My Preseason Projections:
1.Baltimore Ravens (10-6)
2.Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7)
3.Cincinnati Bengals (9-7)
4.Cleveland Browns (5-11)
2.Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7)
3.Cincinnati Bengals (9-7)
4.Cleveland Browns (5-11)
Actual Standings:
1.Cincinnati Bengals (11-5)
2.Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6)
3.Baltimore Ravens (5-11)
4.Cleveland Browns (3-13)
Baltimore Ravens:
Team MVP's: G Marshal Yanda, S Will Hill, WR Steve Smith Sr., DT Brandon Williams, WR Kamar Aiken
-No team in recent NFL history has been hit harder with injuries than the 2015 Baltimore Ravens. By the time their bye week rolled around in Week 9, they had already lost leading wide receiver Steve Smith Sr., defensive leader Terrell Suggs and 2015 first-round pick Bershad Perriman to season-ending injuries. The injury situation somehow managed to get even worse after the bye as starting quarterback Joe Flacco, running back Justin Forsett, left tackle Eugene Monroe and center Jeremy Zuttah all went down for the year between Week 10 and Week 12. The Ravens may be one of the well-coached and collectively talented teams in the league, but there's just no way you can lose that many key contributors and still go onto have a successful season.
-Despite the abundance of injuries that derailed their hopes of returning to the playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons under head coach John Harbaugh, the Ravens remained pretty competitive throughout the season. With the exception of two lopsided December losses to the Seahawks and Chiefs that occurred while quarterback virtuoso Jimmy Clausen was running the show, all of their losses were decided by eight points or less. Staying this competitive with an injury-depleted roster speaks volumes for the tenacity and mental toughness of this team and it will be a huge shock if this team doesn't return to their perennial title-contending form with a healthy squad in 2016.
-Even with the return of top corner Jimmy Smith from injury, the Ravens secondary struggled yet again this season. Smith did not look like even half the player he was before he broke his foot last season, Lardarius Webb looked better at safety then he did at corner the past few years, but his played remained wildly inconsistent and all three veteran newcomers (Kyle Arrington, Kendrick Lewis and Shareece Wright) failed to make much of an impact. With the exception of strong safety Will Hill- who quietly put together another excellent season in 2015- and Smith, the Ravens need to nuke this unit in the offseason and bring in new starters if they want to avoid having a terrible secondary for a third straight year.
-The one area where this Ravens squad did not suffer any loss of production was in their run defense. Brandon Williams is quite possibly the most underrated nose tackle in the NFL and Daryl Smith continues to be one of most instinctive and sure-tackling inside linebackers in the league at age 33. If inside linebacker C.J. Mosley can return to his Pro Bowl/All-Pro form of 2014 and young defensive ends Carl Davis and Timmy Jernigan can continue to improve their game, this Ravens front should continue to excel at stopping the run for a very long time.
-Third-year wideout Kamar Aiken was the unsung hero of the 2015 Ravens. Aiken took advantage of his opportunity to be the number one wide receiver by putting up consistently solid numbers (he had at least 50 yards in 11 of 16 games this year) with a whopping four different quarterbacks at the helm and is almost solely responsible for keeping this offense afloat amidst all the injuries they suffered. It's doubtful that Aiken will continue to start with Smith and Perriman-their presumed top receiver of the future-tentatively set to return to the fold in 2016, but he should continue to be a valuable contributor to this offense for the next several years.
-No team in recent NFL history has been hit harder with injuries than the 2015 Baltimore Ravens. By the time their bye week rolled around in Week 9, they had already lost leading wide receiver Steve Smith Sr., defensive leader Terrell Suggs and 2015 first-round pick Bershad Perriman to season-ending injuries. The injury situation somehow managed to get even worse after the bye as starting quarterback Joe Flacco, running back Justin Forsett, left tackle Eugene Monroe and center Jeremy Zuttah all went down for the year between Week 10 and Week 12. The Ravens may be one of the well-coached and collectively talented teams in the league, but there's just no way you can lose that many key contributors and still go onto have a successful season.
