The Baltimore Ravens are once again poised to be one of the best teams in the NFL, going to war with an MVP in Lamar Jackson, a possible Hall of Fame running back in Derrick Henry, and arguably the most complete defense the league has to offer. They will need to overcome a brutal schedule, however.
More than half of Baltimore’s 17 games this season are coming against teams who made the playoffs last season, giving the Ravens the second-hardest schedule in the league. Only the rival Cleveland Browns can claim to have it harder. John Harbaugh is likely not going to be daunted by this.
The schedule is officially released, and the Ravens will need to slug through some serious contenders both at the beginning and right before the postseason starts. Jackson will need to be the best version of himself if the Ravens want to secure another division title.
John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens could not have been handed a more difficult start to their 2024 season, as the first game of the year will be an AFC Championship rematch against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. To make matters worse, the Thursday Night opener will be on the road at Arrowhead Stadium.
Some Ravens fans are irritated (and have every right to be) with the fact they have to once again face off against the best team in the league right off the bad. However, some optimists are taking the stance that playing Kansas City now could be the best-case scenario.
As mentioned by Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic, the Ravens are a solid 12-4 in season-opening games during the Harbaugh era, with three of those losses coming during the aggressively mediocre period from 2013 to 2015. Harbaugh has typically prepared his team well for the start of the season.
Zrebiec also mentioned that playing Kansas City in Week 1, when they will once again be working out the rough parts in a new-look offense, might be better than taking them on in December, when Mahomes and the offense are usually riding momentum into the postseason. Baltimore could sneak up on Kansas City early, like the Lions did last year.
While the Ravens may be weaker than last year due to all of their free agent losses, and Kansas City addressed their big wide receiver shortage by drafting Xavier Worthy and signing Marquise Brown, there’s a very clear path to victory for Baltimore here.
The Chiefs lost home primetime games within the first six weeks of the season in each of the last two seasons and started 2-3 in 2021. If you want a shot at taking down Kansas City, the best time to do it is before Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and the rest of the offense start to get in a groove.
