It took Ravens coach John Harbaugh three months, but he finally started to look at the bigger picture as his team prepares to face Cincinnati in Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday.
“We have a shot for the playoffs,” he said. “We know we’re in the hunt. Our guys understand that, but our focus is on Cincinnati. Our focus is on going to work on Monday, and trying to become a better football team than we were today.”
With a dominating, 36-7 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, the Ravens are in the thick of the postseason race. If the season ended today, the Ravens (7-4) would be the sixth — and final — seed in the AFC and would play at the New York Jets (8-3) in the first round. The Jets are coming off a 34-13 win over the Tennessee Titans (10-1).
But the Ravens even being among the league’s marquee teams — the Ravens announced their home game against Washington on Dec. 7 will be played at 8:15 so it can be televised nationally on NBC — is surprising.
With Harbaugh, a rookie coach, and Joe Flacco, a first-year quarterback, and an NFL-high 16 players on the injured reserve list, the Ravens were expected hover around last year’s five wins.
“Being 7-4 at this point, I think, is an absolute blessing this late in the season,” tight end Daniel Wilcox said. “We’re still in November, and in December, hopefully, we can win out. We’ve just got to keep fighting, and hopefully, we can keep winning games.”
Safety Ed Reed said the team’s improvement can be attributed to depth, which includes the offseason acquisitions of cornerback Fabian Washington (20 tackles, 1 interception, 6 pass defenses), safety Jim Leonhard (48 tackles, 1 sack) and cornerback Frank Walker (23 tackles, 1 INT).
The trio has been thrust into the starting lineup to compensate for several key players who have sustained season-ending injuries. Three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Chris McAlister was lost after six games because of a severe knee injury, safety Dawan Landry suffered a spinal concussion on Sept. 21 and right guard Marshal Yanda tore ligaments in his knee on Oct. 12.
“It just shows the character of our team,” Reed said. “We have a lot of great guys on this team, and the coaches do a great job of getting everybody prepared. Everybody is like a starter.”
Cincinnati (1-9-1) is coming off a 27-10 defeat to the AFC North Division-leading Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3) this past Thursday. The Ravens opened the season with a 17-10 win against the Bengals after losing six of the teams’ past seven meetings.
“Just keep taking care of one team at a time, one week at a time,” linebacker Terrell Suggs said. “At the end of the season, if everything goes to plan, we’ll look and see where we are. But first things first, we’ve got to handle our business. We control our fate, pretty much at this point. So let’s just go at it.”
