My commentary includes facts/observations about this year’s schedule.
2018 Schedule (Radio: all games on WIYY-FM, 97.9)
PRESEASON
Thurs., Aug. 2 – vs. Chicago (at Canton, Ohio), 8, WBAL-TV
Thurs., Aug. 9 – Los Angeles Rams, 7:30, WBAL-TV
Mon., Aug. 20 – at Indianapolis, 7, ESPN
Sat., Aug. 25 – at Miami, 7, WBAL-TV
Thurs., Aug. 30 – Washington, 7:30, WBAL-TV
REGULAR SEASON
(all games on Sundays unless otherwise indicated)
Sept. 9 – Buffalo, 1, CBS
Sept. 13 (Thurs.) – at Cincinnati, 8:20, Fox/NFLN
Sept. 23 – Denver, 1, CBS
Sept. 30 – at Pittsburgh, 8:20, NBC
x-Oct. 7 – at Cleveland, 1, CBS
x-Oct. 14 – at Tennessee, 4:25, CBS
x-Oct. 21 – New Orleans, 4:05, Fox
x-Oct. 28 – at Carolina, 1, CBS
x-Nov. 4 – Pittsburgh, 1, CBS
Nov. 11 – BYE WEEK
x-Nov. 18 – Cincinnati, 1, CBS
x-Nov. 25 – Oakland, 1, CBS
x-Dec. 2 – at Atlanta, 1, CBS
x-Dec. 9 – at Kansas City, 1, CBS
x-Dec. 16 – Tampa Bay, 1, Fox
x-Dec. 22 or 23 – at LA Chargers, TBA, TBA
x-Dec. 30 – Cleveland, 1, CBS
x – games that could be affected by the league’s flexible-scheduling program
POSTSEASON
Sat.-Sun., Jan. 5-6 – Wild Card Weekend (NBC, CBS, Fox, ESPN)
Sat.-Sun., Jan. 12-13 – Divisional Playoffs (NBC, CBS, Fox)
Sun., Jan. 20 – NFC Championship Game, 3 p.m. (Fox); AFC Championship Game, 6:40 p.m. (CBS)
Sun., Jan. 27 – AFC-NFC Pro Bowl; Camping World Stadium; Orlando, Fla.; 3 p.m. (ESPN)
Sun., Feb. 3 – SUPER BOWL LIII; Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta; 6:30 p.m. (CBS)
Commentary
—According to the league schedule formula currently in use, 14 of any given team’s 16 opponents are predetermined as part of a rotation, with only two games determined by where a team finished in its division the previous year in divisions the Ravens aren’t already playing in their entirety. Therefore, designations such as “first-place” or “last-place” schedules no longer exist and haven’t since 2002. The Ravens’ two placement games for 2018 are against Tennessee (away) and Buffalo (home).
—The schedule rotation was revamped in 2002 so that each team would face every other team at least once every four years and travel to all the other league cities at least once every eight years. That’s why the Ravens’ games in Carolina and Atlanta will be the team’s first in those cities since 2010. Denver’s trip to Baltimore is its first trip here since 2012.
– –With the season-opening game at home against Buffalo September 9, the Ravens will open the season at home for the 12th time. They have begun the season on the road 11 times. The Ravens open and close the season at home, the sixth time they will have done that, following 1996, 1998, 2001, 2008 and 2014. The last three times that has happened, the Ravens made the playoffs.
—For the third time in team history, the Ravens face a stretch of five road games in seven weeks. That happened in 2000, but Baltimore won five of those seven games. It took place again in 2015 when the Ravens went 1-6.
—The Ravens will face just one team coming off its bye week, the October 21 home game against the New Orleans Saints. Baltimore played the Tennessee Titans after that team had its off-week in 2017. Two seasons ago, the Ravens played the Pittsburgh Steelers after both teams had their byes the previous week.
—The Ravens’ Nov. 11 bye comes after nine games for a second straight year, which is the latest off-week since 2014, when it came after ten. The bye is one of only two open Sundays on the schedule, with the other being September 16 after the Ravens’ Thursday-night game in Cincinnati. There could be a third open Sunday if the December game in Los Angeles is set for Saturday, December 22, but that game’s date has yet to be determined.
—As for the rest of the AFC North’s bye weeks, Pittsburgh will have its week off in Week Seven (Oct. 21), the earliest in the division. Cincinnati’s off-week is November 4, the week before Baltimore’s, while Cleveland has the last AFC North bye week, that coming on November 18.
