A Reason to Love and Hate Every NFL Team This Season: AFC North Edition

Holy Offseason!  We are only ten agonizing weeks and some change away from the start of the 2015 NFL season, so it's time to start thawing out Lady Blitz preseason "analysis" 4.0.  Without further adieu, here are reasons to love and hate all 32 franchises starting with the AFC North. 

Baltimore Ravens

Love: They'll Probably Still Find a Way to Win
Sure, the Ravens rarely look pretty doing it, but they have quietly been one of the winningest teams in the NFL from the moment they ripped Cleveland's heart out and changed the paint scheme 20 years ago.  Since 2000, Baltimore has won two Super Bowls, gone to the playoffs ten times and had just three losing seasons.  And while the Ravens' defense has been extraordinary over the years, they've managed to win with guys like Trent Dilfer, Kyle Boller and Joe Flacco doing things.  Where we last left off, Baltimore nearly pulled off [another] tremendous upset against the Patriots at Foxboro despite having lost most of its 2012 Super Bowl roster and any semblance of a secondary.  Now they come into 2015 with a little more health on their side--so far--and an entirely remade receiving corps.  They have limited star power and lots of untested talent, but watching John Harbaugh and Ozzie Newsome figure out how to make it work is always a treat... if you like Rubik's Cubes, anyway.  Just don't write these guys off as much as you might want to in September.

Hate: Riding the Flacco Coaster
Show me someone who says they've figured Joe Flacco out and I'll show you a liar. I've actively defended [and subsequently jinxed] they guy on numerous occasions and cursed him many times more.  This is a player who had one of the very best postseason QB runs of all time in 2012, rivaled only by Joe Freaking Montana, only to land a massive and oft-ridiculed contract and regress to the mean since then to Ravens fans' chagrin.  To be fair, Flacco had his best regular season to date last year in terms of yards, touchdown passes and rating, but that understandably got lost in the mix when he killed Baltimore's postseason with this boneheaded play. Now that the Ravens have let go the likes of Torrey Smith, Jacoby Jones and Owen Daniels, this befuddling quarterback will have to avenge that January heartbreaker with a brand new, rookie-centric receiving squad.  I'm getting nauseous just thinking about the impending Flacco rollercoaster of 2015.

  

Cincinnati Bengals

Love: A One-Two Punch at Running Back
There's plenty to be worried about in Cincinnati these days (see below), but the Bengals' ground game is not one of those things.  Despite battling injuries, Giovanni Bernard proved once again to be a versatile runner out of the backfield and in the screen last season. And ironically, Bernard's time on the bench made the Bengals' running game even stronger by making way for Jeremy Hill's bruising breakout of a rookie year.  Despite being second banana through the first six weeks of the 2014 season, Hill had four 150 yard games, three of which included rushes of 60 yards or more.  That's really good!  Bernard's tackle-evading agility alongside Hill's sheer power up the middle has given Cincy one of the best running back tandems in the league and should take some pressure off of Andy Dalton's shoulders going into this season. Let's hope OC Hugh Jackson puts his full trust in this dynamic duo - they could be a game-changer for an offense that has fallen just short for too long.

Hate: The Flameout Ahead
Ever since I started this blog, few things have been more certain than the Bengals' inevitable flameout come playoffs time.  They've made the postseason five times in the past six years and come up woefully short every single time.  To wit, they've been eaten alive by the Texans' defense twice, upset at home by the 6th-seeded Chargers and stifled by injuries/a mediocre Colts defense.  The fact that Cincinnati has looked better than advertised in the regular season in recent years has prevented this front office from making any dramatic changes while also limiting opportunities to reload in the draft.  With Andy Dalton continuing to disappoint in big moments and the Bengals' pass rush taking a major step back last season, you can't help but wonder if the "glory days" of Marvin Lewis' tenure could finally come to an end this year.  In what should be a make-or-break year for Cincy's front office and coaching staff, it's hard to imagine the Bengals getting different results after another offseason of playing it safe.

Cleveland Browns

Love: Mike Pettine Seems Okay, Maybe
Did you know that the Browns' 7 - 9 record last season was their best since 2007? If you're looking for other silver linings, they were one tie away from being NFC South title contenders!  Really!  It wasn't pretty, but you have to give some major kudos to coach Mike Pettine for getting the Browns this far.  Consider the circumstances: Pettine was at best Cleveland's fourth or fifth choice to coach this team when Rob Chudzinski was unceremoniously canned after one year.  The Browns' best hopes on offense were unhinged playboy/rookie QB Johnny Manziel, a journeyman benchwarmer in Brian Hoyer and two very low profile rookie running backs whose names I just had to Google again (Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell if you're wondering).  And you could not ask for a more terrifyingly domineering but incompetent front office than Cleveland's.  But somehow, emerging from this furious dumpster fire, Mike Pettine managed to eke seven wins out of this team.  Huh.

Hate: Pick Your Poison
...The main choice being Johnny Manziel fresh off of rehab or Josh McCown fresh off of a disastrous 2 - 14 campaign with Tampa Bay.  But really, remember all the things I just said in the paragraph prior to this one about having terrible offensive prospects and one of the worst front offices in all of professional sports? It doesn't look good.  After all, for all the signs of life the Browns occasionally exhibited last season, they closed things out on a 1 - 6 slide.  Every year there are teams in the NFL that remind you never to say never, but the Cleveland Browns are a pretty safe bet to stay in the cellar.  Prove me wrong, J. Football!

Pittsburgh Steelers

Love: An Offensive Juggernaut
One thing's for sure about this Pittsburgh team: this isn't your parents' Steel Curtain.  When the dust settled in 2014, the Steelers had the top passer and receiver and the second-most prolific running back in the league with the three-headed monster of Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell.  Despite the rumors of discord between Big Ben and OC Todd Haley, Pittsburgh finally put it all together last season on offense on the way to an 11-win, division-clinching season, and they're bringing back all of their key pieces in September.  Although the Steelers still have work to do in rebuilding their defense after the departures of Ike Taylor, Troy Polamalu and Brent "The Beard" Keisel, they looked primed for another postseason run with an offense that should be healthier and firing on all cylinders.  Look out, AFC.

Hate: Stooping to the Competition
Oh to be a Steelers fan. I wouldn't know, but I can empathize with how infuriatingly uneven this team can be - try doing a pick 'em with them every week and putting it permanently on the interwebs.  Take last year's highlights: Pittsburgh pulled off gutsy wins against the Colts, Bengals and Ravens, all of whom made the playoffs.  Then of course they went on to lose to the pitiful Saints, Jets and Buccaneers.  In 2013, the Steelers managed to lose to the bottom-feeding Titans, Vikings and Raiders to boot.  As good as their best has been, this team struggles to show up for the games they are supposed to win.  There always seems to be such a swirl of "what ifs" when January rolls around and this team barely misses the playoffs or winds up with a worse seed than they can handle.  They're kind of like the classmate who never studies, aces the test but never turns his homework in.  What gives, Steelers?  Don't you want to tell us to count the rings again?  Actually, don't answer that.