Allow me to say what the Baltimore Ravens won’t: It should have been us.
When the Kansas City Chiefs unveil their third Super Bowl banner in five seasons on Thursday night, billowing in full view of the Ravens team they upended on the way, that will be hard to swallow.
It’s flattering, on one hand, to be featured in the first game of the 2024 season — the NFL sees the draw of a rematch after January’s AFC championship game — but it’s also another kick of dirt to the face. The Ravens had the better roster, one with an excellent shot to clinch their own title, but the Chiefs were the better team back on that cold day in M&T Bank Stadium, a disappointment that has bitterly clung on to this franchise for the last seven months.
It should have been us, the Ravens must be thinking. Even if you never hear them say it out loud.
It is honestly impressive how committed the Ravens have been to not stirring the pot this past week. If you closed your eyes and just listened to the quotes, you might believe quarterback Lamar Jackson when he says, “I’m approaching it like any other game.” You might think head coach John Harbaugh is sincere that the pregame tension of Thursday’s contest isn’t any different from any other season opener.
But of course it’s different. Open your eyes.
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You’ll see a slimmer Jackson, committed to regaining the electric foot speed of his early years. You’ll see Derrick Henry, the running back the Ravens acquired to fortify the run, which went dry in the postseason. You’ll see a tense Harbaugh trying to tease out how to beat his mentor Andy Reid for just the second time since Patrick Mahomes took over at quarterback, trying to find ways to evolve in his 17th year at the helm.
The actions speak louder than the words. So much of what the Ravens have done seems geared toward making sure they won’t make the same mistakes this season.
The stakes may not be as high as the AFC championship, but this is not a normal game. Don’t let anyone tell you it is. It means a lot to the Ravens, who have lived with the anguish of missing a golden opportunity for months. It means a lot to Baltimore, which had a front seat to disappointment when we thought we’d see a coronation.
In fact, we’ve seen something a lot like this before.
There is still bitterness around the 2011 AFC championship. Mentioning Lee Evans or Billy Cundiff by name is the quickest way to get a Baltimorean to throw a rock at you. “The Drop” and “Wide Left” left Ravens fans slack-jawed, the abrupt end to a season that was one of Harbaugh’s best.
It was gutting — moreso than even the Ravens’ loss last season — simply for how close they came to actually winning. And it was to the Patriots, the dynasty of that era, when Tom Brady and Bill Belichick felt every bit as unbeatable as Mahomes and Reid do now.
But the Ravens did something magical: They channeled the pain and frustration of hitting the same wall every year into a special postseason run that culminated in the Super Bowl Baltimore had been dreaming about. They found a way to break through, even though they were a lesser team than the year before.
After the 28-13 AFC championship victory over New England that season, back in Foxborough where their dreams had been crushed a year before, the Ravens exorcised their demons. A tearful Ray Lewis traced the path back to the visiting locker room after that loss, when he spoke up to a team that had gotten its heart ripped out.
“I told them last year when we walked up outta here, I told them, ‘We’ll be back,’” Lewis said. “‘Don’t hold your heads down because we’ve got something to finish.’”
More than a decade later, these Ravens know that pain.
We saw it in Roquan Smith, who said “it sucks” to think of how hard it was to get one game from a Super Bowl. We saw it in Zay Flowers, who promised to use his end zone fumble as a “slingshot” to be better. We saw it in Jackson, who said the emotion he felt after the loss more than any other was anger.
So far, the Ravens have been willing to pretend their hurt is buried beneath seven months of offseason lifts and playbook study. Last season was last season, they’ve said, and now they’re looking ahead.
But letting the anguish soak is OK, as long as you find a useful way to use it. The changes the Ravens have already made show that they’re at least searching, staying hungry to adapt. The unfinished business of last season can (and should) be a part of this campaign.
If there’s something to look for on Thursday night, it’s deliberate growth. What does Jackson show that builds on his underwhelming performance in last year’s playoffs? What does a healthy and deeper secondary take away from Kansas City’s passing game? Can the Ravens keep themselves from being baited into penalties? Can they rein in their emotions, which will undoubtedly be thundering inside their chests?
These small steps forward might be as important as winning the game itself. It should have been us only takes you so far. The Ravens have something to finish.
When the Ravens watch the Super Bowl banner unfurl, hopefully some of them will be thinking about a warm September day in Baltimore a year from now. The only way the team moves forward is to change the mantra.
It’s going to be us.
