Nate Tice put the Ravens at the front of the AFC line for one simple reason: he trusts Lamar Jackson to survive the moments when everything breaks down. In a hypothetical Super Bowl matchup with the Rams, Tice said Baltimore is the team best built to disrupt them because Jackson can extend plays when protection fails.
That choice matters now because the conversation is not about what Baltimore was last year. It is about which team can actually threaten a Rams side being treated like the favorite to reach the final stage. Tice said the Rams were hurt last season by extended passes and longer drop backs, the kind of game that gives a defense time to hunt. He said the Ravens are the cleaner answer because Jackson can turn a ruined snap into a drive, and because he believes Jesse Minter has enough horses to call a wide range of defensive looks.
Tice was not alone in circling Baltimore, even if he was the one who put the Ravens at the top. Mina Kimes narrowed her AFC list to the Ravens, Houston Texans, Denver Broncos and New England Patriots before choosing the Texans because of a defense that finished No. 1 in yards allowed and No. 2 in scoring last season. The Texans had the more complete statistical case on that side of the ball, but Tice still leaned Baltimore because the matchup against the Rams is about escaping pressure as much as creating it.
The wrinkle is that the Ravens are still the subject of skepticism even from people who like them. Peter Schrager predicted a Ravens-Rams Super Bowl, then still took the Rams to win it all. He said Jackson has the greatest talent in the league, but also said the message with John Harbaugh had gone stale. In the same breath, he pointed to a reset: Jesse Minter as head coach, Declan Doyle as offensive coordinator and Anthony Weaver as defensive coordinator. That is the promise and the problem for Baltimore. The parts are new, but the proof is not yet there.
The broader setup only sharpens that point. Jamie Erdahl picked Jackson for MVP, Minter for Coach of the Year and Ja'Kobi Lane for Offensive Rookie of the Year, while Kay Adams called Minter a popular Coach of the Year choice. Erdahl also tied Jackson’s previous MVP seasons to his first year with a new offensive coordinator in 2019 and again in 2023, a reminder that Baltimore’s ceiling has often changed when the structure around him changes. If that pattern holds, the Ravens are not just a fashionable pick in August. They are the team with the clearest path to turning a prediction into the kind of season that reaches the NFL Honors stage three days before the Super Bowl.
