The Ravens are truly something special in the friendly confines of M&T Bank Stadium year in and year out.
As the 2015 season is quickly approaching, we look ahead to opponents the team will face at home and some trends that show that the Ravens have a very big home-field advantage.
Did you know?
Under John Harbaugh, the Ravens have won 36 of their last 43 regular season home games and are 45-11 in games played in Baltimore, ranking as the NFL’s second-best home mark since the 2008 NFL campaign began.
In the AFC North, the Ravens have fared even better going 16-5 in home games played against divisional foes winning 11 of its last 13 games vs. AFC North foes.
The Ravens will look to continue that trend when they host the Bengals in week three, the Browns in week five and the Steelers in week 16.
The team will face two teams from the AFC West with the Chargers visiting week eight and the Kansas City Chiefs in week 15. The Ravens are 7-1 at home all time against AFC teams from the West Coast including 5-0 against Oakland and 2-1 vs. San Diego, with the one loss coming in a heartbreaker last year.
The Ravens will also battle two tough NFC West teams at home starting with the Rams in week 11 and the defending NFC champion Seahawks in week 14. History suggests Baltimore does well against non-conference opponents at home. The purple and black have won 16 of their last 17 such games. They do especially well against NFC West opponents, against whom they have gone undefeated in their last four games.
Under coach Harbaugh, the Ravens are 12-2 in November home games, which is the NFL’s best such mark since 2008. They will look to make it 15-2 with November home games against San Diego, St. Louis and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
While the offense has been solid, it’s been the defense that has stolen the show at home under John Harbaugh.
Since 2008, Baltimore has allowed opposing teams to score an average of 20-or-more points only once (2012) at M&T Bank Stadium. While injuries decimated the Dean Pee’s unit in 2014, they still only allowed an average of only 13.6 points per game at home, ranking as the NFL’s top home average.
More impressively, the Ravens are an astounding 24-0 at home when allowing 10 points or less since 2008.
A healthy Jimmy Smith and Lardarius Webb in 2015 should hopefully reinforce what has been a stout pass defense at home.
While the success was largely in part of the play of ballhawk Ed Reed, since 2008, opposing quarterbacks have posted an average passer rating of just 70.3 (first in the NFL). Quarterbacks visiting M&T Bank Stadium have thrown for an average of 293.4 passing yards, the NFL’s third-worst average for an opposing stadium during that time frame.
It’s still way too early to judge just how the Ravens will fare at home this upcoming season against some tough opponents, yet the history speaks volumes.
Now how about that Seven Nation Army chant!?
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