The Baltimore Ravens posted a franchise-best 14-2 record during the 2019 season. They rested their starters in the regular-season finale after clinching a first-round bye and home-field advantage in advance. They won that game with their backups but were embarrassed in the AFC Divisional Round by the Tennessee Titans.
They now face a similar situation, going into the finale with a 14-3 record having secured a first-round bye and home-field advantage. Head coach John Harbaugh told reporters yesterday that he would not draw conclusions from four years ago about how to handle his current team’s situation.
“It’s different from this season; it’s a different team, different circumstances, different everything except the record is about the same and the bye”, he said. “I remember the experience and the choices we made, but the decisions we made, we made for certain reasons, and we thought they were the right decision. What impacted what [and] how in terms of us not playing our best football that day, it’s really hard to say what the cause and effect was. We just didn’t. We didn’t go out there, and we didn’t do it”.
“You have to look at everything from the framework or through the lens of today – this team and the challenges that we’re facing – and that’s what we’ll try to do”, he added.
In other words, just because he rested starters four years ago and lost in their first playoff game doesn’t mean he’s going to take a different approach this time around. Many teams rest starters in this situation and then go on to win in the postseason. There’s nothing unique about the Ravens that prevents them from winning while resting starters.
The fact of the matter is QB Lamar Jackson was a lot younger and less experienced then. He put up huge numbers that year and was the unanimous MVP partly because the league was still figuring him out, but the truth is he is a better and more dangerous player today. I suspect this will become increasingly harder for fans of opposing teams to deny.
Interestingly enough, the Ravens’ first opponent in the postseason could end up being their final opponent of the regular season, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh would (in almost all potential scenarios) need to win and have at least one other game go in its favor to advance, however. And then the Steelers would need to beat either the second or third seed in the AFC Wild-Card Round depending on whether they earn the sixth or seventh seed themselves. That would either be the winner of the Dolphins and Bills game or the Kansas City Chiefs.
Could there possibly be any motivation to beat the Steelers just to make sure that they don’t reach the playoffs? Well, I wouldn’t put much stock in that. And I gather that the Ravens probably feel quite capable of beating people with their backups anyway.
