OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — In some sports, playing three games in 11 days would be considered a lull in the schedule.
Football is different — although this type of stretch is becoming more common in the NFL.
“I just kind of put myself in a basketball perspective. Those guys play back to back, so I guess there’s a little merit behind us quote-unquote complaining about it, but they are playing 82 games,” Baltimore Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton said. “MLB players are playing 162 games, and we have 17, and we’re trying to fight them to go to 18 right now. I think it’s good in a sense that we’ll see who is most prepared down the stretch, and it’s really challenging for teams — everybody that’s involved.”
The Ravens are one of the five teams that are about to go through a three-game, 11-day stretch. The Ravens, Chiefs, Steelers and Texans are playing Sunday, the following Saturday and then the Wednesday after that on Christmas. Chicago has a game this coming Monday night, then plays the following Sunday before a Thursday game on Dec. 26.
Before this season, 21 teams in the Super Bowl era had played three games in 11 days, according to Sportradar. In 2024 there are nine stretches like that on the schedule. In addition to the five teams above, four others have already gone through a three-game, 11-day period. The Jets, Seahawks, Saints and Cowboys all had Monday-Sunday-Thursday runs like the Bears are about to face.
The Jets and Cowboys managed to go 2-1 during those stretches, but the Seahawks and Saints went 0-3.
“Try to win the first one, rest, try to get your body back how it should be,” Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson said. “If it’s not 100 percent, try to get it close as possible — just get ready to play football. That’s all.”
For Baltimore, the easiest game of the three is in theory the first. As of Thursday afternoon, the Ravens were favored by 16 points at the New York Giants this weekend, according to BetMGM Sportsbook — but Baltimore has already lost to last-place teams like the Raiders and Browns this season.
So the Ravens need to be careful not to overlook the lowly Giants. After the trip to New Jersey, Baltimore returns home to face Pittsburgh in a game that figures to be vital to the Ravens’ AFC North title hopes. Then there’s a road game against AFC South-leading Houston on Christmas.
“The big picture is, ‘All hands on deck.’ We’re focused toward playing our best game so far on Sunday,” coach John Harbaugh said. “We’re going to need to do that, and that’s what we’re training and preparing to do. We have a plan for the three-game stretch, and that plan starts with Sunday.”
The Ravens played on Christmas last year too, but that was on a Monday, so it wasn’t that big a change in the schedule. If there’s one factor in Baltimore’s favor this season, it’s that the Ravens had their open date last week — immediately before their rugged three-game stretch.
But that meant Baltimore was among the last teams to have a week off. And the Ravens started earlier than almost anyone else, having been part of the NFL’s opening game against Kansas City.
“We reported to camp earlier than everybody else for that Thursday night game, and I think KC had their bye a little while ago,” Hamilton said. “I guess we had the longest stretch, continuous, of anybody else. It’s just going to be that much better at the end of it all, when we do what we need to do, and we can look back on that and say, ‘We did that, and we came out and won these three games.’”
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