2011 NFL Regular Season: Baltimore Ravens ride on most wins, nothing more – NFL Feature
Generally, most wins are considered to be the highest point for a team playing in any professional league, while a majority of losses could signal a bad ending for them, if changes are not made soon enough.
This, however, was not the case with the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL).
It is the fourth straight year that the team has been able to reach the playoff postseason, which should mean that they are one of the best in the league, but unfortunately, it is not so.
For the Ravens, it is not just that they could not get past the playoff round in all their previous attempts.
How they perform this time is yet to be seen, but it is rather their performance in the regular season, overall, which determines the strength and positives they might carry on forward with, in the future.
The 2011 regular season of the NFL ended for the Ravens on a note very similar to their three endings in the past.
Baltimore finished atop the American Football Conference (AFC) North division, claimed the divisional title, and made it to the postseason once again.
They opened the season with a win over their divisional arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and closed it with a victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
In between, they have a total of 12 wins and four losses in 16 games played, over a span of 17 weeks.
The regular season started back in September of 2011, and finished in January of the 2012, a week extra is the bye week that each team had been granted with the season almost halfway through.
The main point that was noted, confronting the Ravens throughout the season, was the inconsistency in their performance.
Looking at the pattern of the fluctuation in their performances, it can safely be concluded that they have performed remarkably well in a challenging environment and against some rather competitive teams, such as Pittsburgh Steelers.
They however, went miserably down against the less competitive teams, like the Seattle Seahawks, something they are consistent with.
Despite of repeated criticism from their critics, and frequent assurances from their coaching staff to overcome the problem, the side was unable to work on it until the end of the regular season.
Interestingly, the Ravens have remained perfect at home with regard to winning, taking all eight matchups throughout the season.
Their record in road games, however, was not as impressive. They played eight on the road, losing half of them, and winning half.
This had been their particular weak point in the past season. It has also been attributed as the main reason behind their loss in the playoffs.
Courtesy of their divisional lead, they have a bye in the first round of the postseason, this year.
They also have a home game, which is expected to bolster their chances of going beyond the playoffs' entry round this time around.
Another thing that has been consistent with the Ravens in the 2011 season was their luck.
The side has been lucky to have successfully escaped major injury related problems.
Ray Lewis was their only notable player to have sat out for a few games due to an injury.
The team had also lost the points’ race to other teams in the league in between, but was lucky enough to have the points' table position turned into their favour for more than one occasion.
They were head-to-head in the score with the Steelers at one point, until Week 14. Baltimore’s game loss against the San Diego Charges in Week 15 pushed them back in the playoff and division title claims.
Luckily for the Ravens, Pittsburgh lost their next game against the San Francisco 49ers and levelled the score yet again.
The Ravens however, had the tiebreaker advantage for having beaten the Steelers twice in the league, and finished the season amongst the top five teams in the NFL.
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