What I Think Of the Ravens

NP- How wonderful of a season was it for Cameron Cameron?

MR.F- It was very wonderful. He proved to us all that his 1-15 faceplant as head coach of the Dolphins in 2007 was just an elaborate ruse enabling him to come again in glory as a mastermind offensive coordinator, building an offense around a rookie quarterback from the University of Delaware and harnessing his powerful arm to build a playoff-worthy offense. We never should have doubted him. He is, after all, a genius.

NP- What about the way the seemingly aging Ravens defense defied nature to stop what looked like a slow, inevitable decline, to pull off a late career Mark McGwire esque renaissance to once again become the dominant unit they were 8 years ago?

MR. F- Un-BOLI-vable!

NP- Bart Scott was kind of a big name free agent on that defense who left to sign with the Jets, how much will the Ravens miss him?

MR. F- Not that much, Scott had a career year in 2006 and hasn't done a whole heck of a lot since then. The best player on that linebacking group now is Terrell Suggs, and they just resigned him, if they would have lost Suggs I would have said hmm maybe there's a problem there, but he's back so I see no issue.

NP- Jim Harbaugh had a great rookie year as an NFL head coach didn't he?

MR. F- I think their coach is John Harbaugh.

NP- No I'm pretty sure it's Jim Harbaugh.

MR. F- I think you might be wrong about that.

NP- Wait until we start trying to distinguish between Rex Ryan and Rob Ryan. Who's better of the 2 magically enchanted rookie QBs from last year, Flacco or Matt Ryan?

MR. F- Ryan. Not even close. Flacco succeeded last year kind of the same way Kyle Orton succeeded in 2005. His job was not to mess up and he didn't. The wrinkle is Flacco's job was to run play action and throw the ball long when he did throw it. He's got the arm for that. He was kind of a specialist. All around though, Ryan is and will continue to be a much better QB.

NP- Prediction time...

MR. F- The Ravens have a pretty soft home schedule, I can see them going 7-1 at home with the only loss coming to either Indianapolis or Pittsburgh. Their road schedule is murder though. Week 2 at San Diego is a loss, Week 4 at New England is a loss, Week 6 at Minnesota is a loss, they should be able to get a win in either Week 9 or 10 against one of the Ohio Suck Squads, then they have to go to Lambeau and Heinz Field before wrapping up the season at Oakland. So looks to me like they've got only 2 wins on the road. Still, that's 9-7, and that could be good enough to make the playoffs.