2013 Week 1 Preview: Broncos vs Ravens

Joe Flacco graces Mile High Stadium alongside Denver's quarterback.
Photo credit to TheBigLead.com.

As the catchy commercial featuring Youth Lagoon’s “Daydream” has been saying for the past few weeks, football is back!!

Due to a scheduling conflict with the Baltimore Orioles (Ravens fans have no-one to blame but their neighbors), the defending Super Bowl champions will open the season on the road, a mile above sea level, in Denver.

Peyton Manning and the Broncos saw their Super Bowl hopes die in the same stadium, against the same team, in the divisional round of last year’s playoffs. With Von Miller serving the first of a six-game suspension, and Elvis Dumervil lining up on the other side of the ball this time around, it will be no small task to reverse their fortunes and open the season with a victory.

There are plenty of new faces on Baltimore’s defense, and absent faces on both sides of the ball. Ray Lewis is retired, Ed Reed is in Houston, Corey Webster is in New York and, on offense, Anquan Boldin is in San Francisco. But the Ravens’ front office has done a good job filling those holes on defense and an adequate job of doing so on offense. This is a team very capable of defending their AFC North crown, though I still say a repeat Super Bowl title is a long-shot.

I expect Ray Rice to gain a lot of yards against a thinned Denver linebacker corps, and Flacco should have plenty of time to read the defense with so many sacks missing from Denver’s front seven.

The question for me is whether the Ravens can keep up with the Broncos’ own high-octane offense. Denver will put up points in every game this season, I don’t care what defense they’re facing. Can Baltimore’s offense avoid their typical post-first-drive slump to keep up? The answer to that question will determine the outcome of the NFL’s season opener.

Follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.