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After a great 2014 NFL Season and a near perfect 2015 NFL: Draft, Ozzie Newsome has stacked the roster with enough talent to compete against any team in the league this season. With a veteran coaching staff and young players being able to spend an entire season learning the Ravens' way, it should come as no shock that the Ravens are the odds favorite to win the AFC North this season.
Odds to win the 2015-16 AFC North:
- Baltimore Ravens: 8/5
- Cincinnati Bengals: 11/5
- Pittsburgh Steelers: 11/5
- Cleveland Browns: 9/1
First we have to look at Cleveland. With a quarterback battle between a player that spent his offseason in rehab and wasn't all that great when he played last season or their several other veteran quarterbacks that have bounced from team to team because they weren't worthy of backing up star players, Cleveland is clearly on the bottom end of a tough AFC North battle.
Next up is Pittsburgh. They are tied with Cincinnati, which makes sense. Both have long-term coaches and stacked rosters even if Pittsburgh is routinely better than Cincinnati despite having less talent overall. I personally think that Pittsburgh will present the biggest challenge to the Ravens this season as both teams play physical football and the Steelers had a pretty solid draft themselves to help out a defense that seemed lost at times in 2014 and an offense that is still coming together completely.
The Ravens are pretty easily the odds favorite when you look at how they should perform this season. Quarterback Joe Flacco had his best career year in 2014 and is getting a new offensive coordinator that has performed great in his previous instances. The offense is stacked with weapons of all different types while the defense is coming back healthy after a relatively dominant 2014 season. Faster and stronger on just about every front, the Ravens should be big contenders for the Super Bowl this season.