Baltimore Ravens NFL Season Recap

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In a battle between the two hottest teams in the NFL, one of them was going home. Unfortunately for the Baltimore Ravens, they are the club that got eliminated, falling 17-3 to the Buffalo Bills in a divisional round playoff game. The loss ended a run of six straight victories, five of them to close the regular season allowing the Ravens to qualify for the postseason for the third straight season. Lamar Jackson exorcised his playoff demons with a win over Tennessee in the wild card round, but questions will remain after an ineffective outing and one where he didn’t finish the contest. Things might have turned out differently had the reigning MVP not been concussed and forced to miss the final quarter, but we’ll have to wait until next season to see if he can make the leap to championship quarterback.

Baltimore Ravens Season Recap

It was a minor miracle that the Ravens even qualified for the postseason. They had to win their final five regular season games just to have a chance, and they did so in convincing fashion behind the stellar play of Jackson. A loss to Pittsburgh in Week 12 was their third straight and left the Ravens out of the expanded playoff picture in the AFC. They dealt with a massive COVID outbreak at their facility and a number of starters missed the Steelers game. Getting players back in the lineup and a softer schedule helped. Jackson threw 11 touchdown passes and ran for 430 yards and four more scores during the season-ending streak that clinched a wild card spot. Jackson looked like the MVP during that run as the Ravens averaged over 37 points.

The headline entering the 2020 season was how the Ravens, and especially Jackson, would do in the playoffs. After all, they had the best record in the NFL last season at 14-2 with Jackson earning league MVP honors. However, the season ended with an upset loss to Tennessee, Baltimore’s second straight one-and-done postseason flop. It was just expected that the Ravens would be in the postseason, but that wasn’t the case midway through the slate.

You could break the campaign down into three parts, and thankfully for the Ravens two of those were positive. They opened the season going 5-1 looking every bit like a championship contender. The only setback during that stretch was to defending champ Kansas City, 34-20, in Week 3. Maybe their 30-28 win over Philadelphia in Week 6 ahead of the bye was a foreshadowing of things to come. They won the game surviving a fourth quarter Eagles comeback, and as we found out Philly wasn’t very good. The Ravens were a 10.5-point favorite and needed to stop a potential game-tying 2-point conversion to escape.

Things soured after the bye. The offense struggled and COVID ravaged the club leading to four losses in five games. They blew an 11-point second half lead in a Week 11 overtime setback to Tennessee and their matchup with the Steelers was postponed three times before the game was played in the middle of the week. With their JV team on the field, the Ravens hung tight but fell to 6-5.

The final five regular season games were classic Ravens football. With most of their players back on the field they beat their opponents with a punishing ground game and stifling defense. With Jackson leading the way they amassed 200 or more yards on the ground in four of those games covering the spread each time. Jackson made NFL history in the process becoming the first quarterback with multiple 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He amassed 1,005 yards finishing as the ninth-leading rusher in the NFL. And for the second straight season the Ravens led the league in rushing with 191.9 yards per game.

With their 38-3 win over Cincinnati in the finale, the Ravens locked up a playoff spot. They set a franchise record with 404 rushing yards while holding the Bengals to fewer than 200 total yards. It also set up a rematch with Tennessee in the wild card round. After two poor playoff outings the previous two seasons where he had more turnovers than touchdowns, Jackson got the monkey off his back in a 20-13 win over the Titans. He led the team back from a 10-0 deficit rushing for 136 yards, including a spectacular 48-yards scoring run that tied the game. And the defense played a big role holding NFL rushing leader Derrick Henry to just 40 yards on 18 carries and the Titans to a season-low point total. “This may be the best win I’ve ever been associated with,” John Harbaugh said after the game.

The season ended with a 17-3 loss to Buffalo in the divisional round. I guess if you don’t win the Super Bowl the season is a failure. And while the Ravens feel that way the fact that they made it as far as they did with what they had to deal with is a positive. “It’s a sad moment, but this team has been through a lot. It’s tough right now, but teammates and coaches and camaraderie, it was a group of special guys that worked hard, came to work every day and didn’t take anything for granted. We’re going to hold our heads high and come back and work,” tight end Mark Andrews said.

Baltimore Ravens Schedule & Results

Ravens Past Seasons (2000)

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