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AFC North 2007 Previews and Screenings

AFC North Division:

1) Baltimore: The Ravens won’t find the sled so easy this year after posting a 13-3 regular season mark last year, pushing them will be the Pittsburgh Steelers who are just 2 years away from winning a Super Bowl and whose QB is now back in full force after a near-fatal off-season motorcycle accident last year and emergency appendicitis surgery. The same goes for the Cincinnati Bengals, whose quarterback is now back in full force as well after using last season as something of a springboard to rebuild his confidence following a devastating knee injury.

The Ravens have one of the best one-two punches in the NFL at QB with Steve McNair at center and former starter Kyle Boller backing him up, but they’ll need to get their offensive act together quickly if they want to repeat as division champions versus having some fresh faces. that they need to learn the offense, they have a new running back (Willis McGahee), a new fullback (Justin Green or rookie Le’Ron McClain), a couple of new offensive linemen (former starters Tony Pashos and Edwin Mulitalo are gone), and a new offensive coordinator (Rick Neuheisel was promoted).

Defensively, the Ravens will once again be one of the best units in the NFL, however they also have one more year to go and will have to replace Pro Bowl linebacker Adalius Thomas. Baltimore went 6-10 just two years ago and went 13-3 last year which goes without saying is a huge improvement from 7 wins from one year to the next the idea here is that the The Ravens’ win total will fall somewhere in the middle. Projected record: 10-6

**Look to play IN the Ravens in their home opener on September 16 against the visiting Jets, both teams enter this affair fresh off a divisional game and Baltimore is actually playing in a short week after having played one start Monday night at Cincy, however, keep in mind the fact that the Ravens have one of the best home-field advantages in the league, as evidenced by winning 42 of their last 56 home games (75% ) In a direct way. It’s a pretty safe assumption that the Ravens will be the favorites in this game, with that in mind, a look in the old history book reveals that Baltimore has now covered 13 of their last 16 ATS home games (81.25%) when installed as A favorite at home during the month of September!

2) Pittsburgh: A new era will begin with the start of the inaugural season in Steeler country as 35-year-old HC Mike Tomlin takes over for the first time from the late Bill Cowher, who led Black and Gold for 15 years, Pittsburgh also had to replace the offense. coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and assistant HC Russ Grimm, who also coached the offensive line, Whisenhunt is now the HC of the Arizona Cardinals and brought Russ Grimm with him as his assistant HC. Pittsburgh replaced Whisenhunt with Bruce Arians, who had coached the Steelers WR for the past three years, which means the offensive philosophy will in all likelihood remain much the same, which is a plus when you have a change at the helm.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the defense, as new HC Mike Tomlin chose to retain defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau who loves to run a hybrid blitz zone defense, while HC Mike Tomlin is a Tampa-2 defensive guy trained by Tony Dungy that’s cool. one season as defensive coordinator for the Vikings. Generally speaking, most teams that experience a head coach change tend to struggle at the start of a new season, I don’t think that will happen with Pittsburgh because they will essentially have the same philosophy of being coached on both sides of the ball as in years past, add to that the fact that Pittsburgh has a strong core of veterans and a healthy quarterback and it’s not a stretch to expect an improvement from last year’s 8-8 mark.

In the final analysis, Pittsburgh will show improvement this season, but the improvement may not show up in the win/loss column due to the fact that they reside in a tough division that includes two games each against Baltimore and Cincinnati and also they have a very difficult no. Divisional schedule that includes games in Arizona, Denver, New England and St. Louis and also includes home dates against visiting Seattle and Jacksonville. Projected record: 9-7

**Look to play AGAINST the Steelers in their season-opening game at home against Buffalo on September 16, with the public in mind, we should get exceptional line value on this one because the Steelers will just shred Cleveland in their opener season and Denver will likely have done the same with Buffalo. The Bills performed well as a pup last year covering 7 of 10 ATS in this role and that includes covering New England and Miami last year to start the season receiving +9.5 and +6.5 respectively, it’s also good to know that according to According to the old history book, Buffalo has covered an incredible 14 of its last 16 ATS games during week 2 of a new season.

