Baltimore Ravens vs Cincinnati Bengals: Game Preview

The Baltimore Ravens will open up their season at 1:00 on Sunday afternoon against the Cincinnati Bengals. It was just one year ago that the Ravens opened up their season on Thursday night against the Denver Broncos in the inaugural NFL kickoff game. That game is rewarded to the Super Bowl winning team, which was obviously the Ravens in 2012.

However, the Ravens will start off the 2014 season with a far different mentality then they did in 2013. There is a lot of potential for this team, specifically the offense, to grow and improve mightily on last season’s performance. The reasons lay in the hands of some high-impact additions to the team as well as getting some players back from their injuries.

Those players in particular are veteran receivers Steve Smith and Owen Daniels, who should dramatically improve the passing game.

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They were also dealing with a injury-rattled offensive line last season, but they have made some trades and have got players back from injuries. These include: trading a fifth-round pick to Tampa Bay for center Jeremy Zuttah, who should be a huge upgrade over 2013 starter Gino Gradkowski. It also includes re-signing left tackle Eugene Monroe, getting rid of right tackle Micheal Oher and replacing him with Rick Wagner, and getting Kelechi Osemele and Marshal Yanda back fully healthy and ready to roll.

The offensive line messed up the entire offense. Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce had no room to run, thus no one was scared of the running game, so Flacco didn’t get many opportunities. Granted none of them performed the way they should have either, but a better offensive line certainly would have helped.

Heading into week one against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Ravens are poised to improve by at least two or three wins upon last year, and it starts at home against the division rivals.

The Bengals did not do much over the offseason, but they were in much better shape than the Ravens to begin with. Although Andy Dalton could use a better arm and needs to have some work done in the playoffs, he has posed a very impressive first three years. The same goes for A.J. Green, who has emerged to be one of the best wide receivers in football over the last few years.

The passing game looks good, and the running game has potential to excel. Starting running back Giovanni Bernard has loads of talent, but will he take advantage of it is the question. He carried the ball 170 times for 695 yards (4.1 yards-per-carry) and five touchdowns in his rookie season last year, so if he can continue his success, then the Bengals will have one of the most explosive offenses in the AFC.

A huge component in the Bengals’ 2014 campaign is that they are getting defensive tackle Gino Atkins back from injury. The 26-year-old missed six games last season and recorded six sacks. The year before, he had a breakout year in which he accumulated 53 tackles and 12.5 sacks. He will largely help out the Bengals defense this coming season.