Your Baltimore Ravens' 2009 Schedule, One Word: Primetime

We all wondered what the scheduling reward would be from the Baltimore Ravens’ run to the 2008 AFC Championship, and tonight we find that it’s a solid place in American living rooms across the country.

Three primetime games against the division rivals Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFC’s Green Bay Packers highlight the latter part of the formidable schedule for the Ebony Birds. Here’s the rundown with home games in bold.

Sept. 13 — vs. Kansas City, 1 p.m.
Sept. 20 — at San Diego, 4:15 p.m.
Sept. 27 — vs. Cleveland, 1 p.m.
Oct. 4 — at New England, 1 p.m.
Oct. 11 — vs. Cincinnati, 1 p.m.
Oct. 18 — at Minnesota, 1 p.m.
Oct. 25 — BYE
Nov. 1 — vs. Denver, 1 p.m.
Nov. 8 — at Cincinnati, 1 p.m.
Nov. 16 — at Cleveland (Monday Night Football), 8:30 p.m.
Nov. 22 — vs. Indianapolis, 1 p.m.
Nov. 29 — vs. Pittsburgh (Sunday Night Football), 8:20 p.m.
Dec. 7 — at Green Bay (Monday Night Football), 8:30 p.m.
Dec. 13 — vs. Detroit, 1 p.m.
Dec. 20 — vs. Chicago, 1 p.m.
Dec. 27 — at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m.
Jan. 3 — at Oakland, 4:15 p.m.

So here are the key things that stick out about this schedule. First, the Ravens have to wait until the second half of the season to have back-to-back home games. Fortunately, those back-to-backs are against the formidable opponents on the schedule (with the exception of Detroit), with one of them on Sunday Night Football against the Steelers.

If you break it down by month, you can anticipate the Ravens starting fast and not looking back until late November. Homes games against Kansas City and Cleveland are likely guaranteed wins, with the road trip to San Diego being a jet-lagged loss, putting them at 2-1.

One home game against Cincinnati is sandwiched road games against the New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings, and the Vikings will be the big difference between 4-2 and 3-3.

I’m leaning more towards 4-2, as the quarterback situation in Minnesota looks nowhere near stable with Sage Rosenfels.

November may position the Ravens for a bit of a slide, as there will be two road games against the Browns and Bengals after a home game with Denver. The Ravens will beat Denver, and drop one of the Ohio road contests because that’s what the Ravens do.

Indianapolis and Pittsburgh will be a toss up at home, so I’ll figure that the Ravens balance the loss to the Browns/Bengals swing with a big win over the Colts or the Steelers. A 3-2 record sounds about right for the month.

December brings a Monday night game against the Packers, which may be a difficult one to pull out. The Ravens then draw the Lions and the Bears at home, and should win both with talent in the former and the home field advantage for the latter.

They finish the month at Pittsburgh, which from may be a battle for the AFC North lead by this point.

And if it comes down to that type of game, advantage Super Bowl champs. A 2-2 Christmas season for the Birds.

January is a trip to Oakland to finish out the year, and there will be no competition there. 1-0 in January, 10-6 on the year, and firmly set up for at least an AFC Wild Card.

Yes, it’s a slight drop off from 2008, but its a much more difficult schedule with a defense that is a year older and a quarterback that will just be coming into his own as the offensive leader of the team.

Not a bad look for the Birds.

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