Football expert Phil Steele is the owner and publisher of Phil Steele’s College Football Preview, regarded as the college football bible. Get in-depth coverage of college and pro football 24/7/365 at PhilSteele.com.
RAVENS (-2) over Bengals: The value here is with the Ravens, who bring in Gary Kubiak as the offensive coordinator, Steve Smith to strengthen the wide receivers, have a healthy TE Dennis Pitta along with a stable offensive line. Baltimore was a surprising 31st with just 23.8 yards per drive last year and 27th with just 1.55 points per drive. Defensively, they added C.J. Mosley and retained Daryl Smith, and will have the home-crowd edge vs. a Bengals team with a rookie center. The Ravens are also a full year past the loss of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, and expect to have all three starting cornerbacks (remember defenses play nickel more than 50 percent of the time now) available.
Buccaneers (-2) over PANTHERS: Why is a 4-12 team from last year favored over a 12-4 team? One factor is Lovie Smith, who returns the defense to the Dungy era Tampa 2 scheme. Tampa Bay has a great matchup with a defensive line anchored by Gerald McCoy against a Panthers offensive line with three new starters. I have the Buccaneers as my seventh most improved team, and the Panthers as my 31st most improved, giving us great value. Tampa Bay is the better team this year, is at home, and basically just has to win the game.
2013 RECORD (NFL): 21-18-1.