Baltimore Ravens

Key Additions: Chris Carr (CB), L.J. Smith (TE), John Beck (QB), Kelley Washington (WR), Matt Birk (C), Dominique Foxworth (CB)

Key Losses: Bart Scott (LB), Jim Leonhard (S), Matt Stover (K), Kyle Boller (QB), Terrance Cooper (WR), Cory Ivy (CB), Lee Vickers (DE)

Draft Picks: Michael Oher (OT-Mississippi), Paul Kruger (DE/OLB-Utah), Lardarius Webb (CB-Nicholls St.), Jason Phillips (ILB-TCU), Davon Drew (TE-East Carolina), Cedric Peerman (RB-Virginia)

Baltimore is looking to build off a very successful season last year, in which they made it as far as the AFC Championship before getting knocked off by the eventual Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. The team went 11-5 in the regular season and defeated Miami in the Wild Card Round, and then the Tennessee Titans in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

Things will be looking a little different for the Ravens this season however as former Defensive Coordinator Rex Ryan is now the head coach of the New York Jets, and he took several players along for the ride off his highly ranked defense. The 2nd and 3rd highest tacklers on the team respectively, Bart Scott and Jim Leonhard are now gone. An aging Ray Lewis and Ed Reed will now look to others to step up in their place and help lead what has been the best part of this team for a long time now. Terrell Suggs has a large contract in hand that may help motivate him to fill that role, and young DT Haloti Ngata is quickly turning into one of the most disruptive forces on any defensive line in the NFL.

Offensively last year, the Ravens relied on rookie QB Joe Flacco to lead the team, and he did an admirable job. While his stats weren't mind blowing by any means, (2,971 yards, 14 TDs, 12 INTs) he played the role of the "effective game manager" quite nicely. The Ravens also employed a running back by committee with moderate success. Le'Ron McClain had 902 yards and 10 TDs, Willis McGahee (aka The Devil, at least from a fan of the Buffalo Bills perspective) had 671 yards and 7 TDs, and rookie Ray Rice chipped in with an additional 454 yards. This three headed monster makes for a solid Ravens' running game, but makes trying to decide which player to draft to your fantasy team a nightmare.

The Ravens are still going to have to contend with the Steelers for the AFC North division title this season, but should certainly be in the running for a wild card spot regardless. They may not match their 11 wins from last year, but expect them to be in the neighborhood again as long as the defense can stay healthy.

Last Season: 11-5
2009 Prediction: 10-6

Cincinnati Bengals

Key Additions: Laveranues Coles (WR), J.T. O'Sullivan (QB), Tank Johnson (DT), Roy Williams (S), Brian Leonard (FB)

Key Losses: Ryan Fitzpatrick (QB), T.J. Houshmandzadeh (WR), Glenn Holt (WR), Stacy Andrews (OT), Levi Jones (OT), Corey Mays (S), Mike Doss (S), Chris Perry (RB), Marcus Brown (CB), Ethan Kilmer (S)

Draft Picks: Andre Smith (OT-Alabama), Rey Maualuga (LB-USC), Michael Johnson (DE-Georgia Tech), Chase Coffman (TE-Missouri), Jonathan Luigs (C-Arkansas), Kevin Huber (P-Cincinnati), Morgan Trent (CB-Michigan), Bernard Scott (RB-Abilene Christian), Fui Vakapuna (RB-BYU), Clinton McDonald (DE-Memphis), Freddie Brown (WR-Utah)

The Bengals continued their decline in 2008, going 4-11-1 on the season, a season in which QB Carson Palmer played in only 4 games. The team struggled as a whole, but perhaps nobody more so than WR Chad Ochocinco (yes... that really is his name now, and yes... I really do laugh every time I read it). Ochocinco managed only 53 catches for 540 yards and 4 TDs on the season, by far the worst in all categories since his rookie season of 2001. T.J. Houshmandzadeh picked up the slack (92 for 904 and 4 TDs) to some extent, but he's now a Seattle Seahawk.

Houshmandzadeh's replacement comes in the form of former N.Y. Jet, Laveranues Coles, who managed 70 grabs for 850 yards and 7 TDs with Brett Favre throwing to him in 2008. The Bengals running game was weak last year as well, as Cedric Benson lead the team with just 747 yards and 2 TDs. Dhani Jones may have been the lone bright spot on the defense for Cinncy with his 116 tackles. Nobody else broke 100, and no player had more than 3 INTs or 3 sacks on the season, while the team as a whole gave up just under 23 points per game. That isn't an awful number, but when you consider that their anemic offense only scored a league worst 204 points, it obviously didn't get the job done.

In reality, nothing went right for this team last year. They were 1-11-1 at one point before winning their final 3 games of the season. We're talking about a team that used it's franchise tag on a kicker after all. Shayne Graham is a good one, but there's more than a few people out there that think maybe Houshmandzadeh would have made for a better use of the tag. The one bright spot that could be looked at is their draft in 2009. They got a great deal of talent, however, they have still yet to sign their top pick Andre Smith, nor are they even close to agreeing to a deal, as of the writing of this article.

Still, I see this team bouncing back to some extent this year. A healthy Carson Palmer could do wonders and I expect him to return closer to the form of the player we saw 3 seasons ago. Additionally, Chad Ochocinco should unquestionably be the #1 receiver again, which is what he craves. I can't imagine him not improving on last year's dismal effort. Call me crazy, but look for the Bengals to rebound a bit in 2009.

