AFC North 2012 Predicitions

Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens have been the strongest team in this division since the Harbarugh/Flacco era started five years ago. They were one missed kick away from going to the Super Bowl last year and that playoff game showed how Flacco has matured as a quarterback. The defense will be strong as long as Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are on the field, though the absence of Suggs for most, if not all of the season, will hurt them. Paul Kruger and Jameel McClain are going to have to pick up the slack. A new kicker should almost erase the memories of last year…almost.

Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers have had some rare drama this off-season. After getting bummed from the playoffs last year, they endured a lengthy holdout with wideout Mike Wallace and have running back issues. Todd Haley and Roethlisberger have to get on the same page, which has been fairly well documented throughout the off season. The defense is always good under Dick LeBeau, so that isn’t a huge concern, though injuries do. James Harrison is already a “game time decision” for this weekend’s opener. The schedule isn’t too brutal, but they need to put together a new look offense.

Cincinnati Bengals
The sophomore curse is coming after Andy Dalton and A.J Green. And by sophomore curse, I mean a killer schedule. Also, BenJarvis GreenEllis isn’t the back that Cedric Benson was. Last year, they had the advantage of surprise – no one expected them to burst onto the scene. This year, there’s no trickery involved; in other words defenses will be ready for what’s coming. And in this division, that means Baltimore and Pittsburgh are coming. Cincy’s defense itself is pretty good, ranked 7th overall. They didn’t make any huge acquisitions however, so nothing has really changed. Last year was a blip on the radar for these Bengals.

Cleveland Browns
The Browns still don’t know what they want from their team. Who are they? Who do they want to be offensively and defensively? After a failed experiment with Colt McCoy, they went out and drafted 28 year old Brandon Weeden. His age will be an advantage here because of the maturity that comes with it, something this team has lacked for a long time. The larger addition of Trent Richardson is more important for this team to finally find some offense. A good running game can cover a lot of other problems. A revamped DL with John Hughes and Frostee Rucker will attempt to reign in the quarterbacks of this division. However, the rest of the division is just too strong for the poor Browns.