For the Baltimore Ravens, the climb back into the AFC playoff picture has been long, uneven, and at times improbable. A team that opened the season 1–5 now rides a four-game winning streak, with victories over the Minnesota Vikings and Miami Dolphins on the road, a convincing home win over Chicago, and most recently a gritty 23–16 win over the Cleveland Browns.
At 5–5, the Ravens suddenly sit on the edge of relevance again, and Week 12 against the 2–8 New York Jets offers both an opportunity and a warning.
The opportunity: a chance to jump above .500 for the first time this season and continue building momentum toward December.
The warning: if Baltimore overlooks the Jets with a potential Joe Burrow vs Lamar Jackson matchup looming next week, especially with a veteran quarterback in Tyrod Taylor now under center, they could walk into a far more complicated game than records suggest.
That’s why, in Week 12, the emphasis this Sunday falls squarely on the Ravens’ front seven.
Ravens' front seven must come prepared vs. Jets
While Baltimore doesn't have a pure sack artist in it's front seven, what they do have, however, is a deep and active rotation -- not flashy, but collectively disruptive. Five different players have two sacks: Rookie Mike Green, Tavius Robinson, Travis Jones, Nnamdi Madabuike, and Kyle Van Noy. Behind them, the pressures are spread as well: Jones leads the team with 23, Van Noy has 17, Green has 14, Odafe Oweh has 12 despite playing only five games with the team before being traded to the Los Angeles Chargers, and even Kyle Hamilton has 10 pressures, a sack, and six hurries. Because, of course he does.
That balance is the backbone of the defense, and it has to show up on Sunday.
Peeling back the layers of the Jets, Tyrod Taylor isn't the long-term answer, but he is the kind of veteran quarterback who can punish defenses that fail to compress the pocket. He’s mobile. He’s experienced. He understands protections, identifies pressure, and can scramble for conversions if lanes open.
Pair that with Breece Hall, who will absolutely take 20 carries of four-to-five-yard chunks if Baltimore allows it, and the recipe for a sloppy, too-close November-style game is right there.
Baltimore can’t let it happen. As it starts with every game across all levels of football, they have to win the line of scrimmage early. By doing so, you shrink Hall’s rushing lanes, and force Taylor into third-and-long where his lack of reps and the Jets’ shaky offensive structure begin to show.
Long downs also allow Baltimore's pass rushers to attack freely -- something Baltimore hasn’t consistently done this season, but absolutely needs to here to put the game out of reach quickly.
Overall, the Ravens’ defensive identity up front in 2025 hasn't been about individual dominance; it’s about collective disruption. Against the Jets, that collective has to show up.
If Baltimore pushes the pocket and controls Taylor from the opening snap onward, they walk out 6–5. If not, a golden opportunity becomes far more dangerous than it should be.