Baltimore has the NFL’s 12th-easiest schedule in 2023 and will play all teams in the AFC South and NFC West.
PRESEASON
Fri., Aug. 11 – Philadelphia, 7, local WBAL-TV
Mon., Aug. 21 – at Washington, 8, ESPN
Sat., Aug. 26 – at Tampa Bay, 7, local WBAL-TV
REGULAR SEASON
Sun., Sept. 10 – Houston, 1, CBS
Sun., Sept. 17 – at Cincinnati, 1, CBS
Sun., Sept. 24 – Indianapolis, 1, CBS
Sun., Oct. 1 – at Cleveland, 1, CBS
x-Sun., Oct. 8 – at Pittsburgh, 1, CBS
Sun., Oct. 15 – vs. Tennessee (London), 9:30 a.m., NFLN
x-Sun., Oct. 22 – Detroit, 1, Fox
x-Sun., Oct. 29 – at Arizona, 4:25, CBS
x-Sun., Nov. 5 – Seattle, 1, CBS-c
x-Sun., Nov. 12 – Cleveland, 1, Fox-f
Thur., Nov. 16 – Cincinnati, 8:20, Amazon
x-Sun., Nov. 26 – at Los Angeles Chargers, 8:20, NBC
Sun., Dec. 3 – BYE
x-Sun., Dec. 10 – Los Angeles Rams, 1, Fox
x-Sun., Dec. 17 – at Jacksonville, 8:20, NBC
Mon., Dec. 25 – at Sam Francisco, 8:15, ABC
x-Sun., Dec. 31– Miami, 1, CBS
x-DATE TBA – Pittsburgh, time TBA, network TBA
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Local radio: all games will be broadcast on WIYY-FM, 97.9
x – game date and time are subject to change due to flexible scheduling
f – game cross-flexed from CBS to Fox
c – game cross-flexed from Fox to CBS
POSTSEASON
Sat.-Mon., Jan. 13-15 – Wild Card Weekend, date/time TBA (NBC, CBS, Fox, ESPN)
Sat.-Sun., Jan. 20-21 – Divisional Playoffs, date/time TBA (NBC, CBS, Fox)
Sun., Jan. 28 – AFC Championship Game, 3 p.m. (CBS)
Sun., Feb. 11 – SUPER BOWL 58; NFC champion (visitor) vs. AFC champion (home); Allegiant Stadium; Las Vegas; 6:30 p.m. (CBS)
My Schedule Impressions
Two big positives: the Ravens will not play teams coming off byes, plus all of the return (second) games against the AFC North teams will be at home.
The Ravens will have three “open Sundays,” all in the season’s second half, with a possible fourth one coming on the season’s final weekend once the date and time of the Pittsburgh home game are determined.
The team has been quite fortunate in recent years to have a bye week that fell pretty much in the middle of the schedule. This year’s bye comes in December, but it might be worth recalling that in the team’s 2000 championship season, the Ravens also had their week off in December before clinching a playoff spot the following week.
Perhaps the biggest change to the flex program this year is the addition of Monday nights to the eligible landing spots. Previously, games could only be flexed into and out of the Sunday night window, but now the same can also happen for Monday nights. The schedule-flex program begins, as usual, in Week Five.
The interconference placement game, a new addition to the schedule for all teams in 2021, will be hosted by the AFC teams in 2023. The AFC North is being paired up with the NFC North, so Detroit, which finished second in its division as the Ravens finished second in theirs, will be coming to Baltimore in 2023. With the AFC teams getting the extra home game in the regular season, the NFC teams get the extra home preseason game; all of that will be reversed next year.
The Ravens will have ten games against teams with winning records in 2022 and seven games against 2022 playoff teams; the latter number is unchanged from the previous season. The Ravens’ three games against teams with winning records that did not make the playoffs are against Detroit and the two home-and-home matchups with Pittsburgh.
The Ravens will play 13 of their 17 games in the Eastern time zone in 2023; in 2022, a franchise-record 16 of its 17 games took place in the Eastern time zone; New Orleans was the only exception in 2022. The Ravens will have three West Coast trips (Arizona, San Francisco, and Los Angeles Chargers) and a game in London for the first time since 2017.
Using the 2022 records of the team’s 2023 opponents, Baltimore has the NFL’s 12th-easiest schedule in 2023 (tenth-easiest last year); it is also the second-toughest of the four AFC North Division teams. That ranking will certainly change, depending on how the 2023 season plays out, and that season’s figures are used instead of those from 2022. For example, the Ravens began the 2020 season with the league’s easiest schedule, but when the 2020 records were factored in at the end of the season, it turned out to be tied for the 16th-easiest.
A team’s finish determines the two placement games against AFC opponents during the previous season. The Ravens finished second in the AFC North in 2022. Placement opponents are those who had the same finish in the standings as the Ravens in divisions from the same conference the Ravens aren’t already playing in their entirety in the coming year. Since the Ravens do not play the entire AFC East or AFC West in 2023, the Los Angeles Chargers (away) and Miami (home) are on the 2023 schedule.
Per the league schedule rotation, the Ravens are playing the entire AFC South and NFC West in 2023. Game sites are determined by where the teams met last time those divisions met in their entirety; previous placement-game sites are irrelevant.
The Ravens have never won a regular-season game in Minnesota, the only franchise remaining Baltimore has not defeated on the road. Baltimore got its first-ever regular-season win in New England last year. In 2021, they got their first-ever win in Chicago. The Ravens have never won in Las Vegas, but they have defeated the Raiders franchise in Oakland. Per the schedule rotation, the Ravens’ next attempt to win in Minnesota will come in 2025 unless the interconference placement location pairs them up before then.
Two of the Ravens’ games have been cross-flexed this year, the November home games against Seattle and Cleveland. Since Seattle is an NFC team and will be the visitor, that game would normally be on Fox, but it has been moved to CBS. Cleveland is an AFC visitor, so CBS usually shows that game, but it will be on Fox instead.
