Around the AFC North - Steelers.com

[coldrolled]

Heres a classic Bengals draft pick

Cincinnati Bengals undrafted rookie linebacker Brandon Joiner's NFL career will be on hold after the 23-year-old was sentenced to three years in prison over a 2007 robbery that occurred when Joiner was a freshman at Texas A&M, the Bryan College Station Eagles reports.

Joiner was indicted on two counts of aggravated robbery and one charge of felony drug possession. Joiner and another former player were arrested and charged with robbery after breaking into a College Station apartment and robbing a drug dealer at gunpoint. Joiner had been on probation for the first robbery count and was sentenced to three years in prison on the drug charge, with the sentences to run concurrently. With good behavior, Joiner's attorney believes his client could be released in six to nine months.

[coldrolled]

Pollard of the Ravens is calling for big things...

"Whatever happened last year was last year. We're moving on to this year. The 2012 football season is going to be exciting," strong safety Bernard Pollard told The Baltimore Sun this week. "You've got so many people saying what we can't do, who we're facing, how many quarterbacks can do this, what offenses do that. It does not matter because when the whistle blows and you're between those white (lines), you can't stop us. And we're excited with what we have."

Pollard was part of a defense that ranked third in the NFL last season, only to fall short of its goal. He praised the work of general manager Ozzie Newsome, who used this offseason to re-sign talent (including Pollard, through 2015) and draft new pieces to the puzzle.

The loss of Terrell Suggs hangs in the air, but the Ravens don't sound like a team willing to let that loss derail them from chasing what eluded them one season ago.

[coldrolled]

Uni Brow...

Enter Joe Flacco: the perfect storm of pressure.

Flacco is entering his fifth season as starter for the Baltimore Ravens, a run that has included personal success (44-20 career record, five playoff wins), but no Super Bowl appearances.

This Lombardi-free reality casts his career in a disappointing light when you factor in the talent that's populated Baltimore's defense in the last half decade. With a core of Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata, the Ravens are built for championship runs. That they haven't been able to get out of the AFC playoffs makes you wonder what's missing on the other side of the ball.

The potentially season-wrecking Achilles injury suffered by Terrell Suggs earlier this month amped up the pressure on Flacco and Co. After years of being "carried" by the defense, can the offense now do some of the heavy lifting?

"We shouldn't feel any more pressure because we don't have (Suggs)," Flacco said last week. "We still have a great defense and we still have a great team.

"But having said that, if it does put more pressure on us, if we do feel like we have more pressure on us and we need to score more, I don't think that's a bad thing."

Those are the outside pressures that face Flacco. The next level is created by internal factors

[DBR96A]

The Browns are QB killers.....they haven't really had a decent QB since Brian Sipe....

Bernie Kosar was pretty good. Not great, but you could do a lot worse. I'd put him in the same category as guys like Randall Cunningham, Drew Bledsoe and Donovan McNabb.

[DBR96A]

Arians is the QB killer. Watch Luck...

Bruce Arians is exactly why I'm putting my money on Robert Griffin III being the better of the two QBs.

[coldrolled]

Bruce Arians is exactly why I'm putting my money on Robert Griffin III being the better of the two QBs.

When i was younger in Rocky River, Ohio i had lunch at this deli with bernie sitting adjacent to me a few times, he was a big guy, nice dude. He was no cunningham though. Arians did destroy Tim Couch.. He was a #1 QB just like Luck... I hope Bruce learned something over the years for Luck's sake.

[coldrolled]

Suggs and the Ravens previously circled late November as his targeted return. It's an ambitious timetable, but Suggs isn't backing off it.

"Late November, that will be the latest I return," he said. "Going into the (hyperbaric) chamber is an option, it certainly can't hurt. I can take an iPad and iPod in there and spend a few hours a day. It can only help the healing process."

Suggs is an intense competitor, and he acknowledged he believes he injured himself by "pushing too hard." The duty of the Ravens' medical staff is to keep him on a program and schedule that doesn't put him in danger of a damaging setback.

The Ravens undoubtedly will get him the best treatment possible, but Suggs will have to be smart about himself.

[coldrolled]

Green was asked about Dalton's arm strength Monday during an appearance on NFL Network's "NFL Total Access."

"I don't know why people question his arm," Green said. "I don't believe you have to throw the ball 80 yards every play. You know, just get it out there where I can catch it."

Dalton's arm strength, or rather the lack thereof, remains a hotly debated topic even though it did not prevent him from passing for 3,398 yards and 20 touchdowns or representing his team in the Pro Bowl last season. Dalton's arm also did not keep Green from averaging over 16 yards per reception and becoming the first rookie receiver to earn a Pro Bowl berth since 2003.

As evidenced by his rookie season, Dalton is strong enough to succeed in Jay Gruden's West Coast system. That said, the "Red Rifle" might want to take the advice Red Auerbach gave to Bill Russell by throwing the occasional elbow this season to keep opposing secondaries honest.

[LatrobePA]

BA's thinking, throw 80 yards every play! Good luck Luck...

I think fire bush Dalton will have problems this year, Derrick Anderson for the Browns went to the Pro Bowl one year and the next teams figured him out and he stunk up the joint!

[coldrolled]

Is Red Rifle like the Red Ryder BB Gun?