-Despite the abundance of injuries that derailed their hopes of returning to the playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons under head coach John Harbaugh, the Ravens remained pretty competitive throughout the season. With the exception of two lopsided December losses to the Seahawks and Chiefs that occurred while quarterback virtuoso Jimmy Clausen was running the show, all of their losses were decided by eight points or less. Staying this competitive with an injury-depleted roster speaks volumes for the tenacity and mental toughness of this team and it will be a huge shock if this team doesn't return to their perennial title-contending form with a healthy squad in 2016.
-Even with the return of top corner Jimmy Smith from injury, the Ravens secondary struggled yet again this season. Smith did not look like even half the player he was before he broke his foot last season, Lardarius Webb looked better at safety then he did at corner the past few years, but his played remained wildly inconsistent and all three veteran newcomers (Kyle Arrington, Kendrick Lewis and Shareece Wright) failed to make much of an impact. With the exception of strong safety Will Hill- who quietly put together another excellent season in 2015- and Smith, the Ravens need to nuke this unit in the offseason and bring in new starters if they want to avoid having a terrible secondary for a third straight year.
-The one area where this Ravens squad did not suffer any loss of production was in their run defense. Brandon Williams is quite possibly the most underrated nose tackle in the NFL and Daryl Smith continues to be one of most instinctive and sure-tackling inside linebackers in the league at age 33. If inside linebacker C.J. Mosley can return to his Pro Bowl/All-Pro form of 2014 and young defensive ends Carl Davis and Timmy Jernigan can continue to improve their game, this Ravens front should continue to excel at stopping the run for a very long time.
-Third-year wideout Kamar Aiken was the unsung hero of the 2015 Ravens. Aiken took advantage of his opportunity to be the number one wide receiver by putting up consistently solid numbers (he had at least 50 yards in 11 of 16 games this year) with a whopping four different quarterbacks at the helm and is almost solely responsible for keeping this offense afloat amidst all the injuries they suffered. It's doubtful that Aiken will continue to start with Smith and Perriman-their presumed top receiver of the future-tentatively set to return to the fold in 2016, but he should continue to be a valuable contributor to this offense for the next several years.
Cincinnati Bengals:
Team MVP's: QB Andy Dalton, DT Geno Atkins, T Andrew Whitworth, WR A.J. Green, G Kevin Zeitler
-With the exception of their traditional playoff meltdown, this was a completely different Bengals team than we've seen in the past few years. They played with a ton of grit on both sides of the ball, fought well through adversity and demonstrated their ability to compete with any team in the league when they're firing on all cylinders. They're definitely a team to keep an eye on going into 2016.
-Even if you're the biggest Andy Dalton hater in southwest Ohio, you have to be encouraged by what you saw from him this season. He showed substantial improvement while throwing under pressure and in his decisionmaking and for the first time in his career, demonstrated an ability to put the team on his back in critical situations (i.e the remarkable 17-point fourth-quarter comeback he led against the Seahawks in Week 5). Dalton looked like a legitimate franchise quarterback in 2015 and if he continues to improve his game, the Bengals are bound to snap their playoff woes in the very near future.
-On the other side of the coin, it's alarming how much Jeremy Hill regressed in his second NFL season. The powerful, patient rusher that took the league by storm in 2014 was replaced by a jumpy, weak back who couldn't sniff out a hole if his life depended on it. The organization better hope this is merely a sophomore slump and not a permanent drop in production for Hill because their number two back Giovani Bernard, while talented and ridiculously explosive, doesn't have the durability or skill set to be the bellcow in this run-heavy offense.
-After beginning his career with two injury-shortened seasons, tight end Tyler Eifert finally proved his worth in 2015. The former first-round pick emerged as a deadly redzone target (13 TD's in 13 games) and was largely responsible for the Bengals finishing the year with the sixth-best redzone efficiency in the league. His injury history is definitely a concern (he once again proved his brittleness by hurting his foot in the Pro Bowl last Sunday), but there's no denying that Eifert's size and knack for making bigtime catches gives him the potential to be one of the league's most productive tight end's moving forward.
