Baltimore Ravens vs Jacksonville Jaguars: Rivalry renewed?

The Baltimore Ravens and the Jacksonville Jaguars go way back. Before the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002; from 1996-2001 the Ravens and the Jaguars played in the same division called the AFC Central.

The AFC Central consisted the following teams:

• Baltimore Ravens
• Jacksonville Jaguars
• Pittsburgh Steelers
• Tennessee Titans
• Cleveland Browns
• Cincinnati Bengals

2005: Jaguars beat the Ravens 30-3

I remember this game like it was yesterday. The Ravens, head coached by Brian Billick and the Jaguars head coached by Jack Del Rio faced off in Jacksonville. That year, the Jaguars went 12-4 and the Ravens went 6-10.

At the time, Kyle Boller returned to action after missing several weeks to start the season after he injured his knee in a 24-7 opening day Sunday Night Football loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Ray Lewis was out for that game with a hamstring Injury and Ed Reed was out in that game as well with a high ankle sprain which pretty much resulted into a beat down.

At the start of this game, things looked promising. Boller hit wide receiver Derrick Mason with a nice 35 yard pass down the sideline to set up the Ravens with a 3-0 lead. After that, all hell broke loose and the Ravens offense got demolished. The Ravens defense without Lewis and Reed funny enough looked similar to the Ravens defense we see today just getting dominated by a Jaguars offense led by quarterback Byron Leftwitch.

This game in my opinion to this day is biggest whopping I have ever seen the Ravens take.

2008: Ravens beat the Jaguars 27-7

A couple of years later, the Ravens get a little bit of revenge against the Jaguars in week 17. This wasn't a regular game either. This was a game that the Ravens had to win if they wanted to clinch an AFC Wild Card spot. If the Ravens had lost, the New England Patriots would have made the playoffs with a 11-5 record let by quarterback Matt Cassel.

The Ravens started the game out slow and the Jaguars started out fast with a 7-3 lead. After that, the Ravens clamped down on defense and the offense stayed efficient. Rookie quarterback at the time Joe Flacco probably had his best game of the year going 17-23 for 297 yards.

The win not only improved the Ravens record to 11-5, but it also gave the Ravens their first playoff birth under head coach John Harbaugh and Flacco which would result into some NFL postseason records being broken down the road.

2011: Jaguars beat the Ravens 12-7

This game was a bit of a stunning loss for the Ravens and a very good win for the Jaguars. The Ravens started off the season 4-1 leading into that game with the hopes of sealing a first round bye in the playoffs. The Ravens would earn a first round bye but this loss was so costly that it may have cost the Ravens a spot in the Super Bowl.

Flacco had arguably his worst game of his career going 21-38 for 137 yards. The offense just would not move the ball at all. The Ravens were shut out on the scoreboard until late in the fourth quarter. Jaguars runningback Maurice Jones Drew ran the ball 30 times for 105 yards. The Jaguars had a time of possession of 36 minutes in that game. This is one of the games that really started to put Ravens offensive coordinator at the time Cam Cameron on the hot seat.

But overall, if the Ravens had won this game, they would have went 13-3 most likely and clinched the number one seed in the AFC and the Patriots would have been on the road to play in Baltimore in the AFC championship game. Who knows how things would have turned out?

We might not see Lee Evans and Billy Cundiff fall short late in the game against the Patriots and with the home crowd on the Ravens side, the Ravens might have reached the Super Bowl a year earlier.

2014: Ravens beat the Jaguars 20-12

Last season, this was a bit of a sneaky game. The Ravens blocked a punt for a touchdown and things looked bad for the Jaguars early. The Jaguars defense frustrated the Ravens offense for the entire game but the Jaguars offense led by rookie quarterback Blake Bortles didn't give them much of a chance as he was sacked eight times.

A win is a win, but the Ravens were sputtering towards the end of the season with their playoff hopes on the line. And quite frankly, since that win against the Jaguars in week 15, the Ravens really haven't played a nice clean game since. The Jaguars on the other hand have had some promising results despite their 2-6 record as they have a nice young core of players to build with for the future.

Overall

The Jaguars lead the series against the Ravens 10-8. The games between these two teams are rarely a blow out and with the way the Ravens have kept games close this season, things shouldn't be any different. If the Ravens want to keep their playoff hopes alive, they obviously need to win this game to get to 3-6 on the season. Each week is basically a playoff game for the Ravens.