The Ravens have a very favorable schedule in 2022
By Justin Fried
The Baltimore Ravens don’t know the specific order in which they’ll be playing their 2022 opponents just yet, but they know enough to understand that their schedule should be very favorable for the organization.
At least, of course, as it pertains to travel.
The NFL announced five international games for the upcoming 2022 season on Wednesday and the Ravens were not selected as one of the teams playing in those games.
That means that the Ravens will be fortunate enough to play just one game outside of the Eastern Time Zone this season — that being a road trip to New Orleans. Hardly much of a road trip to begin with.
The Ravens’ other eight road games, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New England, New York Jets, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, and New York Giants will all be played in the Eastern Time Zone. A fortunate break for Baltimore.
The Ravens will only leave their time zone once in 2022
The Ravens were eligible to play in international games this year with road matchups scheduled against the Buccaneers, Saints, and Jaguars, all of whom are hosting international games in 2022.
However, all three road games will be played in the United States which presents a significant break for a Ravens team that made road trips to Las Vegas and Denver early last season.
The Ravens have only played outside of the states once in their history — an infamous 44-7 blowout loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2017.
In that game, Blake Bortles torched the Ravens’ defense for four touchdowns while Joe Flacco was pulled for Ryan Mallett in the fourth quarter following a disastrous performance in which he threw a pair of interceptions and completed just eight passes.
Playing overseas is always challenging, and fortunately, the Ravens won’t have to face that challenge this year. The fact that they only leave the Eastern Time Zone once just adds to their favorable break.
Eyeing a bounce-back 2022 season, the Ravens at least have one thing working in their favor.