The Ravens’ 2023 schedule is set. Here’s how reporter Jonas Shaffer, columnist Kyle Goon and editor Chris Korman predict how each game will go this season.
Week 1 vs. Texans (Sept. 10, 1 p.m.)
Shaffer: Rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud could make his first career start here. All he has to do is hold on against against a deceptive and deep Ravens defense. And do it in Baltimore. Houston, you have a problem. WIN
Goon: The Ravens have a home environment, new offense and newly signed Lamar Jackson. The Texans have a team that doesn’t win games unless they’re trying to blow the No. 1 draft pick. The stars are aligned for a fast-paced Ravens debut. WIN
Korman: Excited to potentially have Stroud’s debut here, but it’s the Texans. WIN
Week 2 at Bengals (Sept. 17, 1 p.m.)
Shaffer: Mike Macdonald’s Ravens defense needed some time to figure things out last season, especially in coverage. Joe Burrow won’t hesitate to take advantage. LOSS
Goon: I’m wondering how quickly the Ravens’ new pieces on offense will gel. Seems hard to ask them to keep pace on the road with Burrow and those receiving weapons. LOSS
Korman: The Ravens should have won the last time they played in Cincinnati. They will win this time. WIN
Week 3 vs. Colts (Sept. 24, 1 p.m.)
Shaffer: Indianapolis had a dreadful offense last year, and its special teams performance wasn’t much better. Even with some stars back, the rebuilding Colts won’t have enough to win in Baltimore. WIN
Goon: Indianapolis was the team that expressed the most public interest in signing away Jackson. Now the Colts get to see what they missed as he runs all over them. WIN
Korman: I’m fascinated to see Anthony Richardson on an NFL field, but it will take a while before he can really impose his will on a game. Plus, the rest of the roster is not great. WIN
Week 4 at Browns (Oct. 1, 1 p.m.)
Shaffer: Deshaun Watson has to turn his play around at some point, right? A divisional game of this import looks like a get-right opportunity. LOSS
Goon: The Ravens’ losses the past two years in Cleveland have felt a little fluky. The traditionally fast-starting Ravens have a prime opportunity for a road win against a division opponent. WIN
Korman: I think we’re going to see a to-be-expected “They’re still trying to figure out exactly how to make this offense work” clunker early in the Ravens’ season. LOSS
Week 5 at Steelers (Oct. 8, 1 p.m.)
Shaffer: This isn’t breaking news, but the Ravens are a better team with Jackson at quarterback. They just need him healthy enough to play Pittsburgh. If he is, they’ll win at least one. WIN
Goon: What Najee Harris did to the Ravens at the end of last year stung. I say the defense pays him back. WIN
Korman: It’s the Ravens-Steelers rivalry. I’ll give one to Pittsburgh, just because. LOSS
Week 6 vs. Titans, in London (Oct. 15, 9:30 a.m.)
Shaffer: If the Ravens are healthy and focused as they head overseas, this game could be a cup of tea. If they’re not, it could be a bloody mess. WIN
Goon: This spring? Coronation. This fall? Domination. Ravens in a snoozer before you get out of your PJs. WIN
Korman: I’m just trying to ignore Jonas’ terrible wordplay. While weird things happen in London games, this will go as it should, and the Ravens will win easily. WIN
Week 7 vs. Lions (Oct. 22, 1 p.m.)
Shaffer: Detroit wide receiver Jameson Williams comes back from his gambling-related suspension. The Ravens cover after Williams drops a last-minute touchdown catch. No one in the NFL knows quite sure how to feel. WIN
Goon: The Lions have come off a promising finish to last season, and the Ravens could face a drag from jet lag. Have to expect some kind of letdown. LOSS
Korman: I’m still supremely motivated to go out and achieve anything and everything from that time Detroit coach Dan Campbell implored his players to be so rabidly emotional as to bite the kneecap of opponents, but the Lions are still planning to trot out Jared Goff at QB, so, yeah. WIN
Week 8 at Cardinals (Oct. 29, 4:25 p.m.)
Shaffer: The Ravens roll, and the Cardinals move one step closer to drafting Caleb Williams. Everybody comes away satisfied. WIN
Goon: The Ravens’ offense will be hoping to hit its midseason stride against a Cardinals team that honestly looks more mid-rebuild. Marquise “Hollywood” Brown might want a revenge game, but he needs someone to throw him the ball. WIN
Korman: Amid reports that Arizona QB Kyler Murray may not return until midway through the season, it seems unlikely the Cardinals will be anywhere near ready to handle the Ravens. WIN
Week 9 vs. Seahawks (Nov. 5, 1 p.m.)
Shaffer: Every once in a while, a team with a talented passing attack comes to Baltimore and eats the Ravens’ lunch. Pete Carroll is just wily enough to get it done. LOSS
Goon: Seattle’s so-so front seven will have its will tested by Jackson and the rushing attack. Will Geno Smith have fallen back to Earth by this point? Seems favorable to the home team. WIN
Korman: I stopped believing in Carroll a few years back and nothing has convinced me to take a different approach. WIN
Week 10 vs. Browns (Nov. 12, 1 p.m.)
Shaffer: Under coach John Harbaugh, the Ravens are hard to beat at home in November. Ravens fans won’t take it easy on Watson, either, especially during his first trip to Baltimore with Cleveland. WIN
Goon: By this point, I believe the Ravens and Bengals will be ahead of the pack in the AFC North. Call it a trap game before a Week 11 showdown. The Browns sneak one out here. LOSS
Korman: It could just be that I’m hoping things don’t go well for Watson. Yeah, that. WIN
Week 11 vs. Bengals, on ‘Thursday Night Football’ (Nov. 16, 8:15 p.m.)
