A look ahead: Baltimore Ravens remaining 8 games

By Wola Odeniran (WolaWriteMore Twitter) Nov 9, 2015, 11:00am EST

The Baltimore Ravens want to make a run for the postseason. They believe they can do it. Don't believe me? Read this via BaltimoreRavens.com.

But while it is easy to talk about it, you know it is hard to back it up. The Ravens plan on doing all of that. With a very slow start to the season with a 2-6 record, most of the road games for the Ravens are behind them and a lot of important home games await them.

The Ravens are currently on a bye week in week 9 so this gives the team a chance to hit the restart button and approach literally ever game as a playoff game.

The Ravens really can't afford to lose two more games. The Pittsburgh Steelers currently hold the last AFC wild card spot at 5-4 as the sixth seed and the Ravens are currently ranked 13th out of 16 teams in the AFC.

Let's check out the remaining eight games for the Ravens:

Week 10 home vs Jacksonville Jaguars
Week 11 home vs St. Louis Rams
Week 12 road vs Cleveland Browns
Week 13 road vs Miami Dolphins
Week 14 home vs Seattle Seahawks
Week 15 home vs Kansas City Chiefs
Week 16 home vs Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 17 road vs Cincinnati Bengals

With where the Ravens are standing right now, they are in no position to pencil wins. None of those games to me look easy. In most years, playing the Jaguars and the Rams back to back would look simple.

Jaguars

Even if the Ravens played to the level of their capability this season, this would be a difficult game for them. Last year, the Jaguars gave the Ravens a fight in Baltimore as the Ravens escaped with a 20-12 victory.

And while the Jaguars are 2-6, they have fought hard for the most part this season and second year quarterback Blake Bortles has made some strides.

Rams

The Rams are a weird team that shows up against good teams. The Ravens may be in luck in two weeks as they are certainly not a good team at the moment. But the pass rush the Rams provide will be a serious problem especially if left tackle Eugene Monroe is unable to suit up by then in week 11. The Rams are led by head coach Jeff Fisher and Fisher has always given the Ravens problems dating back to his days as a head coach with the Tennessee Titans.

Browns

Cleveland already escaped Baltimore in overtime in week 5 with a 33-30 victory. The Ravens at that point will try to avoid being swept by the Browns for the third time in franchise history.

The last time the Ravens were swept by the Browns was back in 2007. A lot of questions loom for this game which will be played on Monday Night Football as quarterback Josh McCown who threw for over 450 yards against the Ravens in week 5, might not play in that game.

Backup quarterback Johnny Manziel is currently the starter for the Browns and the Browns probably want to know more about him going forward as they invested a first round draft pick in him in the 2014 NFL draft.

Dolphins

The Ravens have never lost to the Dolphins under quarterback Joe Flacco and head coach John Harbaugh. The team are 5-0 (including playoffs) against the Dolphins since 2008. Four of those wins are on the road at Miami.

The Dolphins have a lot more talent than in years past, but they are underachievers like the Ravens as well with a 3-5 record. This game could possibly define the Ravens season depending on how well they play leading up to that point.

In recent years, Miami has turned into a mini home game for the Ravens as loyal fans travel to Florida in bunches. Could the crowd noise be in favor of the Ravens and cause some problems for the Dolphins? It could happen.

Seahawks

The Seahawks are an obvious threat to the Ravens playoff push. The Seahawks play a physical brand of football that the Ravens have been known for in the past. In fact, the Seahawks organization has admired the Ravens and how they play as discussed here via Seahawks.com.

Before the season started, this matchup was one that a lot of people were waiting to see. Two of the last three Super Bowl champions going at it with a playoff run on the line. All of that build up still alive but it would be up to the Ravens at this point to at least hold up their end of the bargain.

It will be an interesting matchup especially with the Ravens offense going up against the Seahawks defense as wide receivers for the Ravens will have to do what they have struggled to do all year long: Create space for themselves when running routes. Against the Seahawks secondary, the Ravens receivers will have to earn every space they can create in that game.

Chiefs

The Ravens will play a chiefs team that will be without their star runningback Jamaal Charles as he is out for the season with a torn ACL. Charles' absence leaves a Chiefs offense that has been conservative in the past led by quarterback Alex Smith, possibly even more conservative.

The Chiefs offensively are not a team that creates big plays in the passing game often as they rank 22nd in the NFL in passing yards per game. The Ravens defense has had their fair share of troubles in the passing game all year long as they currently rank 29th in the NFL against the pass. Something has to give.

Steelers

The best rivalry in the NFL over the last 16 seasons will continue in week 16. This time, the Ravens will host the Steelers at home after playing the last three meetings against the Steelers at Pittsburgh. The Ravens went 2-1 in those meetings.

The games are always close between these two teams regardless of who is playing and regardless of which coaches are leading their respective teams. The Ravens took an overtime victory against the Steelers in week 4 earlier this year and the Ravens will be looking to sweep the Steelers for the third time in their franchise history.

Regardless of how the season turns out for the Ravens at that point, it is always good to have an opportunity to sweep the Steelers.

Bengals

To say that the Bengals have been a thorn on the Ravens side would be an understatement. The Bengals have won five out of the last six meetings against the Ravens including 27-24 victory in Baltimore in week 3. The Ravens have to get the monkey off the backs against the Bengals as every game between the two teams recently seems to start this way:

Ravens offense starts the game off slow in the first half and the Bengals end up with a sizable lead.
The Ravens offense wakes up in the second half, and takes the lead.
Ravens defense proceeds to give up the lead late in the fourth quarter.
Ravens offense has one more drive left with under two minutes left in the game and falls short.

Those situations have pretty much been the story in the last three meetings. The Ravens have to end the regular season on a good note knowing that they can beat the Bengals. A few years ago it would have been funny saying that but not anymore. The Ravens have a real problem on their hands with this team. It used to be the Steelers, but the Bengals seem primed to take the AFC North away for good. At least for a while.

Overall

The Ravens can't be worse than 9-7 in my opinion if they want any shot of making the playoffs in the AFC. The AFC North division title is out of their grasp right now so they will be fighting for the remaining two wild card spots.

The Ravens are trying to win eight games in a row to finish the season 10-6 and let the chips fall where they may whether they clinch a playoff spot or not. The Ravens haven't won eight games in a row since 2000. That's a tall order considering the shaky status of the Ravens defense which has blown three leads in the fourth quarter already this season.