-Having a fully healthy Geno Atkins in the lineup for 16 games did wonders for this defense. Atkins complete and total domination on the interior of the defensive line allowed this defense to regain the edge they lacked in 2014 while he was recovering from a torn ACL. The differences in stats between 2014 with a banged-up Atkins in the lineup and 2015 with Atkins at 100% are absolutely mind-boggling. In 2014, the Bengals defense finished 32nd in sacks, 20th against the run and 12th in points per game allowed. In 2015, they finished 10th in sacks,7th against the run and 2nd in points per game allowed. Atkins is the rare game-changing defensive player whose presence brings the best out of everyone around him.
-I'm completely and utterly baffled by how the Bengals secondary was able to perform at such a high level this season. Three of their four starters (cornerbacks Adam Jones and Leon Hall and strong safety Reggie Nelson) are well into their 30's yet still managed to serve as key contributors for this resurgent defense. Ironically, it was the young corners (Dre Kirkpatrick and Darqueze Dennard) that ended up making the Bengals secondary somewhat vulnerable overall. Kirkpatick- who was a first round pick in 2012-continues to get torched almost every time opposing offenses target his side of the field and has no business starting on this defense while Dennard's early-career trajectory of poor play and constant injuries is looking eerily similar to that of certified bust Kirkpatrick. While the deficiencies of their young players prevented this secondary from being one of the league's best units, Jones, Hall and Nelson deserve a lot of credit for proving a lot of skeptical analysts that wrote them off because of their age (myself included) wrong with their high level of play this year.
-Even if you're the biggest Andy Dalton hater in southwest Ohio, you have to be encouraged by what you saw from him this season. He showed substantial improvement while throwing under pressure and in his decisionmaking and for the first time in his career, demonstrated an ability to put the team on his back in critical situations (i.e the remarkable 17-point fourth-quarter comeback he led against the Seahawks in Week 5). Dalton looked like a legitimate franchise quarterback in 2015 and if he continues to improve his game, the Bengals are bound to snap their playoff woes in the very near future.
-On the other side of the coin, it's alarming how much Jeremy Hill regressed in his second NFL season. The powerful, patient rusher that took the league by storm in 2014 was replaced by a jumpy, weak back who couldn't sniff out a hole if his life depended on it. The organization better hope this is merely a sophomore slump and not a permanent drop in production for Hill because their number two back Giovani Bernard, while talented and ridiculously explosive, doesn't have the durability or skill set to be the bellcow in this run-heavy offense.
-After beginning his career with two injury-shortened seasons, tight end Tyler Eifert finally proved his worth in 2015. The former first-round pick emerged as a deadly redzone target (13 TD's in 13 games) and was largely responsible for the Bengals finishing the year with the sixth-best redzone efficiency in the league. His injury history is definitely a concern (he once again proved his brittleness by hurting his foot in the Pro Bowl last Sunday), but there's no denying that Eifert's size and knack for making bigtime catches gives him the potential to be one of the league's most productive tight end's moving forward.
-Having a fully healthy Geno Atkins in the lineup for 16 games did wonders for this defense. Atkins complete and total domination on the interior of the defensive line allowed this defense to regain the edge they lacked in 2014 while he was recovering from a torn ACL. The differences in stats between 2014 with a banged-up Atkins in the lineup and 2015 with Atkins at 100% are absolutely mind-boggling. In 2014, the Bengals defense finished 32nd in sacks, 20th against the run and 12th in points per game allowed. In 2015, they finished 10th in sacks,7th against the run and 2nd in points per game allowed. Atkins is the rare game-changing defensive player whose presence brings the best out of everyone around him.
