Baltimore Ravens: Perspective gained from the first half of the season
The Baltimore Ravens are the perfect embodiment of a 4-4 team. They are equal parts good and bad. There is no clarity moving forward, and nobody knows what to hope for:
The Baltimore Ravens are like a lot of NFL teams right now. If you look at the standings, you’ll see a lot of teams that have failed to string things together. The Ravens are 4-4. 10 of the 16 AFC teams have three or four wins. The Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots are the only teams that will leave week eight with six wins unless the Chiefs beat Denver tonight. This means that there are a lot of teams clumped together and the second half of the season is a race for the wild card spots.
Baltimore isn’t out of contention for the AFC North, but it looks like the wild card will be their most likely playoff berth. The Ravens are not a consistent team. They can’t be trusted to win the games they should win, and that’s the problem. The Ravens should be better than 4-4 right now.
Hope to win, or hope to win next year?
Take out the losses to the Vikings and the Steelers and the Ravens have lost to teams that aren’t any better than they are (at least judging by records). The Bears are 3-5 and the Jaguars are 4-3. The Jaguars loss looks less laughable than it did at the time, but the Jaguars haven’t proven to be world beaters. Jacksonville got whooped by the Tennessee Titans and the Los Angeles Rams.
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The Ravens are right in the mix in the AFC, but a playoff spot is far from guaranteed. Half way through the season the team is as close to a high draft pick as they are the last playoff seed. Things could go either way, which is what happens when you’re an up and down team. At some point the Ravens have to string wins together more than two at a time, or they won’t separate from the pack. The worst possible thing that could happen to the Ravens is just missing the playoffs. If they’re going to be good it has to be really good. If they’re going to stink, they better tank.
When the Ravens lost to the Bears it was hard not to think that this franchise needed a fresh start. It became tempting to talk about a future without John Harbaugh and Ozzie Newsome. When the Ravens beat the Dolphins they merely shelved this train of thought for the time being. The Ravens uninspiring play this season shouldn’t make optimism too high however. The purple and black have reeled us back in, now fans hope it will be worth it.
The one reason for hope:
The one reason for hope is that each game the Ravens have won, they have won it big. They crushed the Bengals 20-0 to start the season. They led wire to wire against the Browns, Raiders and Dolphins. They have four wins and two of them were shutouts. When things go right for the Ravens they really go right. The reason for hope is that the Ravens have shown how good they can be.
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The Ravens are exactly what you would expect a 4-4 team be. They have a ton of problems and they do a ton of things right. The lack of weapons, the suspect line and the inconsistent play is balanced by a good running game, a great pass defense and a knack for creating turnovers. The result is a lackluster first half of the season and a frustrating position of uncertainty heading into week nine.