Baltimore Ravens 2009 NFL Picks & 2010 Super Bowl Betting Odds: The Baltimore Ravens got their swagger back in 2008 with an impressive 11-5 season thanks to some old fashion smash-mouth football. Rookie head coach John Harbaugh and rookie QB Joe Flacco used their youth to their advantage to ignite the spark needed for the turn around. The Ravens are still a notch behin Pittsburgh who handed them 3 losses but are gaining ground on the Super Bowl champs. Until Baltimore acquires a big-play wideout to help Flacco, they will remain the 2nd best team in the AFC North. Baltimore Ravens 2009 NFL Picks & 2010 Super Bowl Betting Odds have the Ravens at 15-1 at Sportsbook.com.

After QB Joe Flacco proved that he could handle the offense last season the Ravens will open up the playbook more in 2009. Flacco has a cannon arm to torch defenses with and coordinator Cam Cameron has done an excellent job tailoring the offense to his abilities. Baltimore still does most of their damage though with a 3-headed running monster in Willis McGahee, Le’Ron McClain and Ray Rice. The O-Line is a crew full of beefy maulers that power the running game and do a fine job of protecting Flacco. The wideout corps has two decent posseion types in Derrick Mason and Mark Clayton but lack a true difference maker.

Greg Mattison is the new coordinator in place of the departed Rex Ryan. The defense has quality players all over the field for mattison to play with in Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata and Ray Lewis. The defense is physical and experienced ranking 2nd in scoring defense only behind the Pittsburgh Steelers. Where the Ravns need to improve on defense is their inconsistent pass-rush that recorded only 33 sacks last season.  Overall the Special Teams are adequate but nothing great.

Until Baltimore acquires a big-play wideout to help Flacco, they will remain the 2nd best team in the AFC North.