—The Ravens will have home games on either side of its bye week for the tenth time in team history. Baltimore swept those games in only four of the previous nine instances, but each time, it made the playoffs: 2000, 2008, 2010 and 2011.
—One reason October has traditionally been the Ravens’ worst month is that they haven’t played at home that often during that time. This year, the Ravens will play only one October home game for the fifth time in seven years, the New Orleans contest on October 21. That will be the team’s annual Breast Cancer Awareness game, when the annual display of pink-colored towels, cleats, and other paraphernalia will be in evidence.
—The team’s annual Salute To Service observation will be harder to pinpoint since the team plays three November home games. No dates have yet been announced for when the team will wear its alternate black jerseys, although the Nov. 4 game against Pittsburgh would be a logical choice. The Ravens wore black jerseys for three of its home games last year.
—For only the second time since 2000, the Ravens will not be featured on Monday Night Football. It marks only the seventh season this will be the case; the Ravens did not play on Monday night in 2003 or at any time between 1996 and 2000.
—This year, 13 of the Ravens’ 16 regular-season games will be played in the Eastern time zone. Last year, only 11 games fit that category, a franchise-record low that broke the record set in 2016, when the team’s 12 games in the home zone tied the existing record loss. The Ravens will travel out of the Eastern zone to play Tennessee, Kansas City, and the Los Angeles Chargers.
—The Ravens have six games this year against teams that have a lifetime winning regular-season record against them, the two against Pittsburgh (24-20), Tennessee (10-9), Carolina (3-2), Denver (6-5) and Kansas City (4-3). The lifetime series against the Cincinnati Bengals is tied 22-22.
—After three straight schedules featuring lots of late-season division games, the Ravens’ AFC North fate will be decided early, with five of 2018’s first ten opponents coming within the division. In a rare twist, all three division-game return matches are at home for only the second time since the AFC North was formed in 2002, the other occasion in 2007.
—The second Cincinnati game is at home, a rare occurrence since the return match had been on the road ten times in the previous 13 years. The three division road games are wrapped up by Week Five, the earliest in team history. The previous record was Week Nine in 2014, the last time the Ravens made the playoffs.
—Before Baltimore’s road games at Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Tennessee in Weeks 4-6, the Ravens had not played a scheduled three-game road trip since 2000–though they did end up having to play three consecutive away games in 2008 because of Hurricane Ike. But the Ravens also have three in a row at home surrounding the bye; they had three straight at home in 2013 and 2015, seasons after which they did not make the playoffs. The Ravens have had three straight at home six times in team history, going 15-3 in those games.
—The Ravens could get very lucky in avoiding late-season cold-weather games unless it gets frigid at home, which it did last year. The December 9 game at Kansas City is the best out-of-town cold-weather possibility.
—The only game all season that will be played indoors will be the December 2 game at Atlanta, site of Super Bowl LIII. It marks the third time in four years the Ravens will play a road game at the eventual season-ending Super Bowl venue, having played in San Francisco in 2015 and Minnesota last year.
—With its opponents having posted a .441 win rate last year, Houston has the league’s easiest strength of schedule in 2018. Still, the team with that distinction has missed the playoffs in seven of the last 11 years. Arizona has been that team on two of those occasions. The most difficult 2018 schedule belongs to Green Bay (.539). The Ravens’ schedule is tied for the league’s 12th-easiest (.488).
—During the 2017 season, the NFC overwhelmingly won the season-long interconference series over the AFC, 41-23, keeping alive a string that has seen the NFC win five times in the last six years. But there will be no such clashes during Week 17; the league has mandated an all-division-game schedule for the season-closing week since 2010.
—Looking ahead, Baltimore’s 2019 schedule will include games against the AFC East and NFC West, per the schedule rotation. The list of home opponents will include New England, the New York Jets, San Francisco and Arizona, while the Ravens will travel to Miami, Buffalo, Seattle and Los Angeles (Rams). The two 2019 placement games will be determined by the Ravens’ finish in the 2018 standings, featuring teams in the AFC South and West that will play the Ravens, respectively, at Baltimore and on the road.
—The Ravens’ 2018 game in Los Angeles will be the first in that city for any Baltimore-based NFL team since October 1975, when the Colts lost to the Rams, 24-13, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. A Baltimore team hasn’t won in the City of Angels since December 1969, when the Colts beat the Rams, 13-7. Last year, Chicago got its first win in Baltimore since 1965 and the Ravens got Baltimore’s first win in Green Bay since 1968.
