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Welp, they avoided what would have been a disasterous loss against Philadelphia up 10 midway through the 3rd quarter when the Eagles 2 point conversion attempt with 5 seconds left to win the game got deflected and fell incomplete. Now the season comes down to Christmas day in Pittsburgh: Steelers win, they win the division, Ravens win, they'll force a tie, but own the tiebreaker due to a head-to-head sweep (not to mention better divisional record) and will win the division if they can beat the Bungals week 17. Bring on basically the play-in game for the playoffs!
Not results we wanted in the early games of week 16 as Miami blows a 28-14 2nd half lead to trail 28-31 with 80 seconds to play before tying the game with a game-tying field goal at the end of regulation, and winning on a field goal in the final minute in Buffalo, to official eliminate the Ravens from Wildcard play and now make it a division or bust playoff. They can ONLY make the playoffs via the division champion route, and a loss to Pittsburgh eliminates that route, and eliminates the Ravens. However, they can beat Pittsburgh and still miss the playoffs with a loss in Cincinnati in week 17 and a Steelers win over Cincinnati.
2-0 finish; they'll be division champions and the 3rd seed, as they'll own tiebreakers against Pittsburgh (head-to-head sweep) and Houston (better conference record)
1-1 finish: if the loss is to Pittsburgh they are eliminated. If the loss is to Cincinnati, unless Cleveland beats Pittsburgh they are eliminated as well
0-2 finish: Obviously eliminated.
Can't worry about Cincinnati now. Lucky thing is, Flacco, throughout his career has played pretty well in Pittsburgh, and obviously isn't afraid of playing in that environment. Hopefully they can steal one, and than let the chips fall where they may in week 17. With how inconsistent this team had been most of the year, its a minor miracle they are even in this position.
Hoping this year goes better than the last 2 years have gone. 2015 they got hit and besieged with injury after injury, and then last year they were an all defense, no offense team, and even the defense wasn't as good as the Ray Lewis/Suggs/Ed Reed Ravens defense. Their best offensive player in 2016 was their place kicker, and even with still a lot of money & a few years left to go on his contract extension, who knows how many productive years Flacco has left. He missed most of preseason & training camp with an injury, but sounds like he'll be ready to go for week 1.
Hoping this year goes better than the last 2 years have gone. 2015 they got hit and besieged with injury after injury, and then last year they were an all defense, no offense team, and even the defense wasn't as good as the Ray Lewis/Suggs/Ed Reed Ravens defense. Their best offensive player in 2016 was their place kicker, and even with still a lot of money & a few years left to go on his contract extension, who knows how many productive years Flacco has left. He missed most of preseason & training camp with an injury, but sounds like he'll be ready to go for week 1.
If I were running the team, I would be ready to put Mallett into the game, the first time I see anything lacking in Flacco. Not to say Mallett should start in the next game either. Look at Pittsburg's history when Big Ben first comes back after a layoff. They almost always lose, but they leave him in.
Each win is precious, and I don't think they should leave a marginal QB in the game with the thinking that they will be more ready for the next game.
As long as Flacco is healthy, he's the guy. Mallett did nothing for them in 2015 when Flacco went down. On paper, the Ravens actually have quite a nice receiving corps this year. Maclin, Wallace, Perriman, Watson, Gillmore (assuming the last 2 are healthy now). Not sure about their RBs. I wonder if Maclin is still good.
They always struggle against Cincinnati, so a loss today wouldn't be a big deal. They almost always start out the season 1-1.
Never mind, Gillmore is out for the year, not sure about Watson (coming off an achilles). Woodhead is likely out the rest of the game with a hamstring injury, but the Ravens look good so far.
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2017: 0-0
