The formula for end of the season games is that when one squad needs the game to earn a playoff spot they get it when playing a team already assured of a playoff berth. But, a squad that needs a game playing a team already eliminated, has a lot more trouble. The eliminated team has two things going for them; no pressure on having to win and the opportunity of affecting the playoffs even without participating.
Then we have a situation like today when the Baltimore Ravens need the game in Houston against the Texans to keep their hopes alive for winning the AFC North Division title. The Texans have already clinched the AFC South Division and both teams meeting today at NRG Stadium will participate in this year’s playoffs.
Yet, while the Texans can’t improve their seed, the Ravens have a lot at stake … a possible division title and home field game or to be relegated to a Wild Card berth and open the postseason on the road.
The Ravens have lost five games this year. That is a lot of losses for a team some consider the best in the National Football League. The reason Baltimore is so highly thought of is that they have all the weapons on offense, acquiring Derrick Henry this year to add an important element to the one-man arsenal known as Lamar Jackson.
Last season, the Ravens earned the top seed in the American Football Conference playoffs and after blowing out the Houston Texans to open their postseason got edged at home by eventual Super Bowl Champion Kansas City. The lack of a running game was a primary factor in that touchdown loss last January, and the insertion of Henry fills the need for a run game by a huge factor.
So, that is why the Ravens are considered one of the best teams in the league.
There is another reason. Early in the season, while the Ravens dropped their first two games of the year and stumbled in losses to the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles in more recent weeks, the most glaring weakness on the 2024 Ravens from last year’s squad was problems on the defensive side of the ball.
First year defensive coordinator Zachary Orr seemed a dramatic step down from the former coach that served that role on John Harbaugh’s staff, Mike Macdonald. The current Seattle Seahawks Head Coach had served on Harbaugh’s staff for seven years beginning in 2014, then rejoined to the team in 2022 as defensive coordinator. He was named the Seahawks head coach after the Ravens loss to the Chiefs last January.
While Orr had initial trouble finding the success enjoyed by Macdonald, he has pulled the Ravens stop unit together as the season has progressed and over the most recent eight weeks Baltimore ranks number one in the league in key defensive stats.
So what do we have to work with today?
We have a Baltimore team needing a win and hope for a Steelers loss over the final two weeks to clinch the AFC North Division title, and a Texans team that is already headed to the playoffs with nothing to gain with additional wins.
Need versus nothing is something.
I’ll take need.
Qoxhi Picks: Baltimore Ravens (-5½) over Houston Texans