NFL Trilogy… The Bad

There are obviously teams that are going to be bad this season and you don’t need me to tell you about those teams. However two teams close to the top of the betting order that I suspect will not perform as well as expected are the Ravens and the Eagles.

The Eagles have some real talent as always and with Vick, McCoy and Jackson it is impossible to rule them out of contention. However the Eagles have had that talent for multiple years now and haven’t been able to do very much with it. Michael Vick was very inconsistent last season and it may be that his style of play leads to him playing hurt a lot more often than any regular NFL QB. As a result he may need to just become a pocket passer if he hopes to stay healthy for the whole season and if this is the case then there would be definite question marks around his performance if this was the case.

Another shock to me is that Andy Reid managed to keep his job after it was clear that he had lost the team half way through the season, this could be a mistake but I suppose only time will tell. The Ravens are a team that has survived in a division with the steelers on defence alone and although critics say this every year there defensive players are certainly getting older. In a division with the steelers and the Bengals I think the Ravens will find it extremely difficult get through that division into the play-offs again this year.

If the Ravens defence does crumble then there offence will have to pick them up, this could be a real problem. Ray Rice had an outstanding year last year but I do not expect him to be able to continue with that form this year. Boldin is a great wide receiver and he will have his catches wherever he goes (he is one of those wide receivers that will make a mediocre QB look really good) but when it comes down to it Boldin still needs someone to throw him the ball and with Joe Flacco as QB there is no certainty that he will get the ball as often as he should. In my opinion Flacco has not been as good as expected and would not be anywhere near my first choice when the game is on the line.