Last Season - 4-11-1
2009 Prediction - 7-9

Cleveland Browns

Key Additions: Brett Ratliff (QB), Robert Royal (TE), John St. Clair (OT), Mike Furrey (WR), Eric Barton (ILB), Ron Hood (CB), Corey Ivy (CB), Hank Poteat (S), David Patten (WR)

Key Losses: Bruce Gradkowski (QB), Ken Dorsey (QB), Joe Jurevicius, Kellen Winslow (TE), Seth McKinney (G), LeCharles Bentley (C), Sean Jones (S), Jason Wright (RB), Scott Young (G), Darnell Dinkins (TE), Andra Davis (ILB), Travis Daniels (CB), Steve Cargile (S),

Draft Picks: Alex Mack (C-Cal), Brian Robiskie (WR-Ohio St.), Mohamed Massaquoi (WR-Georgia), David Veikune (DE-Hawaii), Kaluka Maiava (LB-USC), Don Carey (CB-Norfolk St.), Coy Francies (CB-San Jose St.), James Davis (RB-Clemson)

Cleveland managed to be just ever so slightly worse than their cross state rivals last year, stumbling to a 4-12 record on the year. About the only thing the team really accomplished last season was to create a full fledged quarterback controversy heading into 2009.

Derek Anderson looked incredible in 2007 as the Browns went 10-6 and narrowly missed the playoffs, but 2008 was a very different year. Anderson struggled in the early going and was benched heading into Week 10 after a 3-6 start. Brady Quinn was officially handed the reigns to the team and went 1-1, but was injured in a Week 11 win at Buffalo. A broken finger sidelined Quinn for the season and Anderson quickly regained his starting job. 2 weeks later, Anderson tore his MCL in a loss against Indianapolis and he too was done for the year.

While Quinn didn't get much time as the starter, breaking down their statistics only leads you to see almost identical numbers between he and Anderson. Thus, heading into 2009, the two were competing for the starting job for the upcoming season. Neither looked spectacular in the first preseason game as they both threw an interception, though Quinn perhaps pulled slightly ahead in the battle. Either way, this debate isn't likely to be decided until close to the start of the regular season, and even then, I won't be surprised to see them go switch it up at some point during the year.

Only the Bengals were a worse offensive team last season, as the Browns managed just 14.5 points per game, and it doesn't look to be getting a whole lot better. Braylon Edwards production fell off dramatically last year with the quarterback carousel he had to deal with, and he also notoriously lead the league with 16 dropped balls on the year. He's entering a contract season however, and that tends to lead to bigger numbers more often than not. In terms of rushing, Jamal Lewis is still carrying the load for Cleveland. Lewis is only 29 years old but is entering his 10th year in the league and seems to be wearing down after years as a true work horse who carried the ball a ton of times year in and year out. He managed to hit 1,002 yards on the season, good enough for his 7th year with 1,000+.

Defensively, the Browns are lead by Inside Linebacker D'Qwell Jackson, whose 154 tackles lead the NFL last year, and Pro Bowl DT Shaun Rogers who managed 76 tackles and 4.5 sacks, both great numbers for an interior lineman. The team brought in several veterans for the defensive backfield to help bolster a very young secondary.

If the Browns could determine a clear cut starting QB and get solid play from that position once again, they could begin to turn things around from their huge downfall a year ago. I just don't see that being the case however. Their dreadful offense will return and be the downfall of yet another season in Cleveland. They might just find themselves in position to pick up Sam Bradford in next year's draft and try and start fresh.

Last Season: 4-12
2009 Prediction: 3-13

Pittsburgh Steelers

Key Additions: Keiwan Ratliff (CB), Shaun McDonald (WR), Alex Stepanovich (C)

Key Losses: Byron Leftwich (QB), Nate Washington (WR), Larry Foote (ILB), Gary Russell (RB), Bryant McFadden (CB), Kendal Simmons (G), Anthony Smith (S)

Draft Picks: Ziggy Hood (DT-Missouri), Kraig Urbik (G-Wisconsin), Mike Wallace (WR-Mississippi), Kennan Lewis (CB-Oregon St.), Joe Burnett (CB-Central Florida), Frank Summers (RB-UNLV), Ra'Shon Harris (DT-Oregon), A. Q. Shipley (C-Penn St.), David Johnson (TE-Arkansas St.)

The Pittsburgh Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII, their 6th Super Bowl title, with their trademark defense. The Steelers went 12-4 in the regular season, with all 4 of their losses coming at the hands of other playoff teams.

The Steelers offense was solid as usual, but by no means prolific. Ben Roethlisberger lead the way at QB with 3,301 yards, 17 TDs, and 15 INTs on the year. Willie Parker and Mewelde Moore combined for nearly 1,400 yards on the ground and 5 TDs apiece. As usual, Hines Ward lead the team in receiving with just over 1,000 yards and 7 scores. The only real changes heading into this year offensively are backup QB Byron Leftwich moving on to Tampa and 3rd WR Nate Washington heading to the Titans. Expect more of the same efficient, smash mouth football from the Steelers' offense this year.

Defensively, Pittsburgh was the class of the NFL again last season, allowing a shade under 14 points per game. James Harrison was named the NFL's Defensive MVP after a 101 tackle, 16 sack campaign, and was accompanied by linebackers Lawrence Timmons, LaMarr Woodley, and the now departed Larry Foote as perhaps the best set in the league. Troy Polamalu had another Pro Bowl year at safety, picking up 7 interceptions on the season. Pittsburgh's defense was nothing short of punishing last season, and other than Foote moving on, little has changed.

Barring injuries, especially at quarterback, the Steelers should be the team to beat in the AFC North again this year, and perhaps in the conference as a whole. Pittsburgh's biggest challenges this season all come at Heinz Stadium, where they have only lost 3 times in the past 2 seasons. While I'm not sure they'll match last year's regular season record, they know how to turn it up when it counts and they will certainly be a force to reckon with in the postseason yet again.

Last Season : 12-4
2009 Prediction: 10-6