Baltimore Ravens facing enormous pressure to win title in 2020
The Baltimore Ravens have reached the playoffs each of the past two seasons. They’ve hosted their first game each time. They’ve lost, decidedly, each time.
In 2020, nobody in Charm City will care if Lamar Jackson wins the NFL MVP. They won’t care if the offense sets another rushing record. They won’t care if the defense is one of the league’s best.
They’ll only care about January (and February). If the Baltimore Ravens don’t succeed then, they don’t succeed at all.
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Baltimore isn’t the betting favorite, but it’s damn close. The Ravens come in second to the defending-champion Kansas City Chiefs, sitting at +650 while Andy Reid and Co. are +600. Last year, Baltimore was the overwhelming favorite to win it all after posting a 14-2 record, the best in the NFL, before hosting the No. 6 seeded Tennessee Titans in the Divisional round.
Stunningly, Baltimore was blown out 28-12, never really being in the game. Recently, Jackson talked about the affair, stating he felt the Ravens took Tennessee lightly. For his part, head coach John Harbaugh disagreed with his quarterback, instead pointing at bad play and then speaking of the future. Per ESPN:
“I don’t think we took them lightly, personally. We just didn’t play well. If you want to go back and rehash it, we can. But we’re going to try to become a better team in that circumstance at the end of the season, just like we tried to become a better team throughout the season and we were very successful with that.”
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This offseason, general manager Eric DeCosta added talent to an already loaded team. The Ravens traded for defensive lineman Calais Campbell and drafted LSU linebacker Patrick Queen in the first round. Baltimore also retained edge rusher Matthew Judon with the franchise tag. The only notable loss was future Hall of Fame guard Marshal Yanda.
In short, Baltimore is well-positioned to maintain its status as the top challenger to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, who they host at M&T Bank Stadium on Monday Night Football in Week 3.
Again, though, the regular season in Baltimore is a mere prelude to the postseason. The first 16 games of the year are all about getting a good seed, perhaps even the only first-round bye in the new postseason format.
For Jackson and Harbaugh, the 2020 season will be a pressure cooker.
