It’s Underdog Week here at SB Nation and for the first time—possibly in franchise history, the Baltimore Ravens are not considered an underdog or dark horse entering the regular season.
For most of franchise history but certainly in the 2000’s, the Ravens would be mentioned by the national media as a plausible Wildcard contender, though they were in the back seat fellow AFC North rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was mostly accurate, too. From 2003 to 2011 the AFC sent only the Patriots, Steelers or Colts to the Super Bowl.