Schedule will not help Ravens in quest to overcome 0-2 start

Historically speaking, the odds are not in the Baltimore Ravens' favor when it comes to making the playoffs following their 0-2 start to the 2024 NFL season. Not only is it difficult to do on a league-wide scale, it is also something the Ravens have never actually done in their franchise's existence.

Adding to the problem for the Ravens is that their early-season schedule is not going to do them any favors. In fact, the next three games look to be some absolutely brutal matchups.

They go on the road to play the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3 before returning home to play Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills in Week 4. Those two games are then followed by a Week 5 road game at their divisional rivals (and fellow 0-2 team) the Cincinnati Bengals. After playing the Washington Commanders in Week 6, then they have back-to-back road games at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cleveland Browns.

That is not an easy schedule by any objective measure and especially so over the next three weeks. Unless they win at least two of those three games, they could find themselves in a 1-4, or perhaps even 0-5, situation, which would probably put them into a deficit that might be almost impossible to climb out of.

It is not like the Ravens have played all that bad over the first two games of the season, either. They gave the Kansas City Chiefs everything they could handle in the first game of the season and were literally inches away from either sending the game to overtime or even potentially winning it. They also had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.

What makes the Raiders game so important is that the Ravens had it in control and let it slip away, as they have done too many times over the past three years with big second-half leads. 

It has now put them into a situation where they have almost no margin for error over the next few weeks as they are playing one of the toughest parts of their schedule.