Players know we're reaching crunch time
We're getting to that time of the year.
The time of year when you find yourself checking the standings every Monday, figuring out who might slide into the wild card spots and working out tiebreaker scenarios.
Well, you're not the only one. The players know we're getting to crunch time too, just instead of spending time working out the playoff picture, they make sure that they prepare that extra bit for Sunday.
Every game in an NFL season is huge (and head coach John Harbaugh has let us know that fact many, many times this season), but as we get to mid-November, the games get bigger. We know it, and the players know it too.
"Championships are won, and teams start to separate from the pack, in late November and December," Derrick Mason said. "And it hasn't changed if you look throughout history. The teams that have excelled in this league have done it in the last two months of the season, or last month and a half. And it's no different this year. We will find a way to make sure the end of this month and throughout December that we are a very good team."
The Ravens have surprised a lot of people so far this season. If you honestly thought John Harbaugh's crew would be sitting here 6-4 with a month and a half left to go, you're wiser than I. But there's plenty of work left to do.
Baltimore still has three games against NFC East teams and a matchup with the Steelers on the docket, and after yesterday's Pittsburgh win, the Ravens sit a game and a half out of first in the AFC North.
It's not going to be easy. But that's the way this team likes it.
"Character is built, especially, around this time [in] November, December," Terrell Suggs told me. "You see what kind of character your team's got. We've got good veterans around here, so we'll try to make a little run at this thing."
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