It didn't look good for the Baltimore Ravens a few weeks ago. The team found themselves in a 1-5 hole and were injured everywhere on the roster that it was starting to feel like the 2025 season might end up being a lost year.
The Ravens' midseason report card reflects that 1-5 start, as Matt Verderame of Sports Illustrated gave Baltimore a D grade for their first half of the season.
"This has been a bizarre year for Baltimore. One of the Super Bowl favorites coming in, the Ravens started 1–5 thanks to a horrific defense that allowed 32.3 points per game during that stretch. Lamar Jackson also missed three games with a hamstring injury."
It's hard to argue with what Verderame said there. The Ravens did start 1-5 and their defense was absolutely atrocious during that time. To make matters worse, Lamar Jackson had to miss three games while he was dealing with an injury and the games weren't close without him.
There's a major silver lining, however, which is that the Ravens have started to look like the team we expected them to look like. They've won two straight games and, while still sitting at 3-5, winning the AFC North is very much still in the cards for them. Verderame factored all of this into his grade.
"However, the Ravens are headed in the right direction, beating the Bears and Dolphins in consecutive games while allowing just 22 points combined. Things have been ugly so far, but fortunes could be turning."
Ravens receive low midseason grade but at least things are trending upwards
Verderame's D grade is perfectly fair considering just how hopeless it looked for Baltimore a few weeks ago. This team went from looking like they might not win another game because they couldn't stop anyone to playing well in back-to-back weeks and then getting Jackson back and healthy at the perfect time.
Working even more so in the Ravens' favor is their schedule in the back half of the season. Their next five games are against the hit-and-miss Vikings, a bad Browns team that they've already beaten once when their defense was awful, a horrid Jets team, a Bengals team with a terrible defense, and then a home game against the Steelers. That last one could be a challenge but going 5-0 in this stretch is entirely on the table.
With five losses on their résumé already, Baltimore can't afford to drop many more games if it wants to vie for the AFC North crown. The good news for them is that they get two cracks at the Steelers to close out the year and their relatively easy schedule should help at least keep them afloat in the playoff picture.
After a 1-5 start, it certainly could be going worse for the Ravens right now so we'll take the D grade for now. Here's to hoping that grade moves up to an A at season's end.