John Harbaugh on Ravens Schedule: 'It Gave Me A Headache to Try to Figure It All Out'
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens 2021 schedule can be difficult to follow with the prime-time games, short weeks and travel.
In one instance, the Browns play Baltimore twice in a year in a row between their bye.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh admitted the schedule was difficult to absorb at first glance.
“I tried not to think about it after looking at it, because it gave me a headache to try to figure it all out," Harbaugh said. "It was quirky, to say the least. I guess we had … Two years ago, we had an every-other kind of a deal. So, it’s probably our turn to get the crazy one, and we did. There are a lot of crazy turns in there. I’m sure some teams are happy with their circumstance; you mentioned the Browns. I’m sure other things are in our favor, so that’s just kind of the way it works."
The Ravens are home for nearly a month but also hit the road for five of seven games late in the season.
Baltimore plays five AFC North games, including two matchups with the Steelers, over the final seven weeks of the season, which will likely decide the division.
The Ravens have the league's second-toughest schedule behind Pittsburgh. Baltimore's opponents had a .563 winning percentage last season, compared to .574 for the Steelers.
Baltimore plays on the road three times in the opening four weeks. The last time the Ravens faced such a tough stretch was a 5-11 season in 2015 — Harbaugh’s only losing season.
"It’s just a strange, different kind of a deal, and we’ll just have to cross all those bridges when we get there," Harbaugh said. "But that’s the first time I’ve seen that. Maybe it’s happened before, I don’t know. That was one that caught my attention right away.”
Other Schedule Notes
- For the eighth time in team history – and the second consecutive season – the Ravens will appear on Monday Night Football twice at Las Vegas and home against Indianapolis.
- Baltimore will play at home on Monday night for just the fourth time since Harbaugh’s 2008 Baltimore arrival.
- The Ravens will not travel for nearly a month between Weeks 5-9. Baltimore will have home games against Indianapolis (Oct. 11), Los Angeles Chargers (Oct. 17) and Cincinnati (Oct. 24), prior to its Week 8 bye. The Ravens will then host Minnesota in Week 9 before returning to the road in Week 10 at Miami.
- From Weeks 10-14, four of Baltimore’s five games will be on the road. The Ravens travel to Miami for Thursday Night Football (Week 10) before playing at Chicago in Week 11. Baltimore returns home for a Sunday night showdown with Cleveland (Week 12) before traveling to Pittsburgh (Week 13) and Cleveland (Week 14) for important divisional matchups.
- The Ravens have just one home game — Week 15 against. Green Bay— in the month of December. However, Baltimore plays three home games and has a bye week during the month of October.
