AFC NORTH

[chazf73]

Who do you think will win the AFC NORTH.The bengals have to be the favorites to win it,i mean who can keep up with our offeance.Our defeance will be alot better then last year,It was only a mater of time before Marvin fixed the defeance. With all the young stars on the team,we our going to go far into the playoffs. Palmer will have a break out year. CANT COME ANY FASTER.................................... WHO DEY

[StripesNTn]

However much i hate to admit it we are no ones favorites yet.. Lets knock off two wins from cleveland and 1 each from pitt and balt. Then we have a good chance. We are in one of the toughest divisions in football, and even though cleveland is gonna suck, they will play us tough as always. I hope it happens and believe it will, but we are hardly favorites. Most would rank it Balt , Pitt , Us, Cleve. Althoiugh Balt, Pitt and Us should end up really close record wise. I could see a 9-7 division winner.

[walshfan]

Cincinnati, Baltimore and Pittsburgh have legit shots.. Cleveland is going to play the spoiler role this year....

To win the division would take a 4-2 record... All three could do that by beating each other and sweeping the Browns.. Its who LOSES to the Browns...

[Ickeyshuffler]

What else CAN I say...The bengals, baby!!

Honestly, I think this is it. This is the year. Carson will be solid if not great, Rudi and Perry will provide a solid tandem in the backfield, and we will have the most explosive receivers in the league. Our line, also, should be in fine form. With the exception of TE (and with warrick in the slot it really isn't that important) we will have the best offense overall in the NFL.

On defense it is more shaky, but I really beleive that Marvin is up to something this year and will get us over the hump. With Smith, Thornton, Robinson, and Geathers I feel better about the D line than I have in a while and with Simmons, Odell/Landon/Webster, and Pollack/Landon at LB I think we are pretty strong there. Our CB's are solid (Ratliff and Oneil are gonna do great things), Madieu will be a pro-bowler, and Herring will with any luck return to the man he was with the Ravens under ML.

So, of course it's the bengals. It has to be, right?

[BengalNation1281]

It's been said by many, and I have to agree: Even if the Steelers lost four more games than they did last year, they would still be 11-5. Sophomore slumps mean a lot less when you go 15-1 in your first year and your team didn't lose any skill positions on either side of the ball that weren't replaced with equal or better talent (i.e. replacing Plastico with Cedrick Wilson, who had good numbers in the awful SF passing attack).

Baltimore went 9-7 last year and has had a good offseason. I still don't think they'll be any better than 9-7 with Boller at QB, but they'll be tough and will give every team in the division trouble, as they tend to do every year.

Our Beloved Bengals retained good offensive skill players, added a solid DT and had an excellent draft, but it's a little too soon to say that they will be good enough to win the AFC North. Playoffs yes, division title possibly, but I think that 2006 will be the year for that.

Cleveland will go 5-11 at best.

As I see it:

Pittsburgh 12-4

Cincy 10-6 (wild-card)

Baltimore 8-8

Cleveland 4-12

[Kazkal]

Steelers40%

Ravens30%

Bengals30%

[bengalboy40]

ravens are the best team in our division right now...then pittsburgh...then cincy....then the doo-doo browns.

i expect the ravens to compete for the super bowl really. defense does not need to be explained, they added derrick mason and mark clayton to a terrible recieving corps, they have todd heap and a great o-line. it all falls on boller, but he's the only weak link on the team...don't forget jamal lewis returning after lifting prison bells for a few months, either.

afc north is definitely the best division in football, as we would be 1 or 2 in ANY other division....fer shizzle.

[HoosierCat]

At this point, I have to stick with the Steelers as AFCN champs. Not just because they could take that step back and still win 10+ games (tho that's absolutely true) but because they could quite easily be even better this year. And no, I'm not saying they'll go undefeated, they could drop a few games for various reasons ranging from bad calls to bad luck to a bad day, but they won 15 games last year while essentially bringing Cheeselisburger along slowly thanks to a strong running game and defense. He made a lot of big plays when he had to...but they didn't ask him to do that very often. This year, with a season under his belt, I think they'll look to open up the passing game, and I see no reason to think Cheesey won't be successful

I think it would take some major bad mojo for them to lose more than four or five games.

Baltimore has had a good offseason overall, they still have a tought D, Jamal Lewis, and more weapons on offense. The key, of course, is Kyle Boller. If his play doesn't improve...they still probably win 9 games. Heck, they did that last year, even tho Kyle sucked, they lost Heap for most of the year, and key cogs like Ogden and Lewis for part of it. If Blower manages to step it up at all, they could get up into that 11-12 win range.

