The NFL schedule was released Tuesday and as usual, there is something to like and dislike about the Ravens schedule. 

I’m not going to talk about the quality of the opponents they play, because that is all formulaic and based on the division and last season’s standing.  The Ravens do not have any significant travel issues since they play the AFC East and NFC South.  Their longest road trip of the season is to Houston.  The only team which is geographically further is Denver, who will again visit Baltimore.  Let’s be clear, however, this is nothing the NFL scheduling gremlins could concoct, the Ravens are simply at an opportune point in the schedule rotation.

Let’s start with the positives:

·      The Ravens do not have a foreign game on their schedule.

·      The Ravens will open against the Jets who will be without the services of long-time Ravens killer Santonio Holmes.  The Ravens should be an underdog for that game, but if you have to play the Jets on the road, it may as well be when one of their stars is out.

·      Only once, weeks 1 and 2, do the Ravens play consecutive road games within an 8-day span.

·      They play only 1 game (week 16 vs. Cleveland) where weather is likely to be a factor.  In the past decade, the Ravens have played well in cold or high wind, but poorly in rain.  I honestly can’t recall the last time they played a game with significant snow.

·      They do not have a huge chance for flex scheduling changes in weeks 11+.  The week 13 meeting with the Steelers could be moved out of prime time, which might be a good thing.  The week 15 New Orleans game might be moved to Sunday night if both teams are competitive, the game has playoff implications, and the game is not protected by Fox (it likely would not be).  The week 17 game vs. Cincinnati is at risk, but with all 16 games divisional, I don’t believe the Ravens are at greater risk than other teams.

·      For the first time since 2006, they have a Thursday game on the schedule (week 10 vs. Atlanta).  While I think the road team suffers more with the short week, the advantage the following week at Carolina should more than make up for it.  The timing of those 2 games creates a nice break between road games.

Now let’s do a little complaining:

·      Somehow, the Ravens manage to play 2 teams coming off their bye.  There are 32 NFL teams, each of which gets a bye. It’s not a difficult problem to have each team play exactly 1 team coming out of their bye week.  For example, if each division took their bye weeks together and divisional games were scheduled for the following week, then all 32 teams would have exactly 1 post-bye opponent on the very week they come off their own.

·      Playing 2 teams coming off their byes is bad, but they play those teams in consecutive weeks (at New England in week 6 and home against Buffalo in week 7).  The Buffalo game caps a very tough pre-bye schedule which includes their 4 most difficult road games (NYJ, Cin, Pit, NE).  To have a good shot to make the playoffs, the Ravens will need to win at least 4 of those 7 games.  If they win 5, they’ll establish themselves as clear Super Bowl contenders.

·      In 2009, the Ravens astoundingly played 3 consecutive games versus teams coming off a bye (weeks 7, 8, and 9 against the Broncos, Bengals, and Browns).  The fact that the Ravens were also coming off their bye in week 7 versus the Broncos doesn’t make it better.  This is a serious scheduling issue the NFL needs to address.

·      The Ravens play Houston in week 14 where Houston plays on Thursday of the prior week.  There are 10 Thursday games on the schedule.  It would be balanced if each team that got to play a Thursday game would also have to face a team coming off a Thursday the previous week.  Since the Ravens also play a Thursday game, they can’t complain about this one.

To commend the league, they have done a good job of minimizing the impact of foreign games, the uniform week 17 Sunday games were a major improvement, and the divisional week 17 games reduce the impact of one of the most significant problems, the lame-duck division-leading teams that have clinched going into the final week.

The big unknown for the Ravens is, of course, the status of Ben Roethlisberger for the Ravens matchup against the Steelers in week 4.  If he is detained in a bathroom for that game, the Ravens will have a good opportunity to beat their rivals and establish themselves as the team to beat in the AFC North.