1. Baltimore Ravens - (13-3) - The Baltimore Ravens are my preseason pick to win the super bowl. The offense is young and reloaded. Joe Flacco is entering season 3 and has the weapons he's ever had. Anquan Boldin Has top receiver potential. Derrick Mason is ageless and still productive. New Tight ends Ed Dickson and Dennis Pitta will make an impact. Pitta can line up in the slot and on the line. He has a Dallas Clark skill set. Ray Rice was a beast last season. He showed great running and catching ability. Willis McGahee is on the back nine but there is still some gas left in the tank. Baltimore's offensive line is one of the top in the league. All this is the making of a dangerous offense combined with a tough defense. The Ravens D-line is very stout. Rookie Terrence Cody will be a force in the middle while splitting time with Kelly Greg. Ray Lewis is still a dominant linebacker. Terrell Suggs is a speed demon rushing the QB. Paul Kruger and Sergio Kindle will get their chances at cracking the other outside linebacker side. The secondary still has Ed Reed and Dawan Landry at safety. The corners have some question marks. Fabian Washington and Dominique Foxworth are solid but unspectacular. The rushing attack of the linebackers helps any secondary so they don't have to have two Revis's holding down the corner spots. I was very surprised they didn't draft some depth at D-back. Last season they were bitten by the injury bug. The Ravens have the offense, defense and leadership to go all the way. Keeping guys healthy is always the key.
2. Cincinatti Bengals - (10-6) - The Bengals reemerged as a playoff team after a drought. Carson Palmer was back to top form. Chad Ochocinco had a good year. With more help around him this season he should be even better. Antonio Bryant is a solid number 2 receiver. The Bengals may finally have a pass catching tight end. Jermaine Gresham was the Teams first round draft choice. Gresham is a big target with good speed, questions linger due to being injury prone. Cedric Benson had a great year after many thought he was done. He rushed for 1251 and 6 td's. Can he do that again? The line still scares me and so does Benson. I don't trust that he will match what he did a season ago. I'm looking for 1050 yards, 6 touchdowns. I think the line may have some trouble holding up. Right tackle Andre Smith could easily show up to camp 360lbs. The Bengals defense took a big step forward last season. The defensive line is solid and they grabbed two players in the draft to help out even more. Carlos Dunlap and Geno Atkins could both start this season. Atkins is an undersized tackle, but he stood out at the senior bowl and was a tremendous player at Georgia. Two USC former standouts Keith Rivers and Rey Maualuga should be excellent outside linebackers. Dhani Jones came in and played a pro bowl caliber game last year. The safeties aren't the strongest. Roy Willimas can't cover. The two corners are good. Leon Hall and Johnathon Joseph are a good duo, combining for 11 interceptions. The Bengals defense is good and so is the offense. Cincinnati should be in a playoff hunt again this year. If I am wrong about the offensive line look out. this could be a 12 win team.
3. Pittsburgh Steelers - (8-8) - With Ben Roethlisberger out 4 weeks the Steelers are going to have to run the ball. Rashard Mendenhall needs to come up big in the first for weeks. He showed flashes of being a big time rusher. Dennis Dixon and Byron Leftwich will battle it out in camp for the starting quarterback spot while Big Ben is out. Hines Ward is still a good receiver and premiere run blocker. Mike Wallace came out in his rookie season and played well. Wallace caught 6 TD's for 756 yards. He could challenge for the top spot this season statistically. Heath Miller had a solid year catching the ball from the tight end spot. The Steeler's O-line is solid and got an up grade. They took Maurkice Pouncey in the first round and he should start at center from day 1. The Steelers D is still good. Keeping Troy Polomalu healthy is always the biggest factor. The rest of the secondary is just okay. Ryan Clark is a big hitter from the other safety spot. Ike Taylor and Bryant McFadden are less than spectacular. But they have great pass rushers Lamar Woodley and James Harrison in front of them to help out. Casey Hampton is still the rock in the middle, stuffing the run in front of two good inside linebackers Farrior and Timmons. The Steelers have a shot at the playoffs. They need to at least split the first 4 games. After that they get their QB back and should be a solid team.
4. Cleveland Browns - (3-13) - The Browns may get first pick in the draft come April 2011. They would have been better off with Brady Quinn behind center than Jake Delhomme. Jerome Harrison played extremely well when he took over for Jamal Lewis. He rushed for 561 yards total in the last 3 games of 2009. He is a smaller back at 5'9' 202lbs. He will be in a 2 back system with rookie Montario Hardesty. Hardesty is a power back and will be a nice combo for the team. I think they will both be productive. Last season Mohamed Massaquoi played well as a rookie at wide receiver. Josh Cribbs is a do it all type of player. He is productive running, catching and returning kicks. The line is solid with Joe Thomas holding down the blind side. But how far can Delhomme take them? Not far enough to over come a terrible defense. The defensive line is mediocre. Middle linebacker D'Qwell Jackson is about the only good player on the whole defense. The rest of the defensive unit is filled with role players and fringe guys. It's going to be another long winter in Cleveland in a tough AFC North. The Cleveland Browns are on the clock, Jake Locker or Ryan Mallett will be the biggest topic this coming season.
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