BALTIMORE (AP) — Moments after his team’s loss to Pittsburgh in the regular-season finale, Baltimore coach John Harbaugh was looking ahead to the playoffs.
“The final chapter has been written on the story of the regular season, and now we have an opportunity to write the next chapter,” he said. “I’m proud of the team, coaches, players, everybody in the organization for what’s been accomplished up until this point in the regular season, and now we have an opportunity and a challenge to take it in to the postseason and play the best football that we possibly can.”
With the top seed in the AFC playoffs already locked up — and rain pouring down — the Ravens kept Lamar Jackson and several other key players safely off the field in their 17-10 loss to the Steelers on Saturday. Even after that defeat, Baltimore finished alone with the best record in the NFL, despite playing in a division in which every team had a winning record. Now the Ravens will try to stay sharp during their first-round bye this week.
“Our plan is to practice Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday,” Harbaugh said. “It’ll be preparation for the postseason, and that will be what we’ll do. We’ll try to push it back a little bit to have some sort of a rhythm, as if we’re playing a game, say on Saturday, kind of that idea. Then we’ll have a normal game week going into the divisional game.”
Baltimore (13-4) will try to avoid a repeat of the 2019 season, when the Ravens stormed to a 14-2 record but lost their postseason opener to Tennessee.
WHAT’S WORKING
Baltimore became the first team in NFL history to lead the league in sacks (60), scoring defense (16.5) and takeaways (31). Although Roquan Smith, Kyle Hamilton and Marlon Humphrey sat out the Pittsburgh game, the Ravens made things difficult for the Steelers, especially with their pass rush.
Jadeveon Clowney had a sack to tie his career high of 9 1/2. Kyle Van Noy also had one and finished with a career-high nine despite not signing with Baltimore until late September.
“When you have guys like that, that know the game so well, that have been in the game for a long time, they find ways to still do their job but try to weave their way through and do something else on their own,” linebacker Patrick Queen said. “Those guys help every single person in our (defensive) room. Hats off to those guys for being the guys that they are, because they didn’t have to come in trying to help anybody, but they did.”
WHAT NEEDS HELP
The Ravens lost two fumbles in the bad weather, which is something they’ll want to shore up because it could be cold and wet in Baltimore for the postseason. The Ravens tied for first in the league in turnover margin, but only six teams lost more fumbles than them.
STOCK UP
Linebacker Trenton Simpson, a third-round pick in last year’s draft, played nearly half the defensive snaps in Week 18 with Smith being held out. Simpson had his first career sack.
“He played really well. He flew around, made tackles (and) played a very good football game,” Harbaugh said. “Very excited for the way he played.”
STOCK DOWN
Safety Marcus Williams appeared to be out of position when the Steelers connected on a 71-yard touchdown pass that ended up being the final margin of victory.
INJURIES
Safety Geno Stone (knee) and linebacker Del’Shawn Phillips (shoulder) were hurt against Pittsburgh, but Harbaugh said it looked like they’d be available for the playoff opener. Linebacker Odafe Oweh injured an ankle and played only six snaps.
KEY NUMBER
14 — The number of games Baltimore played in the regular season against teams that ended up with a winning record. Of the teams on the Ravens’ schedule, only Tennessee (6-11), Arizona (4-13) and the Los Angeles Chargers (5-12) finished below .500.
NEXT STEPS
The Ravens will host Houston, Cleveland, Miami or Pittsburgh in their first playoff game. They already have faced each of those teams this season, beating the Texans and Dolphins, splitting two games with the Browns and losing two to the Steelers.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
