No passing fancy in AFC North

[stillers4me]

By Scott Brown (sbrown@tribweb.com), PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, September 6, 2010


Ozzie Newsome presided over a busy offseason. The acquisitions made by the Ravens' general manager looked to be aimed at a team that slipped to the middle of the pack in pass defense in 2009.

The Bengals assured they will at least be entertaining when they signed wide receiver Terrell Owens. They also took tight end Jermaine Gresham with their first pick in the NFL Draft, a bid to help Carson Palmer return to the ranks of elite NFL quarterbacks.
Additions made by the Steelers' rivals in the AFC North seemingly put their secondary under siege. But the Steelers, who went from No. 1 in pass defense in 2008 to No. 16 a season ago, are not looking at it that way.

"You want to play against the best. That's what this level is about, so it's a good challenge for the defense," safety Ryan Clark said. "We want to get better. We want to be better than we were last year, so what better than to have a guy like (new Ravens wide receiver) Anquan Boldin, a guy like T.O. in your division?".................


............."I'm all over the Steelers this year as my sleeper in the AFC because everybody's written them off. Everybody talks about personnel, how great the Ravens are going to be," said Trent Dilfer, an ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback. "I'm looking at the common denominator and saying, 'You know what? The Pittsburgh Steelers are ballplayers.' They have the right mentality: Do your job. Get it done."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_698183.html

[Austin87]

Good article. Hopefully our secondary can hold up.

[O'Malley]

I may be in the minority on this but I am not impressed by the Ravens. They picked up some players but thier O line is weak and thier secondary has holes in it(Reed out 6 weeks). Their LB crew is aging to the point of retierment.I think the media is hyping them up too much. It looks to me like they are trying to build something special but it does not impress my that much. They may have a tough time running the ball this year. If the O line is a bad as I think it is they better watch out for the pass rush as well.I will say the AFC north is a really really tough division this year. But until the games are played the team to beat is still the Bungles.

[Crow-Magnon]

I guess we will all see starting this Sunday!!!!


Personally, I think Gaither will be back by Monday, either as LT or RT. The O line is weaker than last year, but it's not all that bad. And neither is the secondary as bad as it was last year (Reed missed time in '09, too). No Walker is a big plus. Siging Wilson and th ereturn of Webb shores up the CB position, and Nakamura and Zbikowski are playing well at safety (and Landry, while he overplays his position at times, makes hits).

I think everyone but Cleveland has a shot at the AFCN title this year, but I personally think the Ravens, at least on paper, look like they have a better chance. Boldin, Mason, Houshmanzadeh, Heap, Rice, McGahee and McClain is a pretty potent offense.

[Edman]

I still don't buy the Bengals, but they're still the team to beat even though they collapsed near the end of last year. We'll see how they do with a bullseye on their back.

The Ravens, with all their offseason signings are going all in this year. Their D is aging, Flacco is in his thrid year, and they have a lot of weapons. I wouldn't say their window is closing, but they're gearing up for a final push to finally get by their Steeler and Bengal archenemies and finally beat the Colts.

I said this before, but how far the Ravens go this year is all on the arm of Joe Flacco. With their run game with Rice and McClain, they'll probably make the playoffs again, but to get to the next level, it's up to Joe to take them there. He cannot afford to be mediocre anymore in the playoffs.

[CanadianSteel]

The division will be tough this year but the talk and predictions are over - time to play the games...... who's ready for some football !

[Crow-Magnon]

I still don't buy the Bengals, but they're still the team to beat even though they collapsed near the end of last year. We'll see how they do with a bullseye on their back.

The Ravens, with all their offseason signings are going all in this year. Their D is aging, Flacco is in his thrid year, and they have a lot of weapons. I wouldn't say their window is closing, but they're gearing up for a final push to finally get by their Steeler and Bengal archenemies and finally beat the Colts.

I said this before, but how far the Ravens go this year is all on the arm of Joe Flacco. With their run game with Rice and McClain, they'll probably make the playoffs again, but to get to the next level, it's up to Joe to take them there. He cannot afford to be mediocre anymore in the playoffs.

I can't argue with any of that. Personally, I think Joe is going to have a great year, but if he backslides, so do the Ravens chances at going deep in the post-season.

[ALLD]

Flacco is so slow that you can paint his portrait when he fades back to pass.

[Delraich]

I've lived in Ohio for 38 years now so I can say without a doubt the Bungles will be lucky to win 6 games this year. Even when they went to their Super Bowls they had a loosing season in between them. The Browns are well the Browns. To all the Rat supporters in this thread, I think you vastly overestimate your secondary. All in all It will be between the old Browns er a I mean Rats and Steelers and 10-6 should easily take this division.