I sure am!

It’s great to be back banging on a keyboard talking about the Ravens and anticipating the impending football season. This time of year everyone is optimistic about how far the Ravens will go. I can’t wait for the smell of tailgate grills getting fired up. The swish of a cold beer being opened. The roar of the crowd when there team takes the field for the first home game of the season. The disbelief when Tucker breaks another kicking record. The crack of the bat.. wait that’s not football but this would be a good time to give a shout out to our Orioles who are tearing it up this year. GO O’s! Back to the Ravens, we made it though training camp fairly unscathed thankfully we did not hear the words ” out for the season” connected to any of the starters with Marlon Humphreys being the only starter who may miss two or three games with a foot injury. Although with all the mystery around Mark Andrews and why he is not practicing, he may be injured also. The fact that J K Dobbins did not practice until the last week of training camp or the fact that none of the main starters played one snap in a preseason game means we don’t know who’s healthy or not. Whether you agree or not with not playing the starters in the preseason, that can be debated at a later date. We really don’t know what we have unit September 10th at 1:00 PM at M&T Bank Stadium. Look for the first injury report to get posted that may give us some idea for the condition of our team.

At the beginning of the season, all we have to judge the team is what it looks like on paper. So the offense looks good and, with all the questions, the defense not so good.

Starting on defense Marlon missing even two games is not a good thing. Tyus Bowser is out on the non-football injury list and again we have no clue why we question where is the pass rush going to come from? The Ravens added veteran help with Jadeveon Clowney and Ronald Darby for the line and backfield. This will help, but the younger guys like Patrick Queen and David Ojabo will need to step up for this unit to do well. I loved what we saw from Roquan Smith last year and am hoping we see the same this season. All in all, I like the defense but we just won’t know until they get on the field.

The offense looks great on paper. The wide receiver corp may be the best the Ravens have ever had. Four of the five lineman are returning starters from last year and I can’t remember the last time we could say this. For the first time in Lamar’s career he will have the same starting center as last year. The running backs are healthy and will be available week one. Mark Andrews and Ronnie Stanley are both on the injury list but were practicing on a limited basis. So, looking at all the offensive pieces the glaring question is: Can Lamar utilize all the weapons? Can Lamar hit the long passes to the speedy receivers? If we can’t stretch the field then we are in the same situation as last year dumping the ball off to Andrews for less than ten yards. We just can’t keep relying on Lamar’s legs, he got to throw the long ball accurately to keep the other team’s defense guessing.

We just don’t know how the Ravens will play but I’m excited to find out.

GO RAVENS!!!

I pick games with an eye on how the results will help the Ravens get to the playoffs. Such as rooting against the other teams in our division Steelers (of course), Bengals, and Browns. Picking a NFC team over a AFC team. Wanting a team to lose with a better record than the Ravens, or just because we don’t like them (Colts). Some or even several of my picks each week are long shots but we just root for how it helps the Ravens. Any given Sunday!

Remember, my picks are who we want to win not who we think will win. So don’t bet the beer money on my picks.

Thursday night 8:20

Lion over Chiefs
So, big deal the Chiefs won another Super Bowl what else is new? Rooting for the NFC team over the AFC team.

SUNDAY 1:00

RAVENS over Texans
Houston comes into Baltimore with a new rookie head coach DeMeco Ryan and a rookie quarterback C.J Stroud the No. 2 pick in this years draft. I don’t think either one of them will get much sleep Saturday night thinking about the pounding Roquan Smith and the Ravens defense will put on them Sunday. The Ravens defense is not the only thing Ryan needs to lose sleep over. How are they going to stop Lamar? The simple answer…. they’re not going to stop Lamar and the Ravens offense. The Ravens have a great week one record and that’s not going to change this week.

GO RAVENS!!!

Browns over Bengals
At the time of publishing, after dealing with a leg injury, Joe Burrow is scheduled to play on Sunday against the Browns. So with deep struggle I pick the Browns to win. This is a road game for the Bengals so you anticipate the home field advantage the Browns will have. Plus we play the Bengals in Cincinnati week two and it would be fantastic if the Bengals were 0-2 after week two.

49ers over Steelers
Need I say more?

Jaguars over Colts
I will never forgive the Irsay’s for moving the Colts out of Baltimore. That is why I root against them whenever I can.

Saints over Titans
NFC over AFC. I have a story tell you about the Titan’s QB but I will save it for week six when we play them in London.

Commanders over Cardinals
I root for Washington when I can for our Commander fan friends. And the Orioles are playing the Cardinals next week so why not kill two birds with one stone.

Sunday 4:00

Packers over Bears
Same as with Washington I root for Green bay when I can for our Packer fan friends.

Eagles over Patriots
The Eagles are kinda our NFC team and it’s hard to break old habits of rooting against Tom Brady and the Patriots even though Tom has been out of New England for years. (Did you notice I hold grudges)

Sunday night 8:20

Cowboys over Giants
Same thought as the Commanders and Packers.

Monday Night 8:15

Jets over Bills
Sometimes I root for the home team because I know what it’s like to be at the game and have your team lose. Plus the Bills are going to be the harder team to beat later in the season.

Enjoy the games with a couple of Tiki drinks in memory of Jimmy Buffett. Jimmy is in his forever paradise, safe in that one particular harbor. Jimmy’s latitude may have changed but his attitude will live forever.

And that’s just The View From 151.

GO RAVENS!!!