The Baltimore Ravens have to slog it out on Christmas this year, but they’ll have one key advantage in 2024. According to ESPN’s Brian Burke, they’ll have a historically beneficial net rest differential this season. To put it in more layman’s terms, they’ll have a lot more off days between games than their opponents.
Using ESPN’s analytics, Burke tracked the net rest differential for every schedule since 2002. The Ravens have 16 more rest days than do their opponents, which is by far the most any team has had in the decades since then. The Patriots also tie for the second-most net rest days since 2002 with 13.
So what is an example of a net rest differential? It doesn’t mean that the Ravens’ games are more spread out; it simply means that the opponents are coming off shorter weeks. In a 17-game schedule, they average nearly one full extra day of prep and recovery time than their opponents.
The Ravens open the season on a Thursday against the Kansas City Chiefs, for example. Their Week 2 opponent, the Las Vegas Raiders, plays on a Sunday, so that’s two net rest days right there. Notably, they don’t have any additional rest days ahead of their two games against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Given that they have so much extra time, we can reasonably assume the Ravens aren’t catching anybody off a bye week. The New York Giants, however, have to play the Ravens coming off their bye week in Week 15. That alone accounts for an extra week’s worth of rest days.
Given that the Ravens play on Christmas Day, they will also have extra rest against the Browns in Week 18. While we don’t know if that game will be on Saturday or Sunday yet, Baltimore will have at least two extra days.
Now, I’m not going to look into the nuances of every single schedule of the Ravens’ opponents. It’s not crucial for us to find where all of their extra rest days are. At least we know that they’re not coming at the expense of the Steelers.
As for the Steelers, they do play the Washington Commanders with an extra week of rest in Week 10. However, they play the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 12 with their division rivals coming off their bye. So they benefit for one non-conference game but lose out on a divisional game.
It’s impossible not to have these quirks here and there, of course. And it’s not surprising that the biggest differential in rest days we’ve seen comes when teams play more games. The NFL forcing the Ravens to play on a Wednesday Christmas is another newer wrinkle adding to the equation.
In other words, no, this isn’t part of a “the NFL loves the Ravens and wants them to win” conspiracy. But you’re free to think that if it suits you better. After all, the Steelers play on Christmas, too, so they’ll have extra rest over the Bengals in the regular-season finale.
