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PackBrew42 is Truffle Shufflin said 04/23, 04:54 PM
Comeback year? Climbing the ladder? I guess I'd like to be told what a comeback year is? A 6-10 year, 7-9?

The Ravens have Kyle Boller - a QB who has thrown 1 more TD than INTs. Troy Smith has played 4 games total with 76 passes attempted (or 19/game)

They need some help at offensive line and REALLY need receiving help. 23rd in passing yards and 24th in points scored. Basically their whole offense (except their running game) can use improvements.

And while they were the 6th best D in defensive YPG, they were 22nd in points ALLOWED. Their D is old and they need some major help in their secondary. With their aging D, the loss of any of their defensive vets will hurt them significantly.

Within their division, the only team I can see them having a good chance of beating is the Bungles but I can't see them winning their division or improving anywhere past 3rd in their own division. Non-divisional opponents are: Houston, Titans, Indy, Miami, Oakland, Giants, Philly, Washington, Dallas, Jags. Not very easy. Maybe they can beat Miami, Titans, Oakland, & Philly and 2 wins again Cincy giving them 6 Wins.

Tough to say tho, lots of the winnable games will go either way

PackBrew42 is Truffle Shufflin said 04/23, 05:15 PM
I'm not sure 8-8 counts as a "comeback year" after being 5-11. 9-7 probably (as it is a winning record) and 10-6 definately.

You say "the tandem of Kyle Boller and Troy Smith will really help out this passing offense". Anyone who knows anything cannot keep a straight face saying that. It simply isn't true. Boller is a 1st round bust and Smith, well the jury is out on him. I can't say he's Baltimore's answer at QB after 4 games & 76 passing attempts.

Derrick Mason is up there in age (33-34) and barely got over 1k yards as the only real passing threat. Todd Heap played 6 games last season with injuries. If those injuries don't hamper his performance this year, it helps the Ravens, but not enough to really turn around the year.

As for Yamon Figurs, yeah, he's fast...but he's no Devin Hester. 1 punt & kickoff return for a touchdown is nice, but not outstanding. His kickoff return is slightly above average but punt return average is average, at best. Only 1 reception at WR last year, so I'm not sure how much impact he'll have in the receiving corp. But again, 2 return TDs are nice but nothing to go "Wow" about when compared to Hester and others.

PackBrew42 is Truffle Shufflin said 04/23, 09:19 PM
Here are reasons why the Raven's won't have a comeback season
-Rookie coach
-1 horrible QB, 1 unproven QB (and if they draft Ryan, a rookie QB)
-Old O line
-A 33 year old WR is the #1 WR on the team (who isn't that good) and a severe drop off after that
-Bad secondary
-Bad defense
-Tough schedule Pittsburgh, Indy, Titans, Giants, Jags, Washington, & Dallas were all playoff teams. That's 8 games against playoff teams (Steelersx2)

The comment that the Ravens are the definition of D which is funny since again 22nd in points allowed. They haven't gotten much younger and their secondary will probably not improve dramatically. This isn't the D that won the SB a few years ago. Paper tigers on D now
Boller & Smith are not a tandem of anything except misery. Boller is horrible and Smith is pretty unproven in 4 games (52% completion rate)

You say "If they can be a defense based team and get enough offense to score some points they will be okay" 24th best scoring offense..a measly 17.2 ppg compared to Miami (the worst team) at 16.7

Maybe in a few years but there are too many positions they need to get youth at. A comeback year will be when they're 9-7 but not this year