The Ravens have won five games and lost three. In each of their defeats, Baltimore blew double-digit leads.
From 21 against the Dolphins to 17 against the Bills to 10 against the Giants, the Ravens could be much better than they currently are.
The arrival of linebacker Roquan Smith gives the Ravens a chance to get much better, moving forward. Just take a look at their schedule.
After a Monday night trip to New Orleans, the Ravens have a bye. Baltimore then hosts the Panthers, visits the Jaguars, plays the Broncos at home, travels to Pittsburgh and Cleveland, returns home to face the Falcons and Steelers, and then finishes the season at Cincinnati. Although the current campaign has served as a reminder than anything can and does happen, where are the “oh crap, they’re in trouble” spots on that slate?
Sure, the Steelers and Ravens always play tough, hard-fought games against each other. But Pittsburgh is 2-6 and fading. Other than the Falcons and Bengals, who are 4-4 each, every team left on the Baltimore schedule is below .500.
So they can stop blowing leads. They can keep winning games. They can capture the division and win at home in the wild-card round and potentially disrupt the seemingly inevitable Chiefs-Bills showdown in the AFC Championship by taking out one of those teams in the divisional round.
After that, who knows? The Bengals beat the heavily-favored Chiefs in Kansas City last year for a berth in the Super Bowl. The Ravens could be the one to go on a run in 2022.