Three Biggest Games: Baltimore Ravens
Injuries robbed the usually competitive Ravens of a productive 2015 season, and with a new year comes many a question mark over the return of some veteran players, and the debut of a promising sophomore. Will the 33-year-old Terrell Suggs be back to his fearsome best after a season-ending torn Achilles? Can the usually durable Joe Flacco lead his team back to the playoffs on a previously torn ACL? Will Breshad Perriman ever don the pads and cleats on a Sunday? All will be answered in 2016.
Week 4 vs. Oakland
“Winning†the offseason rarely amounts to more than a moral victory in the NFL, but the Raiders have spent their break crafting an experienced, well-valued package of free agents to join a young, promising team with very real aspirations of winning the wide open AFC West this year. The Ravens face them at home after a two-week road trip to Cleveland and Jacksonville, and will be keen to avenge a heartbreaking defeat suffered early last season on the west coast. Derek Carr vs. Joe Flacco is a sleeper pick for the most entertaining quarterback duel of the year.
Week 14 at New England
The entire nation will be watching arguably the juiciest Monday Night Football clash of the season, but none with more attention than fellow members of the AFC East and North. These two teams have been involved in football’s fiercest and most storied non-divisional rivalry over the past few years, and a loss for one of these playoff hopefuls this late into the season could open the window for another contender to creep that little bit closer to a division crown. Secondaries be damned; a healthy Flacco and Brady will give us a shootout for the ages.
Week 16 at Pittsburgh
Thousands of Americans already spend their Christmas surrounded by a bunch of people they can’t stand, so why can’t professional athletes do it too? It’ll be a rough holiday season for the loser of this one: a rivalry that has lost a fraction of steam with the Ravens’ 3-0 record against the Steelers in their most recent meetings, including Baltimore’s only playoff win against its Steel City nemesis. But while one team will lose the battle, the war may be far from over: the Ravens and Steelers will face the Bengals and Browns respectively in week 17 to almost certainly decide the King in the North.