-I'm completely and utterly baffled by how the Bengals secondary was able to perform at such a high level this season. Three of their four starters (cornerbacks Adam Jones and Leon Hall and strong safety Reggie Nelson) are well into their 30's yet still managed to serve as key contributors for this resurgent defense. Ironically, it was the young corners (Dre Kirkpatrick and Darqueze Dennard) that ended up making the Bengals secondary somewhat vulnerable overall. Kirkpatick- who was a first round pick in 2012-continues to get torched almost every time opposing offenses target his side of the field and has no business starting on this defense while Dennard's early-career trajectory of poor play and constant injuries is looking eerily similar to that of certified bust Kirkpatrick. While the deficiencies of their young players prevented this secondary from being one of the league's best units, Jones, Hall and Nelson deserve a lot of credit for proving a lot of skeptical analysts that wrote them off because of their age (myself included) wrong with their high level of play this year.
Cleveland Browns:
Team MVP's: T Joe Thomas, TE Gary Barnidge, T Mitchell Schwartz, C Alex Mack, ILB Karlos Dansby
-The Johnny Manziel experiment in Cleveland needs to end immediately. While he showed some flashes of real potential on the field this season, this kid is every bit the knucklehead many teams expected him to when he came out of Texas A&M in 2014. Any upside he has on-the-field is grossly outweighed by the distractions be brings off of it, especially for a team like the Browns the lacks veteran leadership and a stable infrastructure. If new head coach Hue Jackson and still-unnamed general manager have any sense, they'll cut ties with Manziel and acquire a new quarterback in the draft or free agency this offseason.
-Despite spending two of their early draft picks on rush-stuffing interior defenders (first-rounder Danny Shelton and third-rounder Xavier Cooper) to try and improve their bottom-ranked rush defense from a year ago, this Browns run defense was just as bad in 2015. The Browns allowed any running back that displayed an ounce of ability to gouge them, as they allowed an absurd average of 128.4 rushing yards per game (third-worst in the league). Their linebackers, save for Karlos Dansby, were collectively awful at diagnosing the run and tackling and Cooper graded out as the league's worst interior defensive lineman, according to Pro Football Focus. Shelton showed enough flashes of potential in his rookie campaign to give the Browns hope for the future, but there's still no immediate solution in place to stop their run-stopping woes.
-Mike Pettine certainly wasn't a great coach, but he's hardly to blame for the Browns trainwreck 2015 campaign. It's incredibly difficult to manufacture wins against quality competition (half of their games in 2015 were against teams that made the playoffs) with a team that has a leaky defense, an unstable quarterback situation and pretty much no playmakers on the offensive side of the ball. Pettine is the merely the latest coach to be slaughtered by this severely unstable and arguably toxic organization and unless some drastic change in fortune occurs in the next few years, he certainly won't be the last.
-On an anemic offense that often had trouble getting the ball onto their opponents side of the field, tight end Gary Barnidge was a revelation. The 30-year old journeyman came out of nowhere to provide a playmaking spark for an offense that desperately needed it. It remains to be seen if Barnidge's high level of play this season was merely a fluke or if he's truly turned a corner in his eighth NFL season, but there's no denying that any success the Browns offense enjoyed in 2015 can almost solely be attributed to him.
-The Browns failures on both sides of the ball this season were hardly surprising given their general lack of talent. However, the awful play of cornerback Joe Haden was a complete and total shock. While the star corner missed all but five games this season with injury, he got flat-out destroyed in coverage every time he took the field. According to Pro Football Focus, the Steelers' Antwon Blake and the Saints' Brandon Browner were the only corners that graded out worse than Haden in 2015. Haden's track record of consistency prior to this season and relatively young age (he'll be 27 in April) are enough to give him favorable odds of returning to lockdown form in 2016, but his awful play in 2015 has to leave the Browns organization and their fans at least somewhat concerned about his future.
