Ravens Keep Playoff Hopes Alive, Now Need Browns to Save Their Season

The Baltimore Ravens pummeled the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night, keeping their postseason dreams alive.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are still in first place in the AFC North, but the Ravens are rising fast. Baltimore’s 41-24 victory against the Packers keeps the team on life support, even without Lamar Jackson.

Despite a solid showing from Malik Willis, Tyler Huntley’s Ravens were victorious on Saturday night. Huntley, who spent the preseason with the Cleveland Browns, told reporters that he needed to call Shedeur Sanders after his postgame press conference.

The Ravens will need the Browns to get a victory against the Steelers on Sunday in order to force a deciding Week 18 matchup next weekend. That Ravens vs. Steelers matchup in Week 18 would decide the AFC North.

But Baltimore’s postseason hopes are now up to the Browns. Uh oh.

Sanders will be getting another opportunity to start for the Browns against a Steelers team that has everything left to play for. The Browns will be getting Pittsburgh’s best punch, even without T.J. Watt available for this matchup.

Ravens fans everywhere will be pulling for Sanders in a game where the fifth-round has a ton to gain. If the Browns upset the Steelers to the delight of Ravens fans, Cleveland will sabotage themselves at an opportunity to be atop the draft board in April’s draft.

With a victory against the Steelers, the Browns could slide all the way back to No. 5 in the NFL Draft – the same spot where they drafted last season. It would make life a lot harder to replace Sanders in a quarterback class where Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore will likely be the only two quarterbacks worth entertaining.

Oddly, there will be plenty of pressure on the three-win Browns.

The Ravens and their fans will be watching with baited breath. But so will the rabid fanbase of Sanders, who will want to see the Browns get one more victory to make replacing the polarizing quarterback a lot more difficult moving into next season.

Of course, the Steelers can destroy and sabotage any of this wishful thinking.

The Steelers securing victory against the Browns would end Baltimore’s season. They are the better team, but they find themselves as a narrow -3.5 favorite heading into their matchup in Cleveland.

Week 17 will bring crazy playoff scenarios around the entire NFL, but none more dramatic than in the AFC North, a division that had been wildly underwhelming throughout the season.