Ravens to play two prime-time games as part of 2016 schedule

Coming off the first losing season of the John Harbaugh era, the Ravens will be featured in just two prime-time games in 2016, but they will be featured in a Christmas Day game against rival Pittsburgh.
Baltimore opens its 21st season at home against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Sept. 11 and will play six of its first seven games against teams that failed to qualify for the playoffs a year ago. It’s a favorable start to the schedule after the Ravens played five of their first seven games on the road last season — four of them played out west.
The Ravens will host the Cleveland Browns for a Thursday night game on Nov. 10 and will travel to Foxborough to take on the New England Patriots in a Monday night game on Dec. 12. They have not hosted a Monday night game since 2012 and will now have played 10 of their last 11 Monday contests on the road.
Despite having only two prime-time games — their lowest scheduled total since 2006 — the Ravens will take part in one of only two games scheduled for Christmas Day when they travel to Heinz Field to take on the Steelers. This will mark the first time Baltimore has played on Dec. 25 since hosting Minnesota on Christmas night in 2005.
That game will be the first of two AFC North road games to conclude the regular season as the defending division champion Cincinnati Bengals will host the Ravens in Week 17. It will be a very challenging final quarter of the season with road games against New England, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati and the only home game over the span coming against Philadelphia on Dec. 18.
The 2016 schedule certainly provides convenient options for fans to see the Ravens on the road as they play both the NFC East and the AFC East this season.
The bye will fall in Week 8.
The Ravens will play six games against playoff teams from last season: Pittsburgh (twice), Cincinnati (twice), New England, and Washington. Baltimore has eight games against opponents who finished below .500 in 2015: Cleveland (twice), Miami, Oakland, Philadelphia, Jacksonville, the New York Giants, and Dallas.
For now, 13 of the Ravens’ 16 regular-season games are scheduled for 1 p.m. starts, but many of those games are subject to flexible scheduling (see below).
2016 SCHEDULE
Sunday, Sept. 11 vs. Buffalo Bills — 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
Skinny: Fresh off an invitation to the Pro Bowl, former Ravens backup Tyrod Taylor returning to Baltimore should make for an interesting opening week.
Sunday, Sept. 18 at Cleveland Browns — 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
Skinny: They’re still the Browns, but the Ravens needed a blocked field goal return for a touchdown last year to avoid being swept by Cleveland for the first time since 2007.
Sunday, Sept. 25 at Jacksonville Jaguars — 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
Skinny: It’s hard to believe this was one of the more compelling rivalries of the Ravens’ early years, but the Jaguars won at M&T Bank Stadium last year and have some promising talent.
Sunday, Oct. 2 vs. Oakland Raiders — 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
Skinny: The Raiders being on the scheduled used to feel like a homecoming game, but that’s no longer the case with a young and talented roster that now includes ex-Raven Kelechi Osemele.
Sunday, Oct. 9 vs. Washington Redskins — 1:00 p.m. (FOX)
Skinny: The Ravens have lost two games to Washington in their 20-year history and have gone on to win the Super Bowl in each of those seasons, but both of those defeats came on the road.
Sunday, Oct. 16 at New York Giants — 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
Skinny: The Giants have a new head coach in Ben McAdoo and spent a ton of money on their defense, but time is running short for Eli Manning to win his third Super Bowl.
Sunday, Oct. 23 at New York Jets — 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
Skinny: A trip to MetLife Stadium for a second straight week is an interesting scheduling quirk, but Baltimore has won eight straight games against the Jets.
 Sunday, Oct. 30 — BYE

Sunday, Nov. 6 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers — 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
Skinny: Mike Tomlin’s team is the early favorite to win the division, but the Ravens took plenty of satisfaction in sweeping Pittsburgh last year in the midst of a difficult season.
Thursday, Nov. 10 vs. Cleveland Browns — 8:25 p.m. (NFL Network)
Skinny: Former Ravens quarterbacks coach Hue Jackson was a good hire by Cleveland, but it remains to be seen whether ownership will give him enough time to succeed there.
Sunday, Nov. 20 at Dallas Cowboys — 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
Skinny: The Ravens closed Texas Stadium with a victory over the Cowboys in 2008 and will hope for a similar result in their first regular-season trip to the massive AT&T Stadium.
Sunday, Nov. 27 vs. Cincinnati Bengals — 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
Skinny: The Ravens have dropped five straight to Cincinnati, but you can’t help but feel last year was the Bengals’ best chance to finally win their first playoff game in 25 years.
Sunday, Dec. 4 vs. Miami Dolphins — 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
Skinny: After traveling to Miami in each of the last three seasons, the Ravens will welcome the warm-weather Dolphins and new head coach Adam Gase to Baltimore in early December.
Monday, Dec. 12 at New England Patriots — 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Skinny: It was strange not seeing these teams meet last year after running into each other in the regular season or playoffs in the six previous seasons.
Sunday, Dec. 18 Philadelphia Eagles — 1:00 p.m. (FOX)
Skinny: The only tie in Ravens history came against the Eagles in a 10-10 final in 1997 that had fans from both cities arguing which team was worse as they exited Memorial Stadium.
Sunday, Dec. 25 at Pittsburgh Steelers — 4:30 p.m. (NFL Network)
Skinny: These teams aren’t scheduled to play a prime-time game for the first time since the 2006 season, but a rare meeting on Christmas Day still qualifies as a high-profile showdown.

Sunday, Jan. 1 at Cincinnati Bengals — 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
Skinny: Is there an NFL bylaw requiring the Ravens to close the regular season at Paul Brown Stadium as they will now have done in five of the last six years?
Notes: In a move that was initiated two years ago, flexible scheduling can now be applied in Weeks 5 through 9. During that period, flexible scheduling can be used in no more than two weeks by moving a Sunday afternoon game into prime time and moving the Sunday night game to the afternoon.
Another recently-implemented wrinkle will be a select number of games being “cross-flexed,” moving between CBS and FOX to bring some games to wider audiences.
Flexible scheduling will still be used in Weeks 10 through 15 and Week 17 — Week 16 is locked in due to the Christmas holiday — as it has been in past years. In Weeks 10-15, the master schedule lists games tentatively set for Sunday Night Football on NBC. Only Sunday afternoon games are eligible to be moved to Sunday night, in which case the originally-scheduled Sunday night game would be moved to an afternoon time.
Flexible scheduling cannot be applied to games airing on Thursday, Saturday, or Monday nights.
A scheduling change would be announced at least 12 days before the game. For Week 17, the Sunday night game is announced no later than six days prior to Jan. 1.