Making an educated guess about how the upcoming season will play off for the reigning AFC North champions.
Now that the 2024 NFL schedule has been released for a few days, it’s time for every fan’s favorite or least favorite exercise depending on which team they’re rooting for, record projection. In this case, it’s for the Baltimore Ravens, a top contender in not just the AFC but the league as a whole.
In 2023, the Ravens won the AFC North, finished with the best record in the NFL, secured the No. 1 seed and hosted a conference championship for the first time in over half a century. Unfortunately, they wound up coming up short of a return to the Super Bowl but the crucible of their 2024 slate could mold them into the champions they aspire to be in the end.
Here’s a prediction of how the Ravens’ record could wind up being when it’s all said and done in 2024 without picking every single game.
Last year, the toughest gauntlet of opponents on paper for the Ravens was their final four games in which they played three teams who were playoff teams the year before or a foe they had lost to the year prior in the Jacksonville Jaguars, San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins and Pittsburgh Steelers. They responded running through the top contenders before resting key starters in their regular season finale against their division rival.
While their final stretch of games is daunting with four of their last five opponents being 2023 playoff teams including two AFC North foes, their toughest tests as it stands right now will be right out of the gates. If they can find a way to emerge from the five-game gauntlet to open the season that will see them face four elite to upper-echelon quarterbacks with one or fewer losses on their record, it would further cement their status as one of the top Super Bowl contenders in the league especially if one of those victories is in Week 1 over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Following a grueling opening slate, the Ravens will be heading into a softer slate of games on paper full of momentum and with a chance to rack up some conference and nonconference wins against teams they’ll be favored to beat. Their next quadrant of contests includes back-to-back divisional games and a primetime matchup with a revamped Los Angeles Chargers team coached by head coach John Harbaugh’s younger brother Jim and features several former players on the roster.
The final stretch games are where the Ravens have a chance to head into the postseason on an extremely high note for the second year in a row if they can rattle off consecutive victories to close out the year over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Houston Texans on Christmas and the Cleveland Browns.
Final record prediction: 13-4
I believe the Ravens will repeat as AFC North champions by going 4-2 in the division splitting with the Browns or the Cincinnati Bengals but sweeping the Steelers for the first time since 2019. They will prove to the league and all their doubters who believe the losses they suffered in the offseason on both the roster and coaching staff that they are still well-equipped to make a strong run at a title. I do believe that they will open the season with a bang by spoiling the two-time defending champions’ banner unveiling night with a resounding victory in which their margin of victory will be a touchdown or more.