The Bengals look to be fielding the best team they've had since the late Eighties. And as was typical of those Eighties teams, it consists of a suspect defense balanced by an offense with more firepower than half the Imperial Fleet. At least as far as the regular season goes, they will live and die by that offense. To paraphrase Bruce Coslet, "this team will go as far as Carson Palmer can take it." If Carson and the offense can come out in September playing at the level they were in those last few games before he got hurt last year...the Bengals could end the season with the worst-ranked D in the league and still win 12 games. I think they win no fewer than 7 whatever happens, and 9 victories is no stretch. But the Bengals need some things to go right (for a change!) to take that next step.

The Clowns...like I've said elsewhere, i think they'll be more competitive this year than they have in recent years. No other team in the league was a better candidate for the "addition by subtraction" thing than Cleveland. They will win 6 games next year, maybe even one or two more...and hopefully the Bengals aren't one of them this time around. But the Clowns have made some good additions, some even better subtractions (including in the coaching and front office departments) and even if they have holes and question marks all over the place, you know they'll play hard for Crennel.

My predictions:

Pitt: 12-4 (solid D + solid run + solid pass = division crown)

Baltimore: 10-6 (all Ozzie's horses and all Ozzie's men couldn't make Kyle Boller an NFL QB...but unfortunately they've got more than just him)

Cincy: 9-7 (finally break the no-win-season streak but inconsistent offense and defensive lapses cost too many games)

Clowns: 6-10 (looking for .500 in 2006 and back in the thick of things by '07)

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

Cleveland is going to win the division! (Yeah, right)

[DesperateDerelict]

AFC NORTH PREDICTIONS

I agree with all of the pundits that there should be a 3 way cat-fight for supremacy in the AFC North. Pittsburgh may have lost a little and can’t possibly be as lucky as they were last year. Baltimore DID improve – even with Boller their new receiving weapons will add to their point total. Our Bengals would be better this year even without the good draft - another year in the system for the 1st and 2nd year players. The turds will take most of Crennel’s first year to gel – new skills positions on Offense and over 50% turnover on Defense.

It’s hard to figure unless you look at the schedules:

CLEVELAND

1 – 5 (DIV) – Expect them to steal one – Last 2 are home vs. PIT & BAL

1 – 3 (NFC) - @ GB & @MIN, home in Oct vs. DET & CHI – W vs. CHI

1 – 3 (AFC South) - @ IND & @HOU, home vs. JAX & TEN – W vs. TEN

2 – 0 (AFC) – They’ll beat MIA in CLE, & Randy Moss will be hurt @ OAK

5 – 11 TOTAL – High draft Pick (K3?)

PITTSBURGH

3 – 3 (DIV) – Expect them to choke @ CLE Xmas – split others

2 – 2 (NFC) - @ GB & @ MIN both losses – Ben can’t win shootouts

3 – 1 (AFC South) - @ IND is MNF loss

1 – 1 (AFC) – @ SD another MNF loss, but WILL beat NE at home

9 – 7 TOTAL – Out of Playoffs

CINCINNATI

4 – 2 (DIV) – Sweep turds, split with PIT & BAL

3 – 1 (NFC) - Surprise GB & MIN (both home) , but let 1 get away @ DET or & CHI

3 – 1 (AFC South) - Beat IND (Best Game!) & HOU here, edge @ TEN but drop @ JAX

0 – 2 (AFC) – KC too tough on road, and Bills have our number

10 – 6 TOTAL – Might make playoffs, but only 7 – 5 in AFC (Losses to KC & JAX loom large)

BALTIMORE

4 – 2 (DIV) – Sweep turds, split with PIT & CIN

4 – 0 (NFC) – NFC Norse meet Ed Reed and company

2 – 2 (AFC South) – Lose both @ JAX and home against Payton

1 – 1 (AFC) – Lose at Mile-High, but beat the Jersey Jets at home

11 – 5 TOTAL – Playoffs, but only 7 – 5 in AFC

Well, my crystal ball is going dark . . . please feel free to tell me I’m full of s**t, but be prepared to wager on it!

[Kazkal]

" ravens are the best team in our division right now..."

They have a unproven offense + defense is about tied with the steelers.

[Kazkal]

Also the thing with the steelers yes they are the same team as last year....but they are also same team as the year before (besides big ben) the steelers seem to flip flop so it really depends on them I guess.really any team is in it.(besides the browns but who knows they could pull a charger)

[CTBengalsFan]

I think the Steelers might win it, but we need to get every win we can so we can try to tie up the wildcard, kind of like the Jets last year.

[Kazkal]

I'd be quite happy with just a wildcard slot.