With the 2025 schedule officially announced and the Ravens preparing to begin voluntary organized team activities later this month, I’ve offered a dozen thoughts, each in 50 words or less:
1. Look no further than an 0-2 start to help explain why the Ravens were playing at Buffalo rather than hosting the Bills last January. With five of the first six games against 2024 playoff teams, starting fast is a must if John Harbaugh’s team wants home-field advantage in the postseason.
2. That task will be complicated by the Achilles injury to Ar’Darius Washington, which will put more on Malaki Starks’ plate early in the season. That’s not to say the rookie safety won’t be successful, but even Kyle Hamilton endured early growing pains. Elite quarterbacks and offenses will surely test Starks.
3. Not only did the Ravens give Derrick Henry a much-deserved 2025 raise, but they fully guaranteed his 2026 salary when he’ll be in his age-32 season. That’s the cost of doing business after his incredible 2024, so we’ll see if Henry fights off Father Time for two more years.
4. Though set to travel the third-fewest miles in the NFL and no more than one time zone away, Baltimore faces three straight road contests from late October through mid-November and games at Cincinnati, Green Bay, and Pittsburgh over the final four regular-season weeks. Navigating those road stretches will be pivotal.
85. The Ravens will host their first Thanksgiving game since 2013, but Cincinnati probably isn’t thankful. This marks the third straight year the Bengals will come to Baltimore for a short-week Thursday game. I thought that stretch when the Ravens finished the regular season in Cincinnati seemingly every year was tough.
6. Week 7 marks Baltimore’s earliest bye since 2020, but the impact of the bye’s timing always depends on a team’s health. Only four of the Ravens’ 11 post-bye games come against 2024 playoff teams and the other side of two Thursday games will afford decent breathers for players.
7. My early prediction for a game that’ll be easier than it looks is Week 6 against the Rams. The one that’ll be tougher than expected is New England. I expect the Patriots to improve as 2025 progresses, and that’s a potential trap game in the midst of that final stretch.
8. The Ravens haven’t completed a season sweep of Pittsburgh since 2019, but you hope they’re finally over that mental hurdle after back-to-back convincing wins — one in the postseason. Aaron Rodgers or Kirk Cousins potentially winding up in Pittsburgh shouldn’t matter either.
9. This year marks only the third time the Ravens will play a regular-season game in Minnesota. It’s the only opponent over which they don’t have a road win. Projected starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy could have eight career starts under his belt by then.
10. Acknowledging possible flex changes, the Ravens will play seven of their nine home games at 1 p.m. on Sundays. That’ll not only make the coaching staff happy, but it’s a win for old guys who graduated from the allure of prime-time games long ago. Now, get off my lawn.
11. Upon reading Ronnie Stanley’s Players’ Tribune piece, it struck me that his comeback story hasn’t been celebrated enough after some even questioned his desire to play after receiving the big 2020 payday. That’s a drawback of teams not being particularly forthcoming about players’ injuries and how they impact their availability.
12. Road wins at Buffalo and Kansas City would be fertile ground for arguing this year will be different for Baltimore. But September isn’t the same as January. October, November, and December aren’t the same as January. Such results would surely boost playoff seeding and provide confidence boosts, but that’s all.
