Last 5 games!

[steelerhater]

The Browns game looks like a trap for the Ravens. Coming off a huge emotional win the Ravens play a team they should dominate. Taking extra time off is also a bad idea for a team that has trouble focusing for the games they think they should win.
I'm worried about this Browns game in Cleveland. Arrogance can be the downfall of this team.
So my message to the Ravens is assume nothing, bring the same intensity to Cleveland that you did for the 49er's. Do NOT let the Browns score first and all will be ok.

The Browns gave Cincy a scare today, so we'd better not take them for granted next week.

[GOTA]

Heard Hillis could be back in by the Ravens game (didnt clarify which one though). Is he reason to be worried?

Also, how good is the Browns pass defense being number 1 and all? Will we be able to throw on them? If they can shut down our run it will make it a much tougher game than most are expecting on here.

Hillis played very well against the Bengals. Don't think he'd be the same problem he was for the Ravens last year but he's still someone the Defense has to focus on.

[Beerracuda]

I know everyone is gunning for the #1 seed, or at least a home playoff game. But what's lost in the shuffle is the fact that with 5 games left to play, we now have a fairly comfortable 2 game lead for a playoff position. With the Ravens at 8-3, and the nearest threats to us being the Titans, Jets, and Broncos at 6-5, the Ravens would have to fall quick and hard in order to miss the playoffs. And that's not even considering the fact that the 3 teams chasing us are rather flimsy contenders to begin with.

While I'm certainly hoping for a top seed and a home game/1st round bye, it's pretty comforting knowing that the Ravens are pretty well secure in making the playoffs.

[York]

I think the Bengals game will be irrelevant. We will have locked up our playoff position by then - whatever it is - either as Division winner or wildcard. I don't think the other four pose a significant problem - although the San Diego game will be close.

The San Diego game will be important if both the Ravens and Steeelers win out.

[LukeDaniel]

I know everyone is gunning for the #1 seed, or at least a home playoff game. But what's lost in the shuffle is the fact that with 5 games left to play, we now have a fairly comfortable 2 game lead for a playoff position. With the Ravens at 8-3, and the nearest threats to us being the Titans, Jets, and Broncos at 6-5, the Ravens would have to fall quick and hard in order to miss the playoffs. And that's not even considering the fact that the 3 teams chasing us are rather flimsy contenders to begin with.

While I'm certainly hoping for a top seed and a home game/1st round bye, it's pretty comforting knowing that the Ravens are pretty well secure in making the playoffs.

That's a good point. I've tried not to think about it too much though, because if we made the playoffs as a wild card....for the 4th straight year...I think so many of us would be disappointed.

[Tyrian]

I know everyone is gunning for the #1 seed, or at least a home playoff game. But what's lost in the shuffle is the fact that with 5 games left to play, we now have a fairly comfortable 2 game lead for a playoff position. With the Ravens at 8-3, and the nearest threats to us being the Titans, Jets, and Broncos at 6-5, the Ravens would have to fall quick and hard in order to miss the playoffs. And that's not even considering the fact that the 3 teams chasing us are rather flimsy contenders to begin with.

While I'm certainly hoping for a top seed and a home game/1st round bye, it's pretty comforting knowing that the Ravens are pretty well secure in making the playoffs.

That's a great point. As things stand:

Bal: @Cle, Ind, @SD, Cle, @Cin.
-- Ignoring Pittsburgh and Cincy for now:

Ten, NYJ, Den are the main ones. Add in Buf as they can still catch.

Buf (5-6; 3-4) has Ten, @SD, Mia, Den, @NE.
Ten (6-5; 4-4) has @Buf, NO, @Ind, Jac, @Hou
NYJ (6-5; 5-5) has @Was, KC, @Phi, NYG, Mia
Den (6-5; 6-3) has @Min, Chi, NE, @buf, KC.

Say: Buf wins vs Ten, Jets lose, Den loses. Ravens beat Cle.
That leaves Bal at 6-2 in conference, Buf at 4-4, Ten at 4-5, NYJ at 5-5 and Den at 6-3.
Bal at 9-3, all four teams at 6-6 with 4 to go.

Bal could clinch with win vs Ind and: Ten loss, Den loss, Buf loss in that scenario.
(Possibly a Jets loss as well, but unsure how the H2H tiebreaker would fit in amongst it all).

(Cincy or Pit probably won't matter in strict tiebreaker sense for the wildcards. If Bal wins at Cle and Cincy loses to Pit, then Bal clinches division tiebreaker over Cincy anyway).

(Bal's worst possible AFC total would be 6-6. Buf could still get 8-4, Ten could get 7-5 w/ H2H and Den could get 9-3. So all 3 teams would need to lose).

