5 takeaways from Ravens’ full 2022 schedule
Sometimes the nuances of an NFL team’s schedule can be key in whether the organization will make or miss the playoffs in 2022. The Baltimore Ravens saw their full 2022 schedule be released on Thursday night alongside the rest of the league, and there were many different things to take away from it.
Baltimore will have the 23rd hardest strength of schedule in the 2022 regular season, or in other words the 10th easiest group of games. They will play many talented teams, but have a fourth place schedule due to finishing last in the AFC North during the 2021 season.
Below we look at five takeaways from the Ravens’ full 2022 schedule.
Ravens will have big test of AFC East opponents in first month
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Baltimore is slated to play each team from the AFC East this upcoming season. However instead of having those games spread out over the course of 18 weeks, they’ll match up against the AFC in each of their first four contests.
The Ravens will open their season against the New York Jets in the Meadowlands followed up by their home opener against the Miami Dolphins in Week 2. Baltimore will then travel to New England to play the Patriots in Week 3 and return to M&T Bank Stadium to face off against the Buffalo Bills in Week 4. It will be important that Baltimore starts off their season strong, and the entire AFC East division will have a say in if the Ravens can do just that.
NFL missed great opportunity to put Lamar Jackson vs. Josh Allen in prime-time
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The Ravens’ Week 4 game against Buffalo will be played at 1:00pm EST. However, the NFL missed a prime opportunity to add the matchup to their prime-time slate, which would have seen two of the league’s brightest young stars face off under the bright lights.
Even with the game being played in the afternoon, both Jackson and Allen should be able to deliver great performances in an entertaining game. However, it would have been great to see the matchup recognized on the national level by the NFL.
Three prime-time games for Baltimore is too low
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In a league that’s full of contenders, there were always going to be teams that didn’t get the amount of prime-time games that they deserved. For a Ravens franchise that finished the season on a six-game losing streak and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2017, that’s exactly what happened to them.
Baltimore will play three prime-time games in 2022, one against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday Night Football in Week 5, and then two contests back-to-back against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday Night Football in Week 8 followed by the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football in Week 9. With a better regular season performance this year, the Ravens could be looking at five prime-time matchups again in 2023.
Ravens need to go undefeated in Weeks 11-13
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In 2021, a pivotal three-game stretch for Baltimore came in Weeks 9-11 against the Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears. Those games shouldn’t have been all that difficult to win, but while the Ravens were able to defeat Minnesota and Chicago, they couldn’t beat Miami, and one could argue that the loss had an impact on how the rest of their season went.
In 2022, that three-game stretch comes in Weeks 11-13 against the Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Denver Broncos. Baltimore should be able to get the job done against all three of those teams, although while Carolina and Jacksonville should be somewhat easy games, the new-look Denver squad led by Russell Wilson might be a much tougher challenge. Regardless, if the Ravens can go 3-0 in that stretch it could pay off in a big way when it comes to playoff seeding.
Baltimore must end season strong with slew of divisional games on the docket
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Over the Ravens’ final five games of the 2022 season, four of them will come against division rivals. It will be imperative that Baltimore ends their season on a high note in those matchups, especially based off of what the team did in the AFC North last year.
In 2021, the Ravens finished with a 1-5 record in their division, which was tied for the second-worst mark in the entire NFL. They’ll need to perform much better than that in the AFC North if they want to have any shot of winning their division, and tiebreakers against their rivals could come in handy when it comes time for the playoffs.
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