Football is in the air as your defending Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens start their title defense when they open up training camp this week. Despite being the defending champions, there are many questions surrounding the Ravens and many wonder if they can get back to a second consecutive Super Bowl.
Departures of Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Anquan Boldin, Vonta Leach, Dannell Ellerbe, Bernard Pollard and Paul Kruger leave the Ravens with a lot of unproven talent that will need to step up and replace the production those players provided. The Ravens upgraded their pass rush by acquiring Elvis Dumervil to replace Paul Kruger, while the acquisition of Michael Huff and drafting of Matt Elam will provide replacements for the loss of Pollard and Reed.
Certainly there will be a plenty of new faces wearing purple and black when the Ravens open the regular season in Denver on September 5th and, until the regular season starts, nobody knows if these new faces will be better than the players they replaced. As always in Baltimore, anticipation and expectations are high and the Ravens are one of the favorites to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, but there are still a lot of questions surrounding the team as they open training camp.
Here are my questions, concerns and thoughts as training camp opens:
Who will step up to be the #2 receiver?
I will not sugar coat it, I trust that Ozzie Newsome and the Ravens brass know what they are doing. I understand their desire to save money, but that does not mean I am confident in the receivers they have returning. Outside of Torrey Smith, there is no receiver on this roster that even compares to putting up the kind of numbers that Anquan Boldin did last season, so I am very concerned about who will be lining up opposite of Smith.
While Jacoby Jones made big plays last year, he still has not shown the ability to put up consistent numbers as wide receiver at any point in his career, so to expect him to put up stats comparable to Boldin is asking too much. Outside of Jones, the Ravens have Tandon Doss and Deonte Thompson who combined for 12 catches last season (most of which came in week 17) as well as Tommy Streeter, who has as many career catches in the NFL as I do.
I keep hearing about how the Ravens staff loves the receivers on their roster, but it is hard for me to buy into any of these guys and think the offense will be better than it was last year. Despite his “character” issues, Brandon Lloyd would be an upgrade over any of the receivers mentioned and I think it would behoove the Ravens to try and sign him if the price is right.
There are two things I am certain about pertaining to the Ravens passing game this season: Joe Flacco will look like the quarterback he was in the playoffs last year and Torrey Smith will have another tremendous year. Outside of that, there a lot of questions marks and concerns surrounding the Ravens corp. I have no idea who will be the number two receiver and think this could be a major question come the start of the regular season.
Who is in the middle?
There are middle linebackers and then there is Ray Lewis, the greatest middle linebacker to play the game, who played his entire career in Baltimore. This will be the first year in the history of the Ravens franchise that someone other than Ray Lewis (outside of when he was injured) will start at middle linebacker. There is no doubt about it that last season Lewis was not the player he was in his MVP years but he still was productive enough to be one of the better linebackers at that position.
For years the Ravens have looked for the “heir apparent” to Lewis, however, they failed to draft a middle linebacker in the 1st round of the draft, leaving them without that sure-fire Pro Bowl middle linebacker. Dannell Ellerbe looked like a star in the making last season and he still may be, but now he is Miami, which doesn’t help the Ravens. So who will be the starters at middle linebacker?
The Ravens are left with some players who they believe are good, but haven’t played a full season as the starter, in Jameel McClain, Josh Bynes and Courtney Upshaw. None of these guys should be even mentioned in the same sentence as Ray Lewis but they just need to have above average stats. In addition to these guys, the Ravens brought in veteran Daryl Smith who was injured last year but has been a productive linebacker throughout his career. They also drafted rookie Arthur Brown in the 2nd round.
Smith, if healthy, should provide production and should undoubtedly be one of the starters in the middle – who plays next to him is the question. Upshaw was drafted to rush the passer so switching to inside at this level will not be easy. He also is showing a lack of discipline with his inability to get into shape. Upshaw may be the most talented of the options out of the three candidates besides Smith. McClain is injury prone and I believe will not be any better than he has already shown, while Bynes has yet to show he can play well for multiple games.
That leaves the rookie Arthur Brown who many believe has a style of play similar to Ray Lewis. Brown was drafted in the 2nd round so it is not out of the realm of possibility for him to start, however, he will likely to prove he can play special teams in order to start at linebacker. Personally, I believe Smith and Brown should start with Upshaw staying as an OLB. Arthur Brown may end up being the next Ray Lewis but, if that’s the case, it will take a long, long time for that to happen.
It will be weird not to see #52 out there!
This defense will be much better than last year.
Earlier I mentioned all of the departures from last year’s defense and then questioned who would play middle linebacker. With all that being said, I believe this defense will be much better than last year and has potential to be really, really good. Before the season last year, Terrell Suggs got injured and he should now be 100 percent healthy. He also now has Elvis Dumervil on the other side of him which should mean he will not see as many double teams. Both have potential to get double digit sacks very easily and it would shock me if they did not put up great numbers.
A great pass rush not only does the obvious thing of putting pressure on the opposing quarterback, it helps the secondary because they do not have to cover as long. I believe this Ravens secondary could be the best in football by the end of the season. Lardarius Webb returns from an ACL injury and, while he will likely not be 100 percent healthy at the start of the year, he will get better as the year goes on. Corey Graham surprised everyone with his play last season and Jimmy Smith finished the season strong and both should provide solid play this season opposite of Webb.
Despite losing future Hall of Famer Ed Reed and their biggest playmaker Bernard Pollard, the Ravens will see better production from their safeties this season. Michael Huff is not a Hall of Famer, but he is younger and more productive than Ed Reed at this point in their careers. Matt Elam is a hard of hitter, just like Pollard, and is also a better cover safety with more discipline.
Replacing legends is not easy, but for this upcoming season, the Ravens defense got younger, faster and overall much better than they were last season.
Bryant McKinnie scares me.
I will be honest, the Ravens would not have won the Super Bowl without Bryant McKinnie. However, his performance last season does not ease the tension I have about him this season. While he is the most talented of any of the Ravens tackles, McKinnie also has the most baggage and a history of weight problems and showing lack of effort.
For me, it is hard to be 100 percent sold on a guy who has that kind of history and who was also cut by the Ravens at the beginning of last season and benched for the majority of the year. I hope and I am wrong and that we will see the “good” McKinnie all year. If we do, the Ravens offensive line will be very good. However, if we don’t, Joe Flacco will be running for his life and the Ravens will be in trouble.
While there are some questions about the Ravens heading into training camp, anything short of a playoff appearance and deep run in the playoffs will be considered a disappointment. If Joe Flacco plays like he played in the playoffs last season, none of the issues I mentioned will even matter because he will carry the Ravens to the playoffs.
The O’s are playing great and now the Ravens are about to start to their title defense. A great summer so far in Baltimore just got even better!
Follow Marco on twitter @mromanell and Southbmore.com @southbmore1
