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When the Baltimore Ravens entered the final five weeks of the 2012 regular season, they found themselves at 9-2 and were in the midst of a second four-game winning streak of the season. Despite that impressive win total, there were glaring problems on the offensive side of the football. The Ravens managed just three field goals and 298 yards of offense in a 9-6 win over the hapless Kansas City Chiefs. Two weeks later, they gained just 176 yards and 12 first downs in a 43-13 pasting at the hands of the Houston Texans. The Ravens managed to hang on and beat a Ben Roethlisberger-less Pittsburgh Steelers team on Nov. 18 and the following week got the infamous " 4th and 29 " play to force overtime and beat the San Diego Chargers. After gaining 288 yards in a 23-20 loss to the Steelers on Dec. 2, and scoring just one touchdown in the second half of a 31-28 loss to the Washington Redskins, the Ravens dismissed Cam Cameron and promoted Jim Caldwell, who had never coordinated an offense at any level during his coaching career. Though the Ravens lost a third straight game the following week, the offense began to click under Caldwell, particularly in the running game. Over the final two weeks of the season, the Ravens gained 430 yards on the ground as rookie Bernard Pierce took on a slightly larger role. The Ravens got a 10th win to finish in first place ahead of the 10-6 Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC North. In the playoffs, Caldwell made the curious decision to shuffle the offensive line by Michael Oher back to right tackle, rookie Kelechi Osomele was moved to left guard and Bryant McKinnie was insert at left tackle. That unit would pave the way for a rushing attack that averaged 134.8 yards in the playoffs and would keep quarterback Joe Flacco mostly clean throughout the playoffs, allowing just six sacks as Flacco passes for 1,140 yards with 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions as the Ravens defeated the Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots and, in Super Bowl XLVII, the San Francisco 49ers to hoist the second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history. The 2013 offseason has brought about many changes to the Ravens roster. Seven of the 22 players that started the Super Bowl are gone, and an eighth player (Dennis Pitta, who didn't officially start as the Ravens opened in "20" personnel) will miss the season with a hip injury suffered early in training camp. The leadership core of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are gone, with Reed trying to continue his Hall of Fame career with the Houston Texans and Lewis staying in the public eye with a studio gig at ESPN while he awaits his call from Canton, Ohio. Head coach John Harbaugh and general manager Ozzie Newsome remain, however, as does Flacco, who was kept off the free agent market with a six-year, $120.6 million contract extension. A return trip to the Super Bowl is unlikely, and the Ravens may struggle to keep the Bengals and Steelers at bay in the AFC Norht, but the presence of Newsome, Harbaugh and Flacco on this team is why the Ravens are so high on this list and why, on paper, they remain one of the top teams in the AFC entering the 2013 season.
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