Ravens repeat chances
The Baltimore Ravens may be 0-1 after their big opening night loss to the Denver Broncos the Ravens odds at a repeat might have gone down, but I still think they can do it. It is early in the season and the Ravens have 15 games left to win their division and get in the playoffs for a chance to win.
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he Ravens are 12th in betting lines to win the Super Bowl at +3500, that is not great chances but they did deny all chances last season. If you want to see the full current betting line for the Super Bowl winner (Click Here). The Broncos are number one on that list after putting up record numbers against the Ravens.
The Ray Lewis era of the Ravens has finally ended and it will be an interesting season to see how the team goes a full year without their general. Last season the Ravens started to fall off without Lewis and when he came back, well the Ravens did not lose.
With Flacco as the leader and the Ravens revamping their defense they have done something that past Super Bowl Champions have not done which I think gives them a unique advantage. The Ravens got younger and tried to shed some older players for better or for worse to help keep them in contention for the long run.
The Ravens did add some veteran players that played to mixed reviews. Guys like Dallas Clark and Brandon Stokley are one-year rentals and do not effect the Ravens for the long term but should be able to help in the short term for the Ravens. Both players I think will come up big and fit in well but the dropped balls need to stop quickly. Clark is not someone who I expect to drop many more balls as he has always been a sure handed receiver.
The defense of the Ravens needs to improve in the secondary. I think the air in Denver had a lot to do with the Ravens collapse, they got gassed and just could not keep up. That is something the Ravens will not experience again this season unless they play Denver in the playoffs.
The Ravens have a list of very good defensive backs like Michael Huff, Lardarius Webb and Jimmy Smith that should be able to clean things up and lock down opposing defenses. Smith came up big in the post season and in the Super Bowl last season.
Make no mistake this is the Joe Flacco era for the Ravens now and the team will rely on him to score more points than in the past. Flacco played well in game one despite his numbers, it was the rest of the team that did not.
With injuries and future roster moves it is still too early to tell what will happen this season for the Ravens. I think they will win the AFC North easily, the division does not look that strong with everyone going 0-1 in week one. Injuries will always be a factor and the Ravens are already waiting to get some play-makers back.