Shaffer: The Ravens’ offense, barring any devastating injuries, should be close to fully operational by this point. So should their defense. Jackson picks on Cincinnati’s safeties all night, and the Ravens win by double digits. WIN
Goon: If there’s a pull-out-the-stops game on the regular-season schedule, it’s this one. In a ferocious home atmosphere, with an offense that hopefully has hit its stride, the Ravens could have a lot of wind behind them to pull out at least one against Cincinnati. WIN
Korman: What is late fall in Baltimore without a devastating loss at home to create panicked frenzy? Sure, in this scenario, the Ravens would be falling to 9-3, and nobody, at all, should be that concerned if they lose a tough game at home to a very good team. But ... they will be. Who am I to rob any of us of that experience? LOSS
Week 12 at Chargers, on ‘Sunday Night Football’ (Nov. 26, 8:20 p.m.)
Shaffer: In a game that goes down to the wire, the Ravens and Chargers combine to miss four straight fourth-down attempts and three straight 2-point-conversion attempts. At the end of the day, only one team has Justin Tucker. WIN
Goon: There are only a few quarterbacks on the schedule who will actually push the Ravens’ secondary to its limits, and Justin Herbert is one of them. It’s hard to ask the team to keep up during a West Coast jaunt. LOSS
Korman: The Ravens will be nearing the end of their third month before they have to deal with a quarterback who can truly push the ball to every part of the field with accuracy and pace, and slowing Herbert at home will be tough. LOSS
Week 13: Bye
Shaffer: The Ravens’ break comes later than usual, but just in time for the onslaught that’s about to come.
Week 14 vs. Rams (Dec. 10, 1 p.m.)
Shaffer: That onslaught I was talking about? It actually starts next week. WIN
Goon: The Rams’ Super Bowl LVI shimmer has faded fast. Here’s a guess that Odell Beckham Jr. will shine against the team he helped lead a few years ago to the championship. WIN
Korman: The Ravens will win by 30, and Jonas will be stuck asking all the players what changed over the bye week, and they’ll just say things like, “We realized it was our time and we had to step up,” and I’ll say, “Wait, I thought that guy was in Barbados during the off week?” and it will be fun all around. WIN
Week 15 at Jaguars, on ‘Sunday Night Football’ (Dec. 17, 8:20 p.m.)
Shaffer: The Ravens couldn’t beat the Jaguars last year, when Travis Etienne was injured, Calvin Ridley was suspended and Jacksonville’s defense was mediocre. Now Trevor Lawrence should be even better in Year 3. As strange as it sounds, expect another loss in Jacksonville. LOSS
Goon: Florida in December? Say less. As long as Jackson is healthy, Ravens pass the vibe check. WIN
Korman: Let us pause here to remember how good this game was last year. DeSean Jackson had a huge catch. Lawrence led a late drive. The Ravens somehow got into position to give Tucker a shot from 67 yards and ... honestly, it was surprising when he missed. Great game. This year’s will be, too, with the opposite team having the luck at the end. WIN
Week 16 at 49ers, on ‘Monday Night Football’ (Dec. 25, 8:15 p.m.)
Shaffer: Here’s the 30,000-foot view of this game: “The Ravens travel across the country to play a loaded Kyle Shanahan offense on Christmas Day.” That ... doesn’t sound like fun. LOSS
Goon: The Ravens have the misfortune of West Coast road games against tricky teams. San Francisco has a way of making you earn every yard with physical football. Not a fun opponent late in the year. LOSS
Korman: I think San Francisco’s defense will take a considerable step back without coordinator DeMeco Ryans, but Shanahan should be hitting his stride at this point of the season and making some guy you’ve never heard of look like the next offensive player of the year. LOSS
Week 17 vs. Dolphins
Shaffer: The Dolphins are fast, fast, fast. The Ravens, meanwhile, have been shaky, shaky, shaky in December in recent years. Even at home, the advantage goes to Miami. LOSS
Goon: As sketchy as Jackson’s injury history has been the past two seasons, Tua Tagovailoa is an even shakier bet. The Dolphins are explosive (as the Ravens learned painfully last year), but if they lose their linchpin, the Ravens should be able to grind it out at home. WIN
Korman: So much is going to change by the time this game happens. Neither of these teams had healthy starting QBs by this point of the season last year. Turns out, football is brutal. That’s likely to continue. Feels safest to go with the home team and more veteran head coach. WIN.
Week 18 vs. Steelers
Shaffer: Jackson does the seemingly impossible and makes two starts in one season against Pittsburgh. The Ravens win comfortably, handing Mike Tomlin his first losing season as coach. WIN
Goon: Who will have more to play for at the end of the year? Seems like Baltimore. Maybe they’re trying to rest guys to stay healthy for the playoffs, but Pittsburgh is likely looking ahead to next year by this point. WIN
Korman: The Ravens will finish their sixth season of 12 wins or more by pushing past the Steelers on a bitterly cold January day (or night). Because if we’re going to do something as impossible as predicting games, we might as well talk about the weather, too. WIN
Ravens record predictions
Shaffer: 11-6
Goon: 12-5
Korman: 12-5
jonas.shaffer@thebaltimorebanner.com
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