NFL Playoff Predictions: Why the Baltimore Ravens Could Win It All

The Baltimore Ravens have missed the playoffs only four times since winning the Super Bowl in 2000, but have yet to reach the championship game, bested repeatedly by the Peyton Manning-led Indianapolis Colts and the Pittsburgh Steelers a number of times.

But this season, more than any of the others, they have the best shot of not only going to, but also winning, the Super Bowl.

The Ravens have been the top defensive team in the NFL throughout the regular season, ending the year giving up fewer than 200 passing and 100 rushing yards per game and allowing 30 or more points just once.

They're also a top-10 rushing offense with an efficient but not explosive passing game designed to limit mistakes by the team's fairly young receiving corps and up-and-down quarterback Joe Flacco.

But the single-biggest reason that the Ravens have a great chance to earn their second Super Bowl victory in franchise history lies in their advantageous seeding in this year's playoffs.

The Ravens, as the AFC No. 2 seed, have a week off before facing their first opponent, and they will have home-field advantage throughout the postseason except if they are to face the New England Patriots.

This means that in the divisional round, the Ravens will either be facing the rival Steelers or the Houston Texans, teams they've defeated in the regular season, at home where they have yet to lose a game this year.

An extra week off helps the already relatively healthy team get closer to 100 percent and allows them to prepare for an opponent with which they are already familiar.

Should the Ravens face the Steelers next week, it doesn't look all that likely that their divisional and playoff nemesis will yet again win out and make their way to the AFC championship.

With quarterback Ben Roethlisberger still hobbled by a high ankle sprain he suffered in Week 14 and it probably not doing much better after meeting the Denver Broncos in the Wild Card round, it makes him a sitting duck for a Ravens defense that gets better at figuring him out every year.

The only thing that could cost the Ravens a Super Bowl appearance is Flacco. Flacco is most effective throwing short passes, and not many of them. If he is forced to air it out or pass the ball 40 times in a game, he becomes a liability for his team.

As long as he can sufficiently remain in a game-manager role in the playoffs, the Ravens should be unstoppable.

Even the most high-octane offensive opponents in the league—the Patriots in the AFC, the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers in the NFC—can be stopped by a strong enough defense, and the Ravens surely have one.

As long as Ray Rice can run well, Flacco doesn't make many mistakes and the defense continues playing as well as they have in the regular season, it doesn't seem like much can stop the Ravens in their quest to win the Super Bowl this year.