Know thine enemy. Brad Ward brings us "Behind Enemy Lines", which asks Beat Writers for the other 3 AFC North teams identical questions about their respective teams.
To my surprise, none of them predicted that their teams could win over 10 games, and even the Steelers and Ravens writers seemed less optimistic than that.
I think Neal Coolong, the (USA Today) Steelers writer, was actually harder on his team than he should have been.
It sounds like he's built an altar to Antonio Brown in his basement or something; believing that the Steelers offense has suffered a major setback with his loss.
Certainly, AB has been a historically great Hall of Fame type Wide Receiver, but people keep ignoring the Quarterback who hit him with perfectly-timed, accurate passes in tight windows.
What would OBJ have done with the Steelers instead of the Giants? Or even Jarvis Landry with them instead of the Dolphins?
And this writer seems to think that Juju Smith-Schuster's great sophomore year was more the result of opposing defenses concentrating on AB than Schuster's superior size, speed, and hands, and he all but dismisses the whole rest of the WR corps, including Donte Montcrief and James Washington.
Some guys just think this way, like they're attracted to shiny objects or something, and literally can't see the forest for the trees.
Neal was the same on defense, predicting a great year for TJ Watt, and giving most of the rest of the defense (including Devin Bush and Mark Barron) the "meh" treatment.
I gotta say...I think I have a better bead on the Steelers than Neal does, because I look at the whole team.
As you know, I told you that Gramps Brown is leaving his best years behind him with Big Ben and the Steelers, Montcrief and Smith-Schuster will somehow manage to scrape by (and Neal didn't even mention the tight ends...you know since none were named Kelce or...well you know the other guy...)
Nevermind: As I've said, in reality (until Big Ben gets hurt, which he probably will), the Steelers offense will again be one of the most prolific in the NFL, even without Antonio Brown hogging up all the passes (and demanding more).
And the Steelers defense (as I mentioned with Bush and Barron added) will be BETTER in 2019 than it was in 2018 or 2017.
That's why I've been telling you that the Steelers (NOT the Ravens) are the team the 2019 Browns have to beat in 2019. Mark my words.
I was much more impressed by (USA Today) Ravens writer Matthew Stevens, who pretty much broke the Ravens down as I have (except in greater depth).
"New" offensive and defensive coaches shouldn't change things much...
Well not on offense, anyway, with Lamar Jackson at Quarterback.
Matt must be one of my secret fans, as he predicts more deep passes in 2019, since the Ravens have brought in some serious (TALL) vertical threat WRs, and Jackson can deliver deep (as long as the radius of a quarter will work, instead of a dime).
On defense...well I guess Matt is on the money there too, right down to they're going to need to get "cute" to generate heat on opposing Quarterbacks sometimes, because they've just lost all 3 of their starting linebackers (Matt thinks Judon will be scary--as do I--but can't find any elite passrushers, see?)
I love it when I find guys like Matthew Stevens, who are genuinely objective (emotionally detatched) and thorough.
"Thorough" partly means not zeroing in on superstars at the expense of the rest of the TEAM.
Anyway Matthew gets that the Ravens offense will be unique in the NFL (and hard to stop), but their Defense won't be as good as it was in 2018.
Chris Roling (surprisingly another USA Today writer) was like Matt Stevens was on the Ravens:
Too bad he's stuck with the Bengals, because Chris is a legit analyst.
In conclusion, 2 real analysts and I agree on the Ravens and Bengals, and...well I cover the Steelers better than Neal Coolong!!!
Politics just ruins everything. Okbye.
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