The 2013 NFL season will finally kick off on Thursday night and the Denver Broncos will emerge victorious over the Baltimore Ravens in the inaugural matchup of the new year.
It's been a long and frustrating offseason for the Ravens. You would think coming off a Super Bowl victory would have left this squad flying high, but that hasn't exactly been the case.
The price to pay for winning the big game has cost Baltimore dearly. A slew of players have jumped ship after teams around the league picked the Ravens' roster apart and now the champs are a shell of their former selves.
Defensively, they will be without former leaders Ed Reed and Ray Lewis, as well as more impactful players like Paul Kruger and Dannell Ellerbe, to name a few. Offensively, Baltimore will be missing wide receiver Anquan Boldin (traded) and tight end Dennis Pitta (season-ending injury).
In fact, the only great job the Ravens did in replacing lost talent was the signing of Elvis Dumervil, who will be facing his old squad in Denver after the Broncos botched the handling of him during the offseason.
For the Broncos, the low expectations for the Ravens this season is a dangerous thing to combat on opening night. It will be easy for such a talented team like Denver to overlook it's depleted counterparts, and that stands as the sole factor that could work against the Broncos.
If they can avoid that, the Broncos should have no problem taking down the reigning champs in Week 1.
Look for Denver to lean on its passing attack early and often in the hopes of opening things up for the run, which will be done by committee with guys like Ronnie Hillman, Montee Ball and Knowshon Moreno.
While it isn't known which back will dominate the carries on Thursday night, it is clear they will have plenty of room to operate once Peyton Manning starts throwing the ball to his incredibly deep receiving corps. That should make things a lot easier for Denver's inexperienced and unsure backfield.
Missing some of their biggest offensive threats, the Ravens will have a tough time finding their best players open. Denver will be able to key in on Ray Rice and Torrey Smith because there simply isn't a lot of weapons aside from them.
Once Denver can stop Joe Flacco and the Ravens passing attack, it should be a tough go of it for Rice. The Broncos would be wise to stack the box after accomplishing that feat in order to cut Rice off from having a big game.
Most importantly, Denver cannot allow Rice to get going early. If that happens, things will be wide open for Flacco and company through the air, and with Champ Bailey out for this game, that could present a dangerous scenario.
As long as Denver doesn't underestimate its opponent, look for the Broncos to take care of business en route to a Week 1 victory over the Ravens.
Final score: Broncos 27, Ravens 14
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