Baltimore Ravens Could Be in for Long Day Against Pittsburgh Steelers

While I live and die with the Baltimore Ravens, I am also a realist, and Sunday could be a long day for Head Coach John Harbaugh and company. Relax Ravens fans, a loss to the hated Steelers on Sunday will be no need for panic in Charm City.

This is a long 16-game season and in the end, the Ravens and Steelers will more than likely be two teams headed in opposite directions, at least for now. The November 6 re-match at Heinz Field will more than likely be a solid road victory for Baltimore, and a game that sees many of the same players from this Sunday playing much better football.

Once the lockout ended, and the Ravens were over the salary cap, GM Ozzie Newsome decided to begin a salary cap purge and a semi-roster overhaul during the lockout-shortened off-season. Baltimore quickly recouped $17 million in salary cap space within days of the lockout ending, but had to release long time fan favorites and key pivotal players such as Todd Heap, Derrick Mason, Kelly Gregg and Willis McGahee.

Baltimore also failed to re-sign key players such as RB/FB LeRon McClain, CB Josh Wilson, and safety Dwan Landry. While all of these players will be missed, the Ravens will be just fine. In fact, Newsome has his team ahead of the game in terms of next offseason and roster movement.

Newsome and Ravens brass have not cut key veteran players, or allowed good ones to sign elsewhere en masse, since they overhauled their roster two years after winning the Super Bowl. Newsome and the Ravens adapted very quickly back then and will do so even faster this time. In 2002, the Ravens finished 7-9 following an offseason similar to this one in terms of letting players go, but were predicted by many to win just four or five games.

This season, the Ravens will find themselves back in the playoffs for a franchise record fourth straight season. However, Sunday’s matchup against their hated rivals may not be a very good measuring stick of just how good the Ravens will be as a team this year.

Ravens fans should look at the first three games as an extended three game preseason. The Ravens may not begin to play like a playoff team until Rex Ryan returns to Baltimore to face his old team with his new one on October 2. The 2011 Ravens are a significantly different looking team than the 2010 bunch that lost to the very similar looking Steelers last January.

During the 2010 season, the Ravens were a good 12-4 team, but seemed to have more question marks than any other 12-4 team in NFL history. While many of those question marks remain, the Ravens are younger and will ultimately be better equipped to answer them this season.

The roster is younger and faster where it was older and slower and while youth does bring inexperience, the Ravens have one of the better coaching staffs in the league and are prepared to deal with it.

Just before the work stoppage ended, the Ravens were one of those teams that analysts said would have an advantage to start the year. The Ravens were one of those teams that had the veteran players and experienced coaching staff to combat the lockout-shortened offseason.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, and it depends how you look at it, that all changed very fast for Baltimore once the lockout ended. Due to poor play along the offensive line and too much inconsistency at wide receiver, Newsome made some welcome player additions as training camp wore on.

It was obvious that the Ravens were in danger of being in too big of a hole to start the season. After all, those same experts are also demanding that if the Ravens are going to get past Pittsburgh and onto the Super Bowl, QB Joe Flacco must have a breakout season in 2011.

Joe Cool may not exactly get off to a hot start, as it will take rookie wide receivers Torrey Smith and Tandon Doss, along with second year player David Reed some time to get the necessary experience. While the three of them work their way into the lineup, Newsome went out and stole speedy wide out Lee Evans from the Buffalo Bills to pair with the Ravens most veteran receiver, Anquan Boldin.

The Ravens also have two young second year tight ends in Ed Dickson and David Pitta. Both played well in preseason and seem ready to take the next step, but they aren’t Todd Heap just yet.

As training camp wore on and the Ravens played Games 1 and 2 of the preseason, the Ravens O-line played worse than the unit that allowed the second most sacks in the league last season. So, Newsome signed former Pro-Bowl offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie and former Pro-Bowl center Andre Gurode. He also added guard Mark LeVoir and in the process moved Michael Oher back to his natural position of right tackle.

Whichever five guys line up to protect Joe Flacco on Sunday won’t really matter. None of them has yet to line up together in any type of game yet. The starting unit, from left to right should be McKinnie, Ben Grubbs, Matt Birk, Marshall Yanda and Michael Oher. This is a good line, and once this unit gets a few games under their belt, and if they can stay healthy, Flacco should see a lot more time in the pocket.

The five of them have a combined 32 years of NFL experience, and have participated in 12 Pro-Bowls, but the only lineman who played at his starting spot for more than one game in the preseason was guard Ben Grubbs.

Here is where the problem lies for the first few games of the season, especially the one on Sunday. To expect any unit to overcome Pittsburgh’s' complicated, and very aggressive 3-4 defense, with no playing time together, may be asking for a miracle.

With an average unit that was decent at best together during the past the few seasons, the Ravens still allowed 28 sacks in eight games to the Steel Curtain. Former Raven James Harrison, and his counterpart LaMarr Woodley have combined for 12 of them, but Steelers’ defensive coordinator Dick Lebeau sends blitzer’s from everywhere on the field; thus, 10 other defensive players have at least one take down on Joe Flacco over that same stretch.

