{"id":25812,"date":"2017-08-01T18:30:59","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T22:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=25812"},"modified":"2017-08-01T18:50:10","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T22:50:10","slug":"ravens-most-difficult-games-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2017\/08\/01\/ravens-most-difficult-games-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Baltimore Ravens Most Difficult Games in 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last Word on Pro Football is ranking each team\u2019s easiest and hardest games of the 2017 schedule. Games will be ranked in order of difficulty, with one being the most difficult. This series will be split up into the eight most difficult games (1-8) and the eight easiest games (9-16). In this article, the <a href=\"http:\/\/baltimoreravens.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Baltimore Ravens <\/a>most difficult games will be discussed.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Baltimore Ravens Most Difficult Games in 2017<\/strong><\/h1>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<h3>Week 14: at Pittsburgh Steelers<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Any game against the Pittsburgh Steelers is a tough one, but especially when the game is played in Pittsburgh. Last season\u2019s game at Heinz Field ended on a dramatic note as <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=BrowAn04,BrowAn01&amp;search=Antonio+Brown&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Antonio Brown<\/a><\/strong> stretched the ball over the goal line to give the Steelers the victory. Once again, the game in Pittsburgh is late in the season, meaning that there will likely be playoff implications. The Steelers have brought back their entire offense except for <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/W\/WheaMa00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Markus Wheaton<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/G\/GreeLa00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ladarius Green<\/a><\/strong>, who were injured for most of the 2016 season anyways, plus they\u2019ve added rookie wide receiver <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2017\/03\/01\/juju-smith-schuster-2017-nfl-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>JuJu Smith-Schuster<\/strong><\/a> and brought back <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/B\/BryaMa00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Martavis Bryant<\/a><\/strong>. Expect an extremely hard-fought game between these two bitter rivals.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>\n<h3>Week 11: at Green Bay Packers<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Playing at Lambeau Field is always a tough challenge. The Packers always play well at home and with the game being in November, it\u2019s likely to be a cold one. Both teams will likely be fighting for the top spot in their respective divisions, so the Packers won\u2019t be willing to lay down for the visiting Ravens easily.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>\n<h3>Week 5: at Oakland Raiders<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The Raiders were perhaps the biggest surprise of 2016, and if not for <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/C\/CarrDe02.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Derek Carr<\/a><\/strong> getting injured late in the year, they may have made it all the way to the Super Bowl. The Raiders won\u2019t have their typical loyal fans this year since they announced their plans to move to Las Vegas, but playing on the road against a team with the amount of skill that the Raiders have will most certainly be difficult.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>\n<h3>Week 1: at Cincinnati Bengals<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The Ravens begin their 2017 season with a divisional matchup against the Bengals. The Ravens will have a difficult time defending the triple threat of <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/G\/GreeA.00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A.J. Green<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/E\/EifeTy00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyler Eifert<\/a><\/strong> and rookie speedster, <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2017\/04\/07\/john-ross-2017-nfl-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>John Ross<\/strong><\/a>. Both teams will be looking to start their seasons off on the right foot, so expect a hard-fought rivalry in week one.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li>\n<h3>Week 4: vs Pittsburgh Steelers<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Possibly the best rivalry in football, the Ravens will have a chance to get an early leg up on the Steelers when they play them in Baltimore in week four. This game could very well be for the early divisional lead in the AFC North, so both teams will be desperate for a victory.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li>\n<h3>Week 17: vs Cincinnati Bengals<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The Ravens will end their 2017 regular season the same way they will begin, by squaring off against the Cincinnati Bengals. This game has playoff implications written all over it, and even if one team is out of the playoffs, these rival opponents won\u2019t take this game lightly. Expect a hard-hitting, brutal end to Ravens final game of the regular season.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"7\">\n<li>\n<h3>Week 8: vs Miami Dolphins<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The Dolphins, like the Raiders, surprised a lot of people last year when they made it to the playoffs. Even though they were eliminated in the first round by the Steelers, the Dolphins showed a lot of promise last season. Losing <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/T\/TannRy00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan Tannehill<\/a> <\/strong>late in the season was a heart-breaker for Dolphins fans, but they\u2019ve got a lot to look forward to with running back <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/A\/AjayJa00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jay Ajayi<\/a><\/strong>. This game will most likely be determined by whether Ajayi is able to have success running the ball against the Ravens stingy defense.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"8\">\n<li>\n<h3>Week 16: vs Indianapolis Colts<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The Colts have a lot of weapons on offense for <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/L\/LuckAn00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Andrew Luck<\/a> <\/strong>to use and they also showed improvements on defense last season. The fact that this game is in Baltimore will help the Ravens, but defeating Luck is never an easy task.<\/p>\n<p>With four divisional games listed as the Ravens most difficult games in 2017, the Ravens will probably need to finish above .500 in the division in order to have a chance to make the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>Be sure to check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/2017\/08\/01\/baltimore-ravens-easiest-games-2017\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">eight easiest games on the 2017 Baltimore Ravens schedule<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"CUI_6H_DSgtbZCIyTKWkgA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/630987920\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'CUI_6H_DSgtbZCIyTKWkgA',sig:'VHLvcXYKZPv1ybMF-0L70CqisKkoftjatoKgobNmVkA=',w:'594px',h:'395px',items:'630987920',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At Last Word on Pro Football, we ranked the Baltimore Ravens eight most difficult games of 2017 from one to eight, with one being the most difficult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":948,"featured_media":25902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[39,175,174,330,40,81,629],"class_list":["post-25812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ravens","tag-afc","tag-afc-north","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pro-football"],"modified_by":"John Bava","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/948"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}