad teams, but I have yet to see them consistently beat good teams under Harbaugh. Last year they were 6-0 against losing teams, 1-0 against .500 teams, and 2-7 against winning teams. One of their two wins against winning teams came against the Steelers in OT, when they were down to their 3rd string quarterback, and their other win came in week 2 against the notoriously slow starting Chargers and it still came down to the last play.
When it comes to gut-check time, The Ravens are going to have to convince me they can do it. They aren't making a strong case early this year. In week 1 they barely beat a horribly unprepared Jets team ill-equipped to attack the Ravens weak pass defense. In week 2, Flacco just showed he isn't really poised to have a the great season all the talking heads anticipated. If the Bengals can shut Flacco down and force him to throw 5 interceptions, I don't see how any other defense will have problems with this supposed high flying offense.