The Ravens will have Joe Flacco play in a knee brace in his second season back from a torn ACL. Feel free to use that as a metaphor for their 2017 season — they’d better brace themselves, because they’ll be scrambling around to some widespread locations to try to redeem their missed opportunity from last season.
They’re taking a chance on a later bye week instead of an early one following their trip to London to face the Jaguars in Week 3. But it makes sense, because in December they travel back to Pittsburgh on a Sunday night, some 50 weeks after their AFC North chances died on Antonio Brown’s stretch for a last-second game-winning touchdown. Avoiding a third straight playoff-less season is paramount.
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Ravens schedule 2017
September
at Bengals, Browns, Jaguars
No matter how good or bad Cincinnati is, they are a headache for the Ravens; they barely survived them at home last November when a loss would have all but killed their season. Traveling to London will be a new experience they need to navigate, especially without the bye following.
October
Steelers, at Raiders, Bears, at Vikings, Dolphins
The obvious challenge is the Steelers, who were not a full strength when the Ravens beat them at home last season. A huge west coast trip for a tough Raiders game, and later in the month, a quick turnaround, a road game in Minnesota followed by a home Thursday nighter against the Dolphins. The Bears lurk, waiting to be overlooked.
November
at Titans, Bye, at Packers, Texans
The Week 10 bye will come right on time, but also is sandwiched between two road games, including to Green Bay. Their game against the Texans is their first Monday night home game since 2012 … when they won the Super Bowl.
December
Lions, at Steelers, at Browns, Colts, Bengals
Besides the Sunday night game in Pittsburgh, the quirk in their late schedule is in Week 16, the Saturday afternoon before Christmas at home against the Colts, always an emotional situation for Baltimore fans. They finish against the Bengals again; they lost what turned out to be a meaningless finale last season.
Ravens schedule 2017, record prediction: 10-6
The Ravens have that complicated schedule after the bye, in the final seven weeks, so they need to jump out to a good start (it helped them last year when they started 3-0). The first three games before that Steelers game in Baltimore — including the London game against another questionable Jaguars team — are eminently winnable. If they can springboard from overseas into a home win against an arch-rival, they’re going to be in great shape.
True, their roster has to get better: they suffered some significant free-agent losses, and Steve Smith retired. For any of this to happen, they’ll have to have a heck of a draft and have their free-agent moves so far pay off.