Baltimore Ravens getting hot on both sides of the ball just in time

The Baltimore Ravens are rolling on both sides of the ball just in time for the playoffs.

Last season, Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens were cruising at the top of the AFC and establishing themselves as a force to be reckoned with. Throughout the 2020 NFL season, however, there were ups — including a 5-1 start — and then there were the downs.

Now, the skies have parted with the team looking both dangerous and competitive at the right time. After a win over the Giants and their rival Steelers taking down the Colts, Baltimore leapfrogged their way to the sixth seed in the AFC Playoffs. With the season winding down, the team is getting hotter, a combination that can be lethal for a team that decides to overlook them.

Granted, Big Blue isn’t really a measuring stick, but you can only play who is in front of you and on your schedule. For Jackson, he has a lot to prove after his early playoff exits as does the rest of the team. Defensively, forcing six sacks, including a stretch of three consecutive plays with a knockdown is a reason to feel confident but continuity is considered greater than flashes.

The Baltimore Ravens look like a matchup no one wants to see in the playoffs.

Last season, the NFL saw the Tennessee Titans go on a late-season surge that resulted in them sending Tom Brady out of New England and Baltimore home for the playoffs. What’s to say the Ravens can’t do the same thing to the rest of the AFC given how the field is currently constructed?

Kansas City allowed, of all teams, the Atlanta Falcons to hang around before the ATL did what they do best. Their rivals in Pittsburgh had to rely on the Colts folding in order to clinch the division. The Browns lost to the Jets. There is no excuse to say that Baltimore is not worthy of going on the road to win it all.

In 2000, while they hosted a playoff game in the Wild Card Round, the Ravens did not win the division and ultimately won the Super Bowl. In 2012, after winning the AFC North, they hosted a playoff game before going on the road to ultimately win the title yet again.

Baltimore is getting hot at the right time, and it serves as a wake-up call for the rest of the AFC. No one wants to see the Ravens this postseason, especially when they have motivation.