Discuss your thoughts on the 2021 schedule on our message board.
Let’s jump right in, shall we.
Preseason
Pre. 1 – vs. New Orleans Saints
Pre. 2 – @ Carolina Panthers
Pre. 3 – @ Washington Football Team
Now, with that nonsense out of the way…
Regular season
Week 1 – @ Las Vegas Raiders (MNF), 9/13, 8:15pm
The Ravens have alternated opening the regular season on the road and at home, each year since 2011. The trend continues with this trip out west. First Raiders home game with fans in the stands in the new stadium. Should be a raucous atmosphere.
Week 2 – vs. Kansas City Chiefs (SNF), 9/19, 8:20pm
Dear Mayor Scott. M&T Bank Stadium needs to be allowed 100% capacity by this date. Sincerely, Ravens Nation. This is the game fans were robbed of in 2020. Be nice to open “the bank” back up with a banger. Don’t like getting the Chiefs on a short week, after flying back from Vegas early Tuesday morning. No excuses though. Just bring it. Furthermore, curious if the Orlando Brown trade rears it’s head this early. The major piece in return for sending KC, Brown, was their first-round pick which the Ravens used to select Odafe Oweh. Will the rookie edge rusher get to line up opposite Brown? That’d be fun.
Week 3 – @ Detroit Lions, 9/26, 1:00pm
Jared Goff went from the penthouse (LA) to the outhouse (Detroit). Breshad Perriman revenge game though. Look out.
Week 4 – @ Denver Broncos, 10/3, 4:25pm
Three out of four games on the road to start the season off. The Ravens better not need some Mile High Miracle in this one.
Week 5 – vs. Indianapolis Colts (MNF), 10/11, 8:15pm
Three primetime games (two at home), and a 4:25 national game in the first five weeks? Who do they think we are, the Dallas Cowboys? Ravens have to perform much worse, for much longer, to reach that status. Will be interesting to see if Carson Wentz is on the IR yet when this game comes around.
Week 6 – vs. Los Angeles Chargers, 10/17, 1:00pm
Justin Herbert looking to build on a strong rookie season. Interesting game on paper for sure.
Week 7 – vs. Cincinnati Bengals, 10/24, 1:00pm
Takes seven weeks to get to the first divisional game on the schedule. Seems really late. Bengals certainly unpredictable with Joe Burrow coming off injury but looking promising as a rookie. Added his college teammate, Ja’Marr Chase, WR, with the fifth pick in the draft. Interesting.
Week 8 – BYE WEEK
“How about if I skip the Ravens game this week honey. Let’s go do something for you.”
Week 9 – vs. Minnesota Vikings, 11/07, 1:00pm
I’m sorry, four straight home games? Bye week in the middle? No planes for five weeks? Thank you, schedule maker. Vikings coming to town reminds me of the snow game with the wild final few minutes from 2014. Two teams that love to run the football. Will this game be over by 3:30?
Week 10 – @ Miami Dolphins (TNF) 11/11, 8:20pm
I think Tua Tagovailoa is legit. Have since he was drafted. Think he’ll elevate Miami and have a breakout season. Added four draft picks in the first 42 selections of the draft to boot. This could be a sneaky big matchup; dare I say between two of the top three teams in the conference. Happy Birthday, Mom.
Week 11 – @ Chicago Bears, 11/21, 1:00pm
Justin Fields, eh. We’ll see. If I could pick a road game for travel, it’s this one. Love Chicago. Could be cold, but not frostbite level cold.
Week 12 – vs. Cleveland Browns (SNF), 11/28, 8:20pm
It’s my birthday, fam. Just, putting that out there. Figured this matchup would get the game of the week treatment. The 2020 game in Cleveland was the game of the year and will be replayed for a long time. For the fourth year in a row, media pundits who don’t pick the Chiefs, “love the Browns this year”. Oh, okay. All joking aside, what does it say about the AFC North that the Ravens have five primetime games, but only one is with a division foe, and it is this one with the Browns? On a national level, is the Ravens/Steelers rivalry old news? Two years in a row, no Ravens/Steelers in primetime, when that used to be automatically a game of the week for well over a decade.
Week 13 – @ Pittsburgh Steelers, 12/5, 4:25pm
Takes 13 weeks to get halfway through division play. Maybe this is normal that some team has to have this happen sometime, but man it seems late to just now be getting into the meat of divisional play, knowing you always finish with a division game.
Week 14 – @ Cleveland Browns, 12/12, 1:00pm
Is there a worse sandwich in existence than a chunk of Pittsburgh between two slices of Cleveland? Maybe any sandwich with a pile of french fries on it (idiots). Anyway, Mid-December, in Cleveland, weather may be a factor. Only two weeks of separation between matchups. Make sure we change up that two week old game plan a little bit.
Week 15 – vs. Green Bay Packers, 12/19, 1:00pm
Wonder if this is a flex game candidate, if Aaron Rodgers is still the Packers QB. But with the Bucs hosting SNF, even against the Brees-less Saints, they won’t be flexing Tom Brady out. Even if this is 2019 MVP vs. 2020 MVP.
Week 16 – @ Cincinnati Bengals, 12/26, 1:00pm
Merry Christmas weekend. Weather a possible factor here too. Would often look like a breather and an easy W down the stretch. But as I mentioned, Bengals are a bit unpredictable. If the Ravens have another 400-yard rushing performance like they did in this spot last season, they’ll be fine.
Week 17 – vs. Los Angeles Rams, 1/2/22, 4:25pm
Happy New Year. 2020 stunk, 2021 isn’t too far behind but has time to bounce back. Alas, here we are kicking off 2022 with the game that should not be. The league added a 17th game, screwing up the most perfectly symmetrical thing any sports league has going for it. It’s so annoying. It adds a game out of conference which are the least important games anyway, which is why you only have four of them out of 16 before now. Add the least important type of game and play it when playoff spots are on the line. I hate it. I hate it. Of course, I’m going to watch it. I’m not going to not watch it, crazy.
Week 18 – vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, 1/9/22, 1:00pm
Certainly subject to flex. “Monday Night Football” gets a Saturday doubleheader in week 18. Meaning that three games with playoff implications will be flexed into the two spots on Saturday, and the Sunday night NBC game. But let’s hope the Ravens have the North (in this extended season) long wrapped up by now. Maybe even earned the opportunity to rest some guys. Will certainly be tough though. This game marks the seventh opponent in the last eight games that made the playoffs in 2020.
Predictions
I predict that I will avoid any outlet that talks sports during the week leading up to week 4. That’s when Tom Brady returns to Foxboro when the Bucs take on the Patriots. 272 games on the schedule, and with NFL Network on in the background during the two hours it took to put this together, they have talked about this game for what feels like the entirety, save for about five minutes.
I also predict that rookies who have yet to play, free agents yet to sign, cut yet to be made, injuries that have yet to happen, will change the landscape of the league dramatically. Thus, making predicting a final record eight months before the final regular season game takes place, a futile exercise. It’s only going to make me furious if I were to write down, I don’t know, 12-5, and it doesn’t add up to 16 like NFL records have my entire life. I’m not doing it.
Ravens Analyst
Mike was born on the Eastern Shore, raised in Finksburg, and currently resides in Parkville. In 2009, Mike graduated from the Broadcasting Institute of Maryland. Mike became a Baltimore City Fire Fighter in late 2010. Mike has appeared as a guest on Q1370, and FOX45. Now a Sr. Ravens Analyst for BSL, he can be reached at mike.randall@baltimoresportsandlife.com.