Written by Stephen Oh , AccuScore

Ravens Should Be Better Next Season

As a die-hard Ravens fan I couldn’t be happier right now, but I was one of the first people to say that our chances of repeating are not good. Nearly every major media outlet has made similar statements. But in the process of picking apart all the reasons why our chances of repeating are not good, I came to realize that the Ravens on paper should be better next season.

The Passing Offense is Improving

Joe Flacco proved he can play like the best player in the world for a month. I do not expect him to be the best player in the world all season, but I am 100% confident that with Jim Caldwell calling the plays our passing offense will be more consistent. I am worried that our offensive line won’t be what it was in the playoffs. I don’t expect Bryant McKinnie to stay in shape and Matt Birk will likely retire. That said, I think our pass protection and passing efficiency will only improve under Caldwell and without Cam Cameron. I expect our passing offense to go from middle of the road (~15th depending on the stat) to being above average (Top 12 in key categories).

The Running Game Stays Strong

I am going to assume that we won’t be able to keep Vonta Leach, despite how awesome he is. Ray Rice had troubling fumbling issues in the playoffs, but Bernard Pierce showed all season that he is a poor man’s Adrian Peterson, and I mean that in a good way. I am very confident that the combination of Rice and Pierce on a time share will be able to help Baltimore maintain their Top 12 running offense ranking.

Pass Defense Will Be Better

Baltimore signed Lardarius Webb for $50 Million and $20 Million guaranteed. He is a Top 5 corner in the NFL. He tore his ACL early in the season. Cary Williams had some great moments but statistically was not a great player. Losing Williams in free agency will not hurt us if Webb is healthy, Jimmy Smith continues to improve and becomes 75% the player most thought he could be as a first round pick, and Corey Graham is still there.

People forget that Terrell Suggs was the Defensive Player of the Year in 2011. He not only missed half the season, he played at around 60% of his ability for most of the games he actually played. If he comes back 100% next year our pass rush will be vastly improved. We could lose Paul Kruger in free agency, but on paper I feel the combination of a healthy Suggs + Courtney Upshaw is an upgrade at outside LB over a 60% Suggs + Kruger.

Run Defense Will Bounce Back

Haloti Ngata is universally recognized as a Top 3 Defensive Tackle and probably the #1 player at his position. He seriously strained ligaments in his knee early in the season. He played pretty well but was playing at around 75%. If Ngata stays healthy it will make a huge impact. The Ravens defense was doing very well in the Super Bowl against the run until Ngata went out. We are losing Ray Lewis, the greatest LB of all time, but everyone knows he was not playing at a high level. If we re-sign Dannell Ellerbe and Jameel McClain is healthy (injured Week 14) we’ll be just fine at the inside LB position.

Special Teams

Jacoby Jones is the Pro Bowl return man who couldn’t play in the game because he was busy preparing for the Super Bowl where he proceeded to return a kick for a TD! Justin Tucker was 4-4 on 50+ yard field goals and 30-33 overall. He proved to be clutch kicker with notable game winners and game tying efforts. Even if Sam Koch (who was awful in the Super Bowl) is not an “elite” player, we’re still talking about the punter. Our Special Teams will be just fine.

Leadership

This is where the loss of Ray Lewis will be felt the most. Lewis clearly inspired the team to go on its amazing Super Bowl run. While no team is losing more leadership than the Ravens with Lewis’ retirement, there aren’t many teams that have so many players who can fill the void having learned from Lewis. In the analysis above I assume we may not re-sign Carey Williams and/or Paul Kruger. I am assuming / hoping that we can keep Ed Reed and Anquan Boldin by doing so. With Reed, Suggs, Ngata, Boldin, Rice and Flacco we have elite players who provide the veteran leadership that 80% of the league would envy.

Health is an issue for every team. Obviously the Ravens’ chances of repeating are minimal of they suffer the same type of injuries as they did this season. But if the team is not injury plagued I would argue that the team will be improved in all areas of the game, except for the leadership department, where they are still more than stable.