Baltimore Ravens Preview: Week 3 Vs. Cleveland Browns

With an unexpected bye week, the still undefeated Ravens invite Cleveland to town, ready to end their season (much to the delight of all Ravens fans). As far as expectations go, its really impossible to gauge how the Ravens have fulfilled them.

True they dominated Cincinnati in a deceiving 17-10 win, but the Bengals are one of the worst teams in the NFL. A win is a win in a rebuilding era and I'm not trying to lose perspective, but I was a little more reticent to jump on the "Ravens in the playoffs!" bandwagon.

It'll be interesting to see how John Harbaugh has his team prepared after the week off. Winning after the bye week was a Brian Billick specialty. I think in giving his players some extra days off, Harbaugh did the best he could with an unfortunate situation. But it will be important for the Ravens not to come out rusty against a Browns team that's desperate for a win.

The team is still apparently strong at defense, though the secondary is banged up. They'll need to be at their best because when Braylon Edwards holds onto the ball, he's one of the best receivers in the league. I definitely think they can harass Derek Anderson at QB, the guy has looked terrible since the last half of 2007.

I'm glad Troy Smith is back and healthy because I'm still a little leery of starting a rookie QB. True, Joe Flacco did everything he needed to do against Cincy. He might even do the same against the Browns overrated D. But after this, we got Pittsburgh on the road on MNF, followed by the Titans and their showstopping defense. I just hope he makes it through those games in one piece.

The best surprise of week one is the offensive line. They played phenomenally. The interior, led by Ben Grubbs, did a great job of being physical up front. The tackles weren't bad in the first game post-Ogden, but they'll face harder challenges in the coming weeks and it will be interesting to see how they adapt.

Overall, right now, I am a cautious optimist with this team. I think they could sneak into the playoffs depending on how they do compared to others. I also think they could go 6-10. Whatever the case, with no pressure on the Ravens to do anything for the first time since 2002, it should be one helluva ride.