NFL analyst Dave Schwab gives an overview of what the AFC North teams added and lost in the offseason along with his opinion on who the teams to beat will be. A recap of last season and some wagering advice will also be included.
Some of the toughest games in the NFL to handicap are head-to-head matchups in the AFC North given the high level of parity with most of the teams in this division. Picking a team to win the 2016 regular season title can be even more difficult, but I am going to give it a stab with the help of futures odds by BetOnline.
Pittsburgh’s bandwagon is standing room only heading into the 2016 with quite a few NFL experts picking it to go all the way this year. I think the Steelers are a playoff caliber team, but I am not sold on the current value in their betting odds to even win the AFC North. They finished second to Cincinnati in 2015 at 10-6 and going back to the 2011 season they only have one division title on the resume.
The combination of Ben Roethlisberger throwing the ball to Antonio Brown is one of the best in the NFL, but there are some serious question marks with a pass defense that was ranked 30th in the league last year in yards allowed. Numerous losses through free agency on this side of the ball will not help their cause and it could be up to Artie Burns and Sean Davis as rookie cornerbacks to try and fill some of the holes.
The Bengals have been the most consistent team in the AFC North over the past few seasons with division titles in 2013 and last year as part of five-straight trips to the playoffs. What they have accomplished in the postseason during this run is a major concern for veteran head coach Marvin Lewis with five early exits and he could be in a do or die situation heading into his 14th season at the helm.
With Andy Dalton at quarterback and AJ Green as his No. 1 receiver, Cincinnati has a fairly potent passing attack as well. It did lose wide receiver Marvin Jones to Detroit as a free agent, but Lewis is high on his second round pick Tyler Boyd to help fill the void. This team’s main strength is still on defense with the second-ranked unit in the league in points allowed.
This could be a crossroads season for Ravens’ head coach John Harbaugh as well. Entering his ninth season at the helm, his team has only had one winning season in the last three years and it fell all the way to 5-11 last year. This followed five-straight playoff appearances including a Super Bowl title in 2012.
The chants of “overrated” continue to haunt quarterback Joe Flacco, who has also taken a step backwards in recent years and the once vaunted Baltimore defense fell to 24th in the NFL in points allowed last year. The addition of three linemen in the first three rounds of the draft should help on both sides of the ball and the addition of veteran wide receiver Mike Wallace could help the passing game if he has anything left in the tank.
The Browns organization owes a huge debt of gratitude to the Cavaliers for drawing attention away from what is shaping up to be another train wreck of a season. Pro football in Cleveland should earn a prize for continuous futility given just one playoff appearance since 1995 wrapped around just two winning seasons in that same time frame. I think that Hue Jackson is a great choice as the team’s new head coach to try and turn things around, but he will still need a few more years to get it done.
Time will tell whether free agent quarterback Robert Griffin III can resurrect his career in a place where dreams go to die or whether or not Jackson’s initial draft of 14 players actually raises the overall talent level of this team. Cleveland’s projected win total of 4.5 pretty much tells the whole story, but at least the current money line of -130 favors the OVER.
I see the AFC North as another two-team race in 2016 between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Going against popular opinion, I am going with the Bengals as my top pick to win the division with a strong finish in the month of December.
