What the Beatdown staff think of the Ravens’ 2024 regular season schedule
The Baltimore Ravens 2024 regular season schedule has been announced. Below are the Beatdown staff reactions to the exciting news.
The NFL wants to showcase two-time MVP Lamar Jackson and the reigning AFC North champions. But, not in Baltimore. Of the Ravens five primetime games, two are home games (W4 – Bills; W10 – Bengals).
At no point does the schedule really let up. It’s hard to start, it remains difficult and ends with more challenges. That’s what happens when you’re No. 1.
The good news is they’re never on a brutal travel schedule. It’s a methodical away, home, away pattern. And when they leave for two straight games, they stay at home for the next two afterward.
A late-season bye week is almost always the dream for a team with Super Bowl ambitions. Thought, it would’ve been nice to face an AFC or even AFC North opponent coming off the bye week to gain a bit extra preparation, rather than it being the New York Giants.
Final note: Christmas road game in back-to-back years is garbage. Hate that for the players, the staff and all those who have to leave their loved ones on a WEDNESDAY. — Kyle Phoenix
The first feature of the schedule that stands out is the Week 14 bye week, the late placement should benefit a club focused on improving their unimpressive playoff record (since 2012). A home Thursday night contest against the division rival Bengals should also be viewed as a blessing, hosting teams have a clear advantage on short weeks. Notably, the Lamar Jackson led Ravens have been chosen as one of the league’s marquee teams with at least five primetime matchups and six standalone games. In fact, only seven of the 17 clashes are scheduled to kickoff at the traditional 1pm eastern timeslot. All-in-all this is a fair schedule for the 2023 AFC runner-up, with no three-plus game road trips and showdowns against expected contenders evenly dispersed for the most part. It will be up to John Harbaugh and his coaching staff to use this fine regular season schedule as an iron-sharpening tool for the team before the real test of the postseason begins. — Vasilis Lericos
The NFL clearly wants a lot of eyes on two-time league MVP Lamar Jackson the Ravens early and often. They not only have the maximum allotment of five primetime games with flex scheduling still a possibility in Week 18 for a sixth but they are also going to have four late window and stand-alone games as well. Having to wait until Week 14 for a break and action is going to be brutal especially if injuries inevitably begin to pile up. This could be a bigger concern compared to last year because until proven otherwise, this year’s team likely won’t be as deep as it was in 2023 but then again, the roster is months away from being set which means there is still plenty of time for general manager Eric DeCosta to work his late summer magic. Thankfully, they don’t have a road trip of longer than two weeks and at least they get Thanksgiving off although it sucks for their families that they’re playing a Christmas road game for the second year in a row against a formidable opponent. — Joshua Reed
The Ravens will, for the second straight year, boast one of the more difficult schedules in the league. Although we’ve known their opponents for months, the schedule reveal provides more clarity to their path back to the playoffs. Last years schedule featured a daunting stretch over the last few weeks of the season, and while this year doesn’t look quite as difficult, there will be trials to get back to where they were last year. Four of their first five games will be against high caliber teams. The Ravens typically start hot and it will be important to come out of the first quarter of the season with a good record if they want to win the AFC North for the second straight year. — Stephen Bopst