Bunched-up AFC North, schedule could be good news for Ravens
An article on SportingNews.com should give heart to Ravens' fans about the Purple-and-Black's playoff chances this year. Columnist Mike Florio, who also operates the Web site Pro Football Talk, opines that the AFC North winner could finish with a record as pedestrian as 8-8, largely based on the out-of-conference competition.
The AFC North is matched up this season against the AFC South and the NFC East. Those two divisions combined for six playoff appearances last year (Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Tennessee, the Giants, Dallas and Washington). Florio then goes on to point out the flaws among the four teams in the AFC North as well as what they have going for them. The end result is that there may not be a lot of separation in Baltimore's division and if 8-8 (or even 9-7) gets the job done -- undoubtedly with tiebreaker help -- that has to to be good news for the Ravens who are trying to rebound with a rookie head coach and a question mark at QB, right?
A scheduling idiosyncrasy that could have a huge impact on the final standings are the non-division, non-AFC South, non-NFC East games that teams have to play. Consider the difference between the Ravens and the Steelers. The last-place Ravens get Miami and Oakland (a combined five regular-season wins last year) in those two games. The Steelers draw the Patriots and Chargers (combined 27 regular-season wins).
The odds I saw in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand about a week ago had the Ravens 30-1 to win the Super Bowl and 20-1 for the conference. If you like the Ravens, you missed your big chance when the line opened back in mid-January for next year and the Ravens were 125-1 to win the Supe.
Comments
Bill,
Probably with all the news about Greg Norman (well deserved) this may get lost a little bit, but what about Michelle Wie? I've been overdosing on golf this week but watching her play during the 2nd round was very impressive. 300 yr drives, iron shots (one eagle with a wedge on a par 4 for the 2nd day in a row), good putts and then she doesn't sign her score card?
Golf has a lot of obscure and IMO some stupid rules but signing a card is common knowledge. The official said Wie cried like a little girl. I know she is only 19 but her maturity seems more like a 9 yr old. While her parents set her up for life financially, her maturity seems to have suffered greatly.
Personally I think she needs to go to qualifying school and try to become a full time LPGA member. Her current schedule causes too much rust due to the limited opportunities.
Rich
---------------------------------------------
Rich,
It does seem like the Wies need to step back, examine and redirect, if need be, Michelle's career. There's a lot of talent there but also a lot of stuff going on that's just plain odd.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Rich | July 19, 2008 6:29 PM