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Brace Yourself for More Disappointment

A football player rubs his head while his coach talks to him.
Photo credit: SBNation
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Hold your horses, Ravens Nation.

It seems like just yesterday we were heading into the 2015 season with high hopes. The trauma of blowing two 14-point leads against New England in the prior year’s divisional playoff game still painfully lingered. With that chip on their shoulder, the Ravens aimed to erase that memory and build off the previous year’s success towards another promising campaign.

“I’ve often said it’s hard to draw any conclusions watching a team early in camp with little contact,” wrote Peter King of Sports Illustrated. “But this team is a Super Bowl contender in my eyes.”

Some quotes are just too funny to forget.

If last season was any indicator, disappointment could very well be on the horizon for the Ravens in 2016. It was cruel fate that the Ravens racked up 23 players on the IR in 2015. That’s $23M sitting on the bench. We saw Terrell Suggs, Steve Smith, Justin Forsett, and Joe Flacco all fall like dominoes. First-round pick Breshad Perriman didn’t play a single snap all year, let alone finish a full training camp practice. The secondary was once again in shambles and the pass rush was nothing short of mediocre.

It was a nightmarish season, to say the least.

Fast forward a year and here we arei, talking about much different this season is going to be from the last. With key starters coming back from injuries, a promising draft class, and depth at several positions, what could possibly go wrong?

Well, in short, everything.

The return of Suggs and Smith is expected to make huge impacts on both sides of the ball.

In his first practice back, Suggs made a leaping interception on Joe Flacco and took it all the way to the house. Coach John Harbaugh was standing next to defensive back Anthony Levine and said, “I guess he’s back.”

But Suggs has just rehabbed his second torn Achilles in three years. Is it realistic to expect him to return to his 2014 form that saw him notch 12 of 29 sacks with Elvis Dumervil?

In Smith’s first practice back, he flashed his uncanny intensity by catching a ball and proceeding to shove it in the defender’s face. And once again in practice Harbaugh proclaimed, “he’s back.”

As much as I would love Smith to prove to the “jack ass” reporters that he can still ball out, he’s 37 years old and coming off of an Achilles tear of his own. That’s why Harbaugh might have been so persistent to sign Mike Wallace, because No. 89 may not be that go-to-guy anymore.

However, the most important reason for Wallace’s signing is to fill that home-run threat vacancy that was supposed to fall to Perriman. Though he could have the possibility to suit up Week 1, it may not be wise to throw him into the fire without having any game experience. On top of that, he’d be playing without being completely healed and with the immediate pressure from fans to deliver right away. The good news is that he was removed from the PUP list today, though he’s still not cleared for full practice.

The secondary’s state completely frightens me. In Week 1 of the preseason against the Panthers, Shareece Wright gave up a touchdown and Jimmy Smith almost gave up a touchdown had the ball not have been overthrown. In Week 2 against the Colts, Andrew Luck was perfect on his first seven throws. Jerraud Powers repeated another week of mediocrity and was taken off the field for missing tackles and assignments.

Who knows, maybe we’ll see Leslie Frazier in uniform to help this poor group out?

There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Ravens this season, more than most Ravens fans seem to realize. Barring any major injuries, I’m certain there will be some improvement from 5-11 last season. But the AFC North is arguably the best division in the league. The Steelers and Bengals simply have more talented rosters. And the chances of reaching a Wild Card spot are slim to none with teams like the Raiders and Jets making it especially competitive.

I’d love to be proven wrong, believe me.

I’m just bracing myself for impact.

submitted by Mitchell Wolfman

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