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Offseason Analysis: Preseason  |
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This preseason might be the most important preseason for the Ravens. The Ravens are pretty much entering another rebuilding phase following a dismal 5-11 season, and losing Steve McNair and Jonathan Ogden to retirement. Losing their two most important offensive players will surely hurt this franchise and definitely set them back a few seasons, but still they will press on. They also lost Brian Billick, and gained Jon Harbaugh as head coach, and it remains to be seen how this first time head coach fares throughout the season.
They have a lot of offensive questions to answer along the way however.
They will get the chance to see Joe Flacco call plays and make decisions on the field. They need to decide just what they play on doing at left tackle to replace Ogden as well as at quarterback to replace McNair.
Thankfully for them their defense remains relatively intact, and if they can play up to their potential, they might be in line to win some games. Their defense is aging, but they can still compete. Remember, this is pretty much the same team that went 13-3 two seasons ago.
Week One: at New England Patriots: Obviously the Patriots have something to prove a bit after their dramatic collapse in the Super Bowl. The Ravens won’t win this game but it will be nice to see their young offense take the team for the first time.
Week Two: vs. Minnesota Vikings: A battle of two young teams. It will be interesting to see how the Vikings passing game will be this season. The Ravens could win this game if they could actually shut down the vaunted one-two running game of the Vikings in Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor. I don’t see that happening.
Week Three: at St. Louis Rams: The Rams definitely need to improve from last season and if the team itself can stay healthy they might make some noise this season. Still, I think they have too many unanswered questions at this point in the offseason so the Ravens eek one out here.
Week Four: vs. Atlanta Falcons: Again, the Falcons are another team with way too many questions to answer. The Ravens defense will get a chance to see acclaimed rookie QB Matt Ryan take to the field, but there is much else going on for them. The Ravens should breeze by with a win here.
The Ravens should pull off a 2-2 records through these four games, and hopefully they can get some of their needs ironed out before the regular season starts.
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