-Despite spending two of their early draft picks on rush-stuffing interior defenders (first-rounder Danny Shelton and third-rounder Xavier Cooper) to try and improve their bottom-ranked rush defense from a year ago, this Browns run defense was just as bad in 2015. The Browns allowed any running back that displayed an ounce of ability to gouge them, as they allowed an absurd average of 128.4 rushing yards per game (third-worst in the league). Their linebackers, save for Karlos Dansby, were collectively awful at diagnosing the run and tackling and Cooper graded out as the league's worst interior defensive lineman, according to Pro Football Focus. Shelton showed enough flashes of potential in his rookie campaign to give the Browns hope for the future, but there's still no immediate solution in place to stop their run-stopping woes.
-Mike Pettine certainly wasn't a great coach, but he's hardly to blame for the Browns trainwreck 2015 campaign. It's incredibly difficult to manufacture wins against quality competition (half of their games in 2015 were against teams that made the playoffs) with a team that has a leaky defense, an unstable quarterback situation and pretty much no playmakers on the offensive side of the ball. Pettine is the merely the latest coach to be slaughtered by this severely unstable and arguably toxic organization and unless some drastic change in fortune occurs in the next few years, he certainly won't be the last.
-On an anemic offense that often had trouble getting the ball onto their opponents side of the field, tight end Gary Barnidge was a revelation. The 30-year old journeyman came out of nowhere to provide a playmaking spark for an offense that desperately needed it. It remains to be seen if Barnidge's high level of play this season was merely a fluke or if he's truly turned a corner in his eighth NFL season, but there's no denying that any success the Browns offense enjoyed in 2015 can almost solely be attributed to him.
-The Browns failures on both sides of the ball this season were hardly surprising given their general lack of talent. However, the awful play of cornerback Joe Haden was a complete and total shock. While the star corner missed all but five games this season with injury, he got flat-out destroyed in coverage every time he took the field. According to Pro Football Focus, the Steelers' Antwon Blake and the Saints' Brandon Browner were the only corners that graded out worse than Haden in 2015. Haden's track record of consistency prior to this season and relatively young age (he'll be 27 in April) are enough to give him favorable odds of returning to lockdown form in 2016, but his awful play in 2015 has to leave the Browns organization and their fans at least somewhat concerned about his future.
Pittsburgh Steelers:
Team MVP's: WR Antonio Brown, QB Ben Roethlisberger, DE Cameron Heyward, G David DeCastro, RB DeAngelo Williams
-The debate is finally over. Antonio Brown has overtaken Calvin Johnson for the title of best receiver in the NFL. For the third consecutive year, Brown posted new career highs in receptions (136) and yards (1,834). Making these numbers even more impressive is the fact that Brown is posting them while facing near-constant double, triple and bracket coverage. I firmly believe that Brown would've shattered Johnson's single-season receiving yards record (1,964) if Ben Roethlisberger wasn't forced to miss four games with injury.
-The comeback of running back DeAngelo Williams is one of the best stories of the 2015 NFL season. The 32-year old-who had been deemed a has-been after three straight lackluster seasons with the Panthers-was thrust into the spotlight in relief of superstar back Le'Veon Bell on two separate occasions this season and delivered big time. Williams looked very good in the first two games of the year when Bell was serving a suspension, but he became unstoppable once Bell was lost for the year after suffering a torn MCL in Week 8 against the Bengals. Williams showed a burst and ability to shake defenders that he hasn't displayed since at least his Pro Bowl season in 2009, if not earlier. An ankle injury suffered early in the Steelers week 17 contest with the Browns put a damper on his fairy tale season and ended his quest to pick up his first 1,000-yard rushing season since 2009, but it doesn't take away from how impressive and inspiring his improbable bounceback campaign was.
-Don't be fooled by his high INT total (16), Ben Roethlisberger was absolutely brilliant in 2015. Despite dealing with numerous injuries and a disappointing season from number two receiver Martavis Bryant, Roethlisberger posted a career-high in completion percentage and his highest yards per attempt (8.4) since 2010. With the way Roethlisberger has played over the past few years and the young, core nucleus of this Steelers squad, I'd be very surprised if he didn't get this third Super Bowl ring within the next three or four seasons.
