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NFL Network predicts Ravens record for 2016

By Matthew Cohen
Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

If this doesn’t get you excited about the season I don’t know what will. NFL Network thinks that the Ravens are going to turn a 5-11 season into a 10-6 on. 10-6 hopefully gets the Ravens at least the wild card, if not a division crown. But let’s analyze NFL Networks predictions.

6-1 start

NFL Network thinks that the Ravens are going to come out of the gates white hot, and they probably have to. The first seven games of the Ravens schedule is the easiest part of the schedule. The Ravens’ only projected loss in this part of the schedule is at Jacksonville.

The Jaguars are an up and coming team in the NFL, and beat the Ravens last season (yeah yeah, I know the Ravens probably should have won this game), and the Jaguars have only gotten better since then. The Ravens also play Oakland at home, and while NFL Network predicts the Ravens to win that game, I could just as easily see the Ravens dropping that game as well.

Sweeping the Bengals

Yup, NFL Network as the Ravens going on a complete 180 from last year. The Ravens have had trouble beating the Bengals for years, and the Ravens got swept by the Bengals last year. But, the Ravens are projected here to sweep the Bengals. Wow, how amazing would that be? I’m sure Ravens fans would jump for joy if that happened. The only thing that could taint that is...

Getting swept by the Steelers

The Ravens have beaten the Steelers three straight times, including beating the Steelers when starting the second string offense last season. But NFL Network doesn’t see that trend continuing. They predict that the Steelers will return the favor to the Ravens this year on their way to a division crown.

I agree with them on the Steelers being the best team in the division. But if the Ravens could sweep the Steelers last year, and the Ravens improved, and the Steelers stayed pretty much the same, I don’t see how the Steelers could sweep the Ravens. This will probably end up being a typical split series.

Ravens lose to Dolphins and in Jerry’s World

This I frankly don’t buy. It seems much more likely that the Ravens split with the Bengals than the Ravens lose both of these games. The Ravens barely lost to the Dolphins last year, and it’s fair to say that the Dolphins got worse this offseason. I don’t see the Ravens dropping that game, especially being that the game is at the Bank.

Could the Ravens lose in Dallas, sure, but that totally relies, as they said in the video, on the Cowboys’ health. A healthy Cowboys and the Ravens might be in trouble, but the Cowboys minus Tony Romo or Dez Bryant, and the Ravens should be ok.

Despite some disagreements about where the wins and losses will come, 10-6 is a better prediction than most people are giving the Ravens, and it leads to a lot of optimism for this season, the Ravens just need to stay healthy

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