More realistically Bal could clinch with win at SD after wins vs Cle and Ind.
Say, Jets win both of theirs, Den loses to Min, but beats Chi, Bills beat Titans but lose to Chargers and Titans lose both.

That leaves Bal at 10-3 (7-2), Jets at 8-5 (6-5), Ten at 6-7 (4-5), Buf at 6-7 (4-5), Den at 7-6 (6-3).
Buf and Ten would already be eliminated for Bal tiebreaker purposes.
Bal would only need win vs SD in such a scenario as no matter what Den or NYJ would do matters (simple record or H2H tiebreaker).

It's possible it may take until cleveland at home to clinch (where Baltimore could end up having to clinch playoff spot, AFC North title, first round bye AND homefield advantage in a single win).

That would require Den, Ten, NYJ to win all of their next three games so they're all at 9-5 with Bal at 11-3 (say they won all three). NYJ wouldn't matter at this point as they'd be eliminated at this juncture. Bal's conf record would be 8-2 with Denver at 7-3 so they'd remain a possibility if Bal lost final 2 and Ten has H2H. Bal would also clinch in that scenario with Den loss + Ten loss.

A win vs Cle would seal that. If Pit lost at SF, then AFC North could be clinched in that scenario as well. Bal would clinch first round bye with either a H2H record vs Hou or say Oakland won all theirs on AFC Conference record. If NE lost once (or on that weekend), then they'd win homefield based on common opponents (if the loss was AFC). Be quite a day if that all had to come together.

[Ravenjohn2000]

The Browns haven't beat us since 2007, the Colts are a high school team, the Chargers are reeling.

The only game that looks tough is @ Cincy. I don't think you'll see the "lose against bad teams" issue. Look, we pasted the Rams, Jets, and came back from a ridiculous deficit to beat the Cards. We *have* beaten bad teams :) I don't see them losing to anyone on this list but the Bengals, and that's only because it most likely will be a meaningless game.

Not so sure it will be a meaningless game or not but what is good is that Cincy isn't selling out games. It appears as though many games are getting blacked out. If this game becomes a play-off game for the Ravens, I think it would be great to get 10,000 plus to travel to Cincy on New Years day. How cool would that be for the players. Should the scenario play out, I for one will be traveling.

[myfavoriteboxer]

That's a good point. I've tried not to think about it too much though, because if we made the playoffs as a wild card....for the 4th straight year...I think so many of us would be disappointed.

Even beyond just how awesome it would be to have a home playoff game in Baltimore (and, ahem, a home playoff *win* for the first time since ... 2000! :grbac:) this year's team has clearly shown it's not as good on the road for whatever reason as in previous years under Harbaugh. Add that to an undefeated record at home and I think it's clear that home-field advantage in the playoffs is more important to BAL than it is to any other playoff contender in either conference.

If the last two games have shown BAL turning a corner from its up-and-down season and it manages to win out (or clinch the #1 seed before the Cincy game), good for them, it should bolster the team's confidence that they are ready to win a championship, but oddly enough, it will also ensure that they don't need to leave home to go to the Super Bowl, while if they mess up in the next few weeks on the road, they might be stuck on the road in the playoffs yet again.

[BcRaven]

... I've tried not to think about it too much though, because if we made the playoffs as a wild card....for the 4th straight year...I think so many of us would be disappointed.

I, for one, would be disappointed if we didn't at least get a BYE. This is the put-up or shut-up time of year in the NFL. After beating the Bengals and 49ers, the Ravens look like a top of the line team, and are on track for the #1 seed. I'd have to accept it, but really want no part of being a Wild Card... Bc

[SPRavensFan]

If the Ravens can take care of Cleveland the week 17 game shouldn't mean much. Both the Steelers and Bengals have 2 division losses, and one will have 3 by the end of the weekend, making it basically an elimination game. If the Steelers win, Cincy is pretty much done as far as winning the division goes.

But the final game may have a lot to do with playoff seeding. Hopefully NE's awful defense shows up a few more times and they lose 2 games. If NE loses 2 games the 1 seed is a lock for us.

[Sua Sponte]

That's a great point. As things stand:

Bal: @Cle, Ind, @SD, Cle, @Cin.
-- Ignoring Pittsburgh and Cincy for now:

Ten, NYJ, Den are the main ones. Add in Buf as they can still catch.

Buf (5-6; 3-4) has Ten, @SD, Mia, Den, @NE.
Ten (6-5; 4-4) has @Buf, NO, @Ind, Jac, @Hou
NYJ (6-5; 5-5) has @Was, KC, @Phi, NYG, Mia
Den (6-5; 6-3) has @Min, Chi, NE, @buf, KC.

The thing I'll point out here, is that they all play each other. The Jets are the only team that does not play common opponents and they have a easy schedule, but NYG, and now Mia give them trouble.