-The Steelers surprisingly solid defense in 2015 can largely be attributed to the play of second-year inside linebacker Ryan Shazier and defensive end Stephon Tuitt. Shazier was able to build upon the promise he showed in his injured-riddled rookie campaign by using his freakish athleticism and quickness to make plays from sideline-to-sideline while Tuitt remains a superb run-stuffer with the versatility and motor to get after the quarterback when called upon. If 2015 is any indication, Shazier and Tuitt will become cornerstones of this defense alongside established stars defensive end Cameron Heyward and inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons in no time at all.
-Troy Polamalu and Ike Taylor must be sitting at home cringing at how weak the Steelers once-feared secondary has become. With the exception of excellent slot corner Ross Cockrell, the play of the Steelers secondary in 2015 was well below average. While free safety Mike Mitchell and cornerback William Gay did a decent job at their respective positions, strong safety Will Allen and, especially cornerback Antwon Blake were two of the most consistently gassed defensive backs in the NFL this season. The Steelers have assembled one of the most quietly gifted front sevens in football over the past few years, but their talent-depleted secondary is preventing them from being one of the best defenses in the NFL.
-The debate is finally over. Antonio Brown has overtaken Calvin Johnson for the title of best receiver in the NFL. For the third consecutive year, Brown posted new career highs in receptions (136) and yards (1,834). Making these numbers even more impressive is the fact that Brown is posting them while facing near-constant double, triple and bracket coverage. I firmly believe that Brown would've shattered Johnson's single-season receiving yards record (1,964) if Ben Roethlisberger wasn't forced to miss four games with injury.
-The comeback of running back DeAngelo Williams is one of the best stories of the 2015 NFL season. The 32-year old-who had been deemed a has-been after three straight lackluster seasons with the Panthers-was thrust into the spotlight in relief of superstar back Le'Veon Bell on two separate occasions this season and delivered big time. Williams looked very good in the first two games of the year when Bell was serving a suspension, but he became unstoppable once Bell was lost for the year after suffering a torn MCL in Week 8 against the Bengals. Williams showed a burst and ability to shake defenders that he hasn't displayed since at least his Pro Bowl season in 2009, if not earlier. An ankle injury suffered early in the Steelers week 17 contest with the Browns put a damper on his fairy tale season and ended his quest to pick up his first 1,000-yard rushing season since 2009, but it doesn't take away from how impressive and inspiring his improbable bounceback campaign was.
-Don't be fooled by his high INT total (16), Ben Roethlisberger was absolutely brilliant in 2015. Despite dealing with numerous injuries and a disappointing season from number two receiver Martavis Bryant, Roethlisberger posted a career-high in completion percentage and his highest yards per attempt (8.4) since 2010. With the way Roethlisberger has played over the past few years and the young, core nucleus of this Steelers squad, I'd be very surprised if he didn't get this third Super Bowl ring within the next three or four seasons.
-The Steelers surprisingly solid defense in 2015 can largely be attributed to the play of second-year inside linebacker Ryan Shazier and defensive end Stephon Tuitt. Shazier was able to build upon the promise he showed in his injured-riddled rookie campaign by using his freakish athleticism and quickness to make plays from sideline-to-sideline while Tuitt remains a superb run-stuffer with the versatility and motor to get after the quarterback when called upon. If 2015 is any indication, Shazier and Tuitt will become cornerstones of this defense alongside established stars defensive end Cameron Heyward and inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons in no time at all.
-Troy Polamalu and Ike Taylor must be sitting at home cringing at how weak the Steelers once-feared secondary has become. With the exception of excellent slot corner Ross Cockrell, the play of the Steelers secondary in 2015 was well below average. While free safety Mike Mitchell and cornerback William Gay did a decent job at their respective positions, strong safety Will Allen and, especially cornerback Antwon Blake were two of the most consistently gassed defensive backs in the NFL this season. The Steelers have assembled one of the most quietly gifted front sevens in football over the past few years, but their talent-depleted secondary is preventing them from being one of the best defenses in the NFL.
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