A Way Too Early Preview Of The Ravens 2017 Schedule

Let’s take a look at the Baltimore Ravens 2017 schedule

With the end of the regular season closely approaching, it’s never to early to look at next year right?

The Ravens are in the middle of a playoff push, but next season will be here before we know it.

Next year, aside from conference games, the Ravens will be playing the AFC South and the NFC North divisions. They will also play a game against a team from the AFC West and AFC East that finishes in the same place in their division as the Ravens. For example: if the Ravens and Patriots both won their respective divisions, they would play each other next year.

Division games are always a toss up no matter the location so I am going to focus on the non-conference opponents for this article.

NOTE: Games are not listed in any particular order. NFL has only released the opponents, not the dates for the games.

The Home Games

Pretty favorable home schedule if you ask me. You have to be pretty confident if you are a Ravens fan, especially since they went 6-2 at home this season.

Chicago has been a complete mess this year. They will have decisions to make at the quarterback position after Jay Cutler returns from injury. Their offense has potential but wide receiver Alshon Jeffery is going to be a free agent next year. What I have seen from them this year does not scare me whatsoever.

Head coach Jim Caldwell will make his return to Baltimore after winning a Super Bowl as the offensive coordinator in 2012. Detroit has been a surprise team this season and currently are atop of the NFC North. Matthew Stafford is slinging the ball and is the king of 4th quarter comebacks this season. With the return of Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick from injury, the Lions could be even more dangerous come next season. Luckily for the Ravens, the Lions have not fared well outside of their dome, only going 2-3 this season on the road.

Houston and Indianapolis have both under-performed in a crappy AFC South conference. Texans quarterback Brock Osweiler was benched in their 21-20 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Who knows what their quarterback situation will be at the beginning of next season. If they don’t have a viable arm to throw to their receivers then I like the Ravens chances.

The Colts have been just as inconsistent as the Ravens this season, so it is always hard to measure how they will play. Quarterback Andrew Luck plays well when he is not getting pummeled from opposing defenses.

Right now, the AFC East equivalent would be the Miami Dolphins, who the Ravens already blew out at home this season. If the Ravens win the division, that would be a different story. Then we would see the New England Patriots coming into town. I’ll take a game against the Dolphins over the Patriots any day of the week.

The Away Games

With a decent home schedule comes a brutal road schedule.

I’ll be honest, the Jacksonville game scares me. This team has played in London multiple times and are used the schedule and routine. The Ravens will be playing in London for the first time in franchise history. I know on paper the Ravens are 1000% better, but these 9:30 am games scare me. Sounds like the perfect scenario for a tie game.

Tennessee is not going to be any easy match-up either. After struggles in recent years, the Titans are back in playoff conversation. They have taken down the likes of Green Bay, Denver, and Kansas City this season. Marcus Mariota is emerging as a very talented quarterback in only his second year. The tandem of DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry is scary to any opposing defense.

Green Bay and Minnesota will undoubtedly be two of the toughest road games for the Ravens next season.

Minnesota started out hot this season, but have struggled since. But do not let that fool you. They have been without quarterback Teddy Bridgewater all season and all-pro running back Adrian Peterson just returned from injury. Assuming Bridgewater returns next season, the Vikings are going to be a good team.

It will be interesting to see when the Ravens get scheduled against the Packers. If they play them in the early months of September or October, it will be a much more favorable match-up for the birds. A game at Lambeau Field in November or December is going to be tough. No matter what, coming up against Aaron Rodgers is a task in itself.

If the season ended today, the AFC West equivalent to the Ravens would be the Kansas City Chiefs. If that does not happen, the other two options would be at Oakland or at Denver. All three of those locations are going to be tough to play at.

Keep coming to Ebony Bird for all your Ravens coverage and analysis. Hopefully we can focus on the playoffs in a couple of weeks instead of next season.