Early Odds and Predictions for Ravens
Preseason is still months away, but early power rankings and NFL odds have already been surfacing.
- Both power rankings from ESPN.com and FOX Sports listed the Baltimore Ravens as the 7th best team.
- Peter King of Sports Illustrated came up with his own list, ranking the Ravens 3rd overall.
- My own personal power ranking list places the Ravens at 5th best.
Baltimore has been getting respect for the most part, but there are still some crazy people who think the Ravens aren’t good enough yet. For example, Bleacher Report placed the Ravens at number 10. It’s okay though because there’s not much credibility in a report that would rank the Patriots 4th overall.
But there are even some betting sites that aren’t so confident in Baltimore’s improvements. The Ravens were given 16-1 odds of going all the way and winning this year’s Super Bowl. The mind-boggling part is that 8 other teams had better odds than the Ravens.
I don’t know how the Ravens could be ranked so low by anyone who actually watches football. The addition of Anquan Boldin and a spectacular draft class were huge improvements for Baltimore, filling in many of last year’s gaps.
Obviously these are way early predictions, but still something to take note of. Unfortunately, there will always be doubters and haters out there. As a Ravens fan, I’m used to the “underdog” label; I actually enjoy it. It feels good when the media and critics look down on Baltimore, only to be shocked when they end up being wrong.
