Lamar Jackson and the Super Bowl-contending Ravens have the NFL's easiest travel schedule
The 2020 NFL schedule has been released, and the schedule makers shouldn’t be surprised if they receive a gift basket with a Baltimore return address.
The Baltimore Ravens, one of the most-hyped teams in the league, were gifted with quite possibly the most favorable schedule in the league, from travel schedule to prime-time exposure.
Here’s the 2020 Ravens schedule
Week 1: Browns, 1 p.m. ET, CBS
Week 2: at Texans, 4:25 p.m. ET, CBS
Week 3: Chiefs (Monday Night Football), 8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN
Week 4: at Redskins, 1 p.m. ET, CBS
Week 5: Bengals, 1 p.m. ET, CBS
Week 6: at Eagles, 1 p.m. ET, CBS
Week 7: Steelers, 1 p.m. ET, CBS
Week 8: BYE
Week 9: at Colts, 1 p.m. ET, CBS
Week 10: at Patriots (Sunday Night Football), 8:20 p.m. ET, NBC
Week 11: Titans, 1 p.m. ET, CBS
Week 12: at Steelers (Thanksgiving), 8:20 p.m. ET, NBC
Week 13: Cowboys (Thursday Night Football), 8:20 p.m. ET, FOX
Week 14: at Browns (Monday Night Football), 8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN
Week 15: Jaguars, 1 p.m. ET, CBS
Week 16: Giants, 1 p.m. ET, CBS
Week 17: at Bengals, 1 p.m. ET, CBS
What makes that schedule — which was already the most favorable in the league by last year’s record — so nice, even though we already knew the Ravens’ opponents heading into the reveal? Let’s count the ways.
First, you’re not going to notice any West Coast road trips on that schedule, since the AFC North is playing the AFC South and NFC East this year.
In fact, the Ravens are only leaving the Eastern time zone once all season, their Week 2 date with the Texans. That adds up to the lowest travel mileage seen in the NFL in years.
The @Ravens do not leave the Eastern Time Zone after Week 2 ... and that Week 2 game is in Houston. The Ravens only travel 6,310 miles this season, the fewest by any NFL team in the past four seasons.
— trey wingo (@wingoz) May 8, 2020
You will also notice five prime-time games on that schedule, the maximum allowed by NFL rules.
The Ravens get two of the dreaded Thursday Night Football games, but the drawback of short preparation time is mitigated by the fact that they’re back-to-back. So the Ravens will have a full week to prepare for the Cowboys in Week 13, then 11 days to prepare for the Browns in Week 14.
Even better, the team will be facing a grand total of zero teams coming off a bye.
And then there’s the very nice fact that the team gets the Chiefs at home in what will likely be one of the most-hyped games of the year, though we already knew that before Wednesday. The Ravens have lost only three regular-season games with Lamar Jackson as the starting quarterback, and the Chiefs represent two of those losses. However, both of those games were at Arrowhead Stadium.
There will be plenty of hype about a potential AFC championship preview in Week 3, and having the home crowd (while avoiding Arrowhead) could be a significant advantage.
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