Offensive line audibles are common when blitzes are recognized pre-snap. Those audibles are usually called by the center, and the Ravens may be missing theirs. Matt Birk had knee surgery Aug. 3, and never played a snap in the preseason.

With five or six guys that have yet to play together, starting against one of the most complex and confusing defenses in the league on Sunday, missing a call or an audible assignment could be bad for the Ravens franchise QB. Escaping with a healthy Flacco, and the offense intact, may not be a bad alternative to a win if the Ravens falter Sunday.

You also must consider the fact that Flacco will need a few weeks to get used to having virtually all new receivers. Only Boldin has any real familiarity with Flacco during a regular season game, and the two of them do not seem to have great chemistry just yet. Yes, Flacco and Evans hooked up quite a bit and with a great deal of success during the pre-season, but this is the regular season and the speed is quite a bit different.

With Ray Rice and Vonta Leach, the best fullback in football, Flacco and the Ravens offense will be a force to deal with on a weekly basis at some point this season. Unfortunately, it will not be this Sunday.

The defense under new coordinator Chuck Pagano has a few wrinkles to iron out but you have to like what you see so far in terms of the aggressiveness. Cornerback Jimmy Smith, the Ravens first round selection in this year’s draft, will more than likely take the Chris McAlister route and should be starting for the Ravens by the Jets game.

Third year cornerback Carey Williams has looked very impressive in the preseason, and both he and Smith are now expected to be the future for the Ravens in the secondary. Because of their youth in the defensive backfield and new aggressive scheme, the Ravens will be vulnerable to giving up a few big plays early in the season.

Once their young DB’s grow up and the rest of the unit gets its timing down, this could be a top five defense, but you won’t see that unit this Sunday. The young DB’s will gain some welcome experience against the Steelers, as Pittsburgh boasts one of the league’s best receiving corps.

They have plenty of speed in Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders, and Lardarius Webb’s worst nightmare, Antonio Brown. All three have the potential to make any given play look like something from Madden 2012.

There is still Hines Ward and recently, Pittsburgh added the reliable former Jets receiver, Jericho Cotchery. Unfortunately, the Steelers tend to kill the Ravens with a big play or two each game and right now, regardless of the opponent, this defense may give one or two each week up until the secondary matures.

The Steelers, who lost to the Packers in last year’s Super Bowl, pretty much stayed with the status quo. However, they aren’t getting any younger, and with an average age of almost 27 years prior to the start of last season, the Steelers were the second oldest team in the league. Pittsburgh has decided to make one more run with their current group as they re-signed 14 of their own free agents.

Age does not help overcome football injuries and some crucial Steelers are banged up. James Harrison had several surgeries to remove part of a herniated disk in his lower back as recently as March. Troy Polamalu, who was hampered badly during the Super Bowl with an Achilles injury, is coming off consecutive seasons where he did not play a full schedule.

There are some rare cracks in the steel foundation of the Steelers locker room. Hines Ward danced with the stars and then promptly picked up a DUI this past offseason. James Harrison called out QB Ben Roethlisberger and RB Rashard Mendenhall during an interview with Men’s Journal magazine. Harrison also threw in some less than loving remarks about NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in the process. While Big Ben, Mendenhall, and Harrison say things are good between them, the damage was done and its effects are yet be seen.

The Steelers are notorious Super Bowl hangover artists in recent years, and while their fans will argue that at least there was a hangover to be had, I say after each of their last two appearances (2006, 2009) they failed to qualify for the playoffs the next season.  That is a good sign for the younger Ravens, as the older Steelers look to stay healthy for 16 games.

The schedule favors both teams this season but the tide turned this year in terms of which team plays the stronger teams at home and on the road.

In years past, the Steelers seemed to host the tougher teams like Atlanta, Green Bay, Minnesota, Dallas, and the Giants from the west, while the Ravens had to travel to play all of them. This season, the Ravens host Arizona, San Francisco, Indianapolis, and Houston while the Steelers must travel to those cities. I am not saying these teams are the 80’s 49ers, but I feel a lot better playing them at home.

I am also not saying the Ravens will not win on Sunday.

I’m saying the Ravens are a positive work in progress and the Steelers may be more in sync than the Ravens come Sunday, but that does not mean they are a better team; they are not. They are probably a little more prepared in all phases of the game right now, but by the rematch in November, the Ravens should be ahead of them.

However, the experience and continuity Pittsburgh boasts right now is a clear cut advantage for Sunday's game.

That advantage in this series is huge when you consider how close the games have been recently. Only six points or less have decided each of the last seven regular season meetings, and in the past four contests, only a field goal separated the two teams. It is possible that Ravens are a little further along than we have seen. With the home crowd behind them, and if they hang around until the fourth quarter, then there is a good chance for a  Ravens win.

If I told you now the Ravens are going to be 10-4 or 11-3 with games remaining against Cleveland and Cincinnati this year, would you suck up an opening day loss to the Steelers at home to be a much improved and growing football team in December? I sure as hell would.

If the Ravens do overcome these issues with the youth and inexperience, as well as a lack of continuity on the O-line on Sunday, then it is probably a very safe bet to say that the Ravens may very well be the team with a Super Bowl hangover next season.