Last year, the Ravens lost 3 times on national TV and had their 3 worst games while being watched by a nationwide audience (those being the Denver MNF game, Cincy TNF game, and Indy Playoff game). They haven't had a decent game in the spotlight since they embarrassed Green Bay in a meaningless MNF game in December the other year (52-3 or something, but Green Bay's whole team was hurt). They choked last year in the playoffs, losing a game they should have won easily.

Cincinnati is a team plagued by lack of depth. Last year, they were undefeated until Chris Henry got his first suspension for his crime spree and then they got blown out by New England the very next game. They have no backs or TEs who are threats in their passing game and no viable WRs after their top 2. They have no QB behind Palmer and no RB behind Johnson. The Ravens are deep on offense and defense.

Can Baltimore get a big win on Monday night and get the monkey off their back?

Who Dey!!!

I don't care much about the AFC.

But this game pits Carson Palmer against the Ravens Def.

I just happen to have both on my Fantasy team.
I don't know who to root for.

If Steve McNair and Ray Lewis stays healthy this year, they'll get more than a big win on Monday. They'll win the superbowl! Watch and see!

I think that the season opening game on Monday is extremely important and will set the tone for the whole season.

The defense is obviously very, very good and are able to shut down any offense. The loss of Adalius Thomas does sting, but should not hurt too much with all the playmakers on that defense.

But the question mark (which was exploited in the playoff loss to Indy) is the efficiency of the offense. With a full offseason under his belt to absorb the offense, Steve McNair should improve his numbers from last year. Also, Willis McGahee is a great addition and should return to his old form after an off year last season. I think that both Mark Clayton and Demetrius Williams will continue to develop and emerge as big time recievers. And I also like how Baltimore is quietly buildin their offensive line for the future-- adding Ben Grubbs, Jared Gaither, and last year, Chris Chester.

As for Week 1, if the defense plays up to standards and the offense takes advantage of a porus Bengals defense, the Ravens should be able to come out of Cincinnati with a huge division win.

I agree that Cincy lacks depth, but the Ravens really are not as good as their record would have suggested

Here was Baltimore's schedule last season:

TB losing record
Oakland - (worst team in the league)
Cleveland - losing record
SD (one playoff team)
Denver 9-7
Carolina 8-8
New Orleans playoff team 10-6
Cinci 8-8
Ten 8-8
Atlanta losing team 7-9
pit 8-8
cinci 8-8
KC wc team 9-7
Cleveland 4-12
pit 8-8
buffalo losing team 7-9

They had hardly any winning teams to play. The Ravens were a 10-6 team hidden by an enourmously easy schedule. Teams need to beat their rivals, and the Ravens need to beat Cinci, but who knows if they will.

i picked baltimore to win. yeah, both teams pretty much need this win. it's a good game and can be close. since they are in the same division, it's a must win game. both teams have the potential to do so, but i'm giving baltimore the nods for this week.

As Dave said, the schedules are the key. The Ravens had what was ranked the third easiest schedule in the NFL while the Bengals had the third most difficult. It is not hard to put up astounding defensive numbers against crap teams (like Pittsburgh did against Cleveland Sunday). This game will set the tone for the season and I think that (with this year's Ravens schedule compared to last year's) the Ravens are in for a rude awakening. The Bengals have won 4 out of the last 5 games against the Ravens and the Bengals just signed a brilliant, mobile, 2nd string QB than the one you've seen, and I personally think their 3rd string QB (Jeff Rowe) is better than Doug Johnson was. As far as "no backs" go, Rudi is ranked the hardest HB to tackle in the NFL, not to be confused with MVP, but based on broken tackles and yards after contact, he is ranked number one by the NFL. If you want to see a video of just how tough he is (even against the Ravens so-called "D") go to http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d... .

Edit

I misread that part about "no backs", sorry, but all offseason he has worked on catching ability

The ravens will win. All we need is to have all the players healthy and have McNair playing a good game and we will win.

and 2 dave^- they actually had a 13-3 season not a 10-6

I' ll let you know in a min. they are loosing rite now 27-20 but are the cin. 1yard line it is 4th down game over cin wins

the ravens lost to cincy and i won my fantasy football so everythings all good