While the exact dates for every game has yet to be released, here are the list of teams we will be playing in the 2009 regular season, both home and away. While we all know that there will be both home and away games for the AFC North division opponents (Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati), that totals only six games, leaving ten more to be included. Each year, the conferences rotate a full slate of a specific division. This year for the AFC North, it's the AFC West and the NFC North, and while we already played them four years ago, now we switch up the home and away games we had with them. in 2005.
The Ravens home games in 2009 are: Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Kansas City, Indianapolis.
The Ravens away games in 2009 are: Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Green Bay, Minnesota, Oakland, San Diego, New England.
This appears to be a much harder schedule than we faced in 2008, especially the road games outside of our division. At home, the Pittsburgh and Indy games look to be our toughest by far, while the road has at least five real tough games, even though all road games are tough in the NFL. We also have seen firsthand that no matter what happened this past season, all bets are off for next year. What appears to be an easy game could easily become a tough one and vice versa. Looking at the teams based on their 2008 performances, there is every reason to see the Ravens sticking with their recent success and finishing 2009 with a 10-6 record. While that is a conservative approach, a win in any of those tougher games could easily vault us up to a 11-5 or 12-4 record. Conversely, a loss here and there and the bottom could drop out and we could be looking at perhaps even a 9-7 or .500 record. I'm obviously counting on the former, as defense retains it's swagger and our offense can only get better as the young QB matures and grows into the system and his unibrow as well.
Check it out and let me know your thoughts on the specific games.