Ravens 2024 schedule: 5 prime-time games, including ‘Monday Night Football’ showdown between Harbaugh brothers
After Lamar Jackson took home his second NFL Most Valuable Player award last season, the Ravens are scheduled for a healthy dose of prime-time action this year.
Baltimore will play five nationally televised night games — tied for the most in franchise history — over the first dozen weeks of the 2024 NFL season, including against the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in a rematch of last season’s AFC championship game to kick off the NFL season Sept. 5 on “Thursday Night Football” at Arrowhead Stadium.
Baltimore will also travel to Houston for a 4:30 p.m. Christmas blockbuster against the Texans and their star quarterback, 2023 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud, in a rematch of an AFC divisional round playoff matchup last season. It marks the second straight year the Ravens will play on the holiday after last year’s victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, California.
Other games under the lights include a Week 4 “Sunday Night Football” showdown against the Buffalo Bills and quarterback Josh Allen at M&T Bank Stadium; a Week 7 “Monday Night Football” tilt against the defending NFC South champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium; a Week 10 “Thursday Night Football” matchup at home against the AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals; and a Week 12 Monday night meeting in Inglewood, California, that pits Ravens coach Jim Harbaugh against his younger brother John, who is in his first year as coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.
It will be the third time the two brothers have faced off as coaches.
The first meeting took place in 2011 on Thanksgiving when the Ravens beat the 49ers in Baltimore, 16-6. The teams met again the following season — in Super Bowl 46 — with the same outcome as Baltimore held off San Francisco, 34-31. Less than a year later, the younger Harbaugh left the 49ers to become the coach of his alma mater, Michigan, where he led the Wolverines to the College Football Playoff national championship last season before deciding to bolt for the Chargers, one of five teams he played for during his NFL career as a quarterback.
Baltimore’s home opener, meanwhile, will come in Week 2 against the Las Vegas Raiders, a team that is in the midst of a rebuild and coming off an 8-9 season.
From there, the Ravens travel to Texas to play the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in a game that will feature three-time Pro Bowl quarterback and 2023 passing touchdowns leader Dak Prescott. It will be the first meeting between the teams since 2020 and the first time Jackson and Prescott have played against one another after the latter missed the game four years ago — won by the Ravens, 34-17 — because of a season-ending ankle injury.
The Ravens then return home for their Sunday night game against the Bills before heading to Cincinnati to face the division rival Bengals. That’s followed by a visit from the neighboring Washington Commanders and rookie quarterback and reigning Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels in Week 6.
Baltimore hits the road again with trips to Tampa, Florida, and then Cleveland to face the division rival Browns before hosting the Denver Broncos and rookie quarterback Bo Nix in Week 9 and the Bengals on Thursday night in Week 10.
It marks the third straight year the Ravens will play the Bengals at night at M&T Bank Stadium. Baltimore won both of the previous meetings, 19-17 on a Sunday night in 2022 and 34-20 on a Thursday night last season. Last year, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow suffered a season-ending wrist injury in the Week 11 game at M&T Bank Stadium, while Ravens tight end Mark Andrews was lost for the rest of the regular season because of an ankle injury suffered in the Nov. 16 game.
The Ravens then travel to Pittsburgh to play the Steelers in Week 11 — who will be led by either veteran Russell Wilson or former Chicago Bears starter Justin Fields at quarterback and former Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen on defense — before their trip to Los Angeles to face the Chargers, led by star quarterback Justin Herbert and former Ravens running backs Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins.
After a bye in Week 14, Baltimore returns to action against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium, followed by a Saturday 4:30 p.m. game against the Steelers at M&T Bank Stadium ahead of their Christmas showdown with the Texans. The Ravens will wrap up the regular season at home against the Browns.
In an oddity for an NFL season built around Sunday audiences, there will be seven Sundays in which the Ravens do not play, including their bye week. They will play six non-Sunday games, two more than the franchise record (four in 2020 and 2022).
In all, Baltimore, which finished 13-4 and as the AFC’s top seed last season, will face eight teams that made the playoffs last season — the Eagles, Buccaneers, Cowboys, Chiefs, Steelers, Bills, Browns and Texans — and has the second-toughest strength of schedule based on last season’s winning percentage of their opponents (155-134 combined record).
Based on projected win totals for next season, according to Sharp Football Analysis, the Ravens will have the fourth-toughest schedule behind the Steelers, New England Patriots and Browns.
Ravens 2024 schedule
* – Flexible scheduling games
Week 1 (Thursday, Sept. 5): at Kansas City Chiefs, 8:20 p.m., NBC
Week 2 (Sunday, Sept. 15): vs. Las Vegas Raiders, 1 p.m., CBS
Week 3 (Sunday, Sept. 22): at Dallas Cowboys, 4:25 p.m., FOX
Week 4 (Sunday, Sept. 29): vs. Buffalo Bills, 8:20 p.m., NBC
Week 5 (Sunday, Oct. 6)*: at Cincinnati Bengals, 1 p.m., CBS
Week 6 (Sunday, Oct. 13)*: vs. Washington Commanders, 1 p.m., CBS
Week 7 (Monday, Oct. 21): at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 8:15 p.m., ESPN
Week 8 (Sunday, Oct. 27)*: at Cleveland Browns, 1 p.m., CBS
Week 9 (Sunday, Nov. 3)*: vs. Denver Broncos, 1 p.m., CBS
Week 10 (Thursday, Nov. 7): vs. Cincinnati Bengals, 8:15 p.m., Prime Video
Week 11 (Sunday, Nov. 17)*: at Pittsburgh Steelers, 1 p.m., CBS
Week 12 (Monday, Nov. 25): at Los Angeles Chargers, 8:15 p.m., ESPN
Week 13 (Sunday, Dec. 1)*: vs. Philadelphia Eagles, 4:25 p.m., CBS
Week 14 (Sunday, Dec. 8): Bye week
Week 15 (Sunday, Dec. 15)*: at New York Giants, 1 p.m., CBS
Week 16 (Saturday, Dec. 21)*: vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, 4:30 p.m., FOX
Week 17 (Wednesday, Dec. 25): at Houston Texans, 4:30 p.m., Netflix
Week 18 (TBD)*: vs. Cleveland Browns, TBD
PRESEASON
Week 1 (Friday, Aug. 9): vs. Philadelphia Eagles, 7:30 p.m., ABC
Week 2 (Saturday, Aug. 17): vs. Atlanta Falcons, 12 p.m., NBC
Week 3 (Saturday, Aug. 24): at Green Bay Packers, 1 p.m., NBC