3) Cincinnati: The Ben Gals won the AFC North divisional crown in 2005 with an 11-5 regular season record only to see their Super Bowl dreams flushed down the proverbial toilet when quarterback Carson Palmer suffered an injury in the knee against Pittsburgh in the playoffs Physically, Palmer was able to return to the field last season, but the emotional scars from that injury lingered and contributed to Cincinnati’s 8-8 record last season, yet Palmer and their offense should not take all the blame. for they received little help from a shoddy 31st-ranked Ben Gal defense in the league at the end of the season.

Needless to say, CIncy HC Marvin Lewis has a lot of work ahead of him in regards to his defense, however, Cincinnati’s powerful offense returns basically intact, though the team needs to find a third receiver to replace the suspended Chris Henry, and also must settle a running back depth chart where rookie Kenny Irons (Auburn), former Michigan first-round pick Chris Perry and Kenny Watson will battle for tags behind starting RB Rudi Johnson.

Cincinnati had a pretty good draft and they have a pretty easy non-divisional schedule to navigate as far as facing New England, the Jets, Arizona and St Louis, all at home in the land of Bengal, outside the AFC North, the most difficult as a visitor. for Cincinnati it will be their week three trip to Seattle, but the good news is that they will have an extra day off after their trip to Cincinnati from Seattle as they take on the Pats at home in MNF the following week. Projected record: 8-8

**Look to play these Ben Gals when they visit Kansas City on October 14, Cincy will be fresh after a week off and refocused after opening their season by playing three of their first four games against the United States-bound competition. playoffs. The Ben Gals opened last season with a 23-10 win at KC as 2-point puppies, but they may be the small favorites in this matter and if that’s the case, it’s nice to know that Cincy was now covered 7 u their last 8 ATS games. Against the AFC West and according to the old history book, Cincy is in the best role of him when he was installed as a favorite on the road, as evidenced by covering 7 of 8 times ATS in the last three seasons in this situation.

4) Cleveland: HC Romeo Crennel and his coaching staff have a lot of work ahead of them this season, as they must improve an offense that ranked 31st and a defense that ranked 27th last year if they are to retain their spots next year. In truth, the Brownies had an excellent draft that was highlighted by snaring OT Joe Thomas and QB Brady Quinn in the first round and CB Eric Wright in the second round. In an attempt to bolster the offensive line, Cleveland also brought in free agent and former Bengal OG Eric Steinbach to pair with LeCharles Bentley, who missed the entire 2006 season after injuring his knee during the first practice of training camp. from last year. Cleveland also brought in former Raven RB Jamal Lewis, who has a lot to prove this year, to run behind what should be a pretty good line if they stay healthy and solidify as a unit.

Defensively, Cleveland struggled to stop the streak last year, as evidenced by ranking 27th out of 32 teams in this category, as a way around this problem, the Brownies brought in Robaire Smith from the Titans and Shaun Smith from the Bengals to, hopefully, raise the number of players. overall level of play In the big picture, Cleveland has the difficult task of residing in the AFC North, which has three playoff-caliber teams in Baltimore, Pittsburgh and in-state rival Cincinnati, meaning the Brownies will once again be in the basement waiting for the elevator. of the next year. Projected record: 5-11

** Look to play AGAINST these Brownies when they visit Oakland on September 23, Cleveland will have played their first two games of the season at home against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, who are two of their biggest rivals and have a home game against Baltimore on deck after of this contest, which means Cleveland is in for a “sandwich” game when they visit the Raiders. This contest is payback for Oakland who lost at home to Cleveland last year in the final 21-24 as 2.5 point home dogs, the Raiders had a top 10 defense last year and should be able to get revenge against a team from Cleveland. that’s fresh off of two hard-hitting divisional games.

Jim Campbell runs http://www.footballforecastor.com, which has been an Internet-based sports handicap service since 1997, you’ll be hard-pressed to find another handicap who has had the kind of success that Jim has, over the past eight years. he has maintained one of the best winning percentages of any sports handicap service.