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          NFL Nation

          Baltimore Ravens schedule features one playoff team in first seven games

          AP Photo/Gail Burton
          • Jamison Hensley, ESPN Staff WriterApr 15, 2016, 12:42 AM
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              Jamison Hensley is a reporter covering the Baltimore Ravens for ESPN. Jamison joined ESPN in 2011, covering the AFC North before focusing exclusively on the Ravens beginning in 2013. Jamison won the National Sports Media Association Maryland Sportswriter of the Year award in 2018, and he authored a book titled: Flying High: Stories of the Baltimore Ravens. He was the Ravens beat writer for the Baltimore Sun from 2000-2011.
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          Breakdown: Unlike last season, everything is set up for the Baltimore Ravens to get off to a fast start. Six of the first seven opponents didn't make the playoffs, including the season opener against Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills in Baltimore. In 2015, the Ravens had a brutal first two months with four trips out west and a Thursday night road game in Pittsburgh. This year, Baltimore doesn't face a team with a winning 2015 record until Week 5 against the Washington Redskins. For the Ravens, the division race comes into focus after the Week 8 bye. Five of the last nine games are against AFC North teams, which is a stretch that features a Thursday night home game against the Cleveland Browns on Nov. 10 and a Christmas afternoon matchup at the Pittsburgh Steelers. Other than that Thursday night game, the Ravens' only other scheduled prime time game is Monday night at the New England Patriots on Dec. 12. The last time Baltimore had fewer than three prime-time games was 2006.

          Complaint department: It has become a tradition for the Ravens to finish the regular season in Cincinnati. So, no one is surprised that Baltimore's regular season finale is at Paul Brown Stadium for the fifth time in six years. But the NFL schedule makers increased the level of difficulty by making the Ravens finish the regular season at the two best teams in the AFC North last season -- Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. This marks only the second time in the Ravens' 21-year history that they end the regular season with back-to-back road games. The only other time this happened to them was 2009.

          Staying in the zone: The Ravens won't rack up the frequent flier miles like they did last season, and that's a welcomed change. Baltimore made four flights out west in the first two months of the 2015 season. This year, the Ravens won't have to leave the eastern time zone except for a Nov. 20 game at the Dallas Cowboys. There's a chance that the Ravens won't have to get on a plane for a couple of games. Baltimore could decide to take the train for their back-to-back games at the Meadowlands, where the Ravens will face the Giants on Oct. 16 and the Jets on Oct. 23. There couldn't be a starker contrast to last season's road schedule.

          Strength of schedule: T-27th, .465

          Ravens Regular-Season Schedule (All times Eastern)

          • Week 1: Sunday, Sept. 11, Buffalo, 1 p.m.

          • Week 2: Sunday, Sept. 18, at Cleveland, 1 p.m.

          • Week 3: Sunday, Sept. 25, at Jacksonville, 1 p.m.

          • Week 4: Sunday, Oct. 2, Oakland, 1 p.m.

          • Week 5: Sunday, Oct. 9, Washington, 1 p.m.

          • Week 6: Sunday, Oct. 16, at N.Y. Giants, 1 p.m.

          • Week 7: Sunday, Oct. 23, at N.Y. Jets, 1 p.m.

          • Week 8: BYE

          • Week 9: Sunday, Nov. 6, Pittsburgh, 1 p.m.

          • Week 10: Thursday, Nov. 10, Cleveland, 8:25 p.m.

          • Week 11: Sunday, Nov. 20, at Dallas, 1 p.m.

          • Week 12: Sunday, Nov. 27, Cincinnati, 1 p.m.

          • Week 13: Sunday, Dec. 4, Miami, 1 p.m.

          • Week 14: Monday, Dec. 12, at New England, 8:30 p.m.

          • Week 15: Sunday, Dec. 18, Philadelphia, 1 p.m.

          • Week 16: Sunday, Dec. 25, at Pittsburgh, 4:30 p.m.

          • Week 17: Sunday, Jan. 1, at Cincinnati, 1 p.m.