First Place- Baltimore Ravens. 11-5  First off, I am a Steelers fan. I hate the Ravens so it pains me to pick them to win the division. I think the key will be the continued good health of Ray Rice. He goes down and they are in trouble. [Also my fantasy league team is in trouble if he would go down too} Joe Flacco is adequate. If you have a great team around him maybe you could win with him. Flacco has been around long enough where he has to up his game some this season. When you think Ravens you think defense. It is good to finally see The Killer- Ray Lewis and Edward Reed nearing the end of their careers, finally. Seems like those guys have been playing forever. Both are future Hall of Famers. A key player for the Ravens on offense this year will be Torrey Smith. Someone needs to step up to give the Ravens another weapon on offense. You can’t give the ball or pass the ball to Ray Rice on every down. I said earlier I hate the Ravens. The leagues best rivalry right now is Steelers- Ravens. Reminds me a lot of the 1970’s Steelers-Raiders games. Having said I hated them, I also have great respect for them. Like the Raiders back then, they play the same kind of smashmouth football the Steelers do. I sure wish Ray Lewis and Ed Reed had been career Steelers.

Second Place- Pittsburgh Steelers 10-6. I know the trendy pick this year is the Bungals for second place. More on why they won’t finish second in a moment. As long as the Steelers have Big Ben they have a chance. They have to keep him healthy though. The line the past couple years has been a make-shift line that has been plagued by injuries. The trend seems to be continuing with the injury of first round pick and starting guard David Decastro.  The Steelers are missing some veterans from the past- Hines Ward, Aaron Smith, James Farrior etc. but honestly those players were not adding much at this point. Steelers need to stay healthy. They will find a way to win 10 games and make the playoffs. Mike Tomlin is one of the 5ive best coaches in the league. Lebeau is one of the greatest defensive coordinators in the history of the National Football League.

Third Place. Cincinnati Bungals. 7-9 Those who do not learn from the past is doomed to repeat it. The Bungals never have two winning seasons in a row. The last time they did was the mid-1970’s.  Coach Marvin Lewis is the master of coming up with a good season when it is needed to keep his job. He’s had 3 winning seasons in 9 years. Andy Dalton along with fellow rookie AJ Green had fine rookie seasons.  The Bengals won’t be sneaking up on anyone this year. The Bengals are the Bengals, no matter what I have confidence that they will find a way to go 7-9.

Fourth Place- Cleveland Clowns- 3-13  I would love to see the Clowns have a decent team. As a Steeler fan, Cleveland is a big rival. But of late not much of a rival. When one team dominates the other over a period of years the rivalry suffers. That said I am glad to have Cleveland on the schedule for two games a year. 2 games with Cleveland more often than not means 2 in the win column. The Steelers have won 22 of the past 24 meetings. The Browns do not have a clue. Maybe this new owner will. Trent Richardson may end up having an outstanding NFL career but I thought a wide receiver like Justin Blackmun would have been a better choice. And the drafting of Brandon Weedon as the new quarterback still has me laughing. This guy is 1 1/2 years younger than grizzled veteran Ben Roethlisberger. Big Ben has been to 3 Super Bowls, winning 2 during this time. The Browns have never had any luck with picking wide receivers. Over the years they have spend multiple first-second round picks on receivers who have all been busts. Another long season for suffering Browns fans.