Editor’s note: In the coming weeks our Patriots insiders will be speaking with beat writers from around the NFL to get an outside view on what the future holds for the Patriots. Today’s team: The Baltimore Ravens with Andrew Gillis of NBC Sports Washington.
The New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens both suffered disappointing defeats in last season's NFL playoffs, but they appear headed in opposite directions as the 2020 campaign approaches.
The Ravens had a great offseason. They traded for star defensive end Calais Campbell and got a steal in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft with the selection of LSU linebacker Patrick Queen at pick No. 28. The Patriots, meanwhile, lost legendary quarterback Tom Brady and several defensive starters in free agency without making any major offseason additions through free agency or the draft.
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These teams met last season in Baltimore, where the Ravens handed the Patriots their first loss. The Ravens' 37-20 victory helped catapult them to an eventual 14-2 record and the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs. The two teams will play again in the 2020 season, this time at Gillette Stadium. Despite the Patriots' significant offseason departures, the Ravens and their fans have not written off New England as a top team in the AFC.
"They certainly haven't written them off," Gillis told NBC Sports Boston Patriots insider Phil Perry. "I don't think you can write off the Patriots. I think it's one of those things where the Patriots are written off when they're written off -- it's just going to happen. I don't think you can say that. Now, it's the [Kansas City] Chiefs, right? The Chiefs are coming to Baltimore in Week 3 -- that's what the NFL wants, that's what the fans want. Patrick Mahomes vs. Lamar Jackson and the high-powered offenses. So, I think right now the Chiefs are probably the top team the Ravens are looking to knock off -- they just won the Super Bowl. But as long as Bill Belichick is in New England, it's just really tough, especially for Baltimore, to write off the Patriots."
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There's been plenty of bad blood between the Patriots and Ravens the past 15 years, but with Brady gone, plus the fact we haven't had any playoff matchups with these teams since 2014, is there still any hatred left in this rivalry?
"Oh, absolutely, because you've still got players on this Ravens team who played with Terrell Suggs, and I think we all know how Terrell Suggs feels about that team up in Boston, as he called them," Willis said. "We're all kind of aware of that. When you're a team as good as the Patriots and you've won as much as the Patriots and you have the history they do with the Ravens, it's really hard not to have a bad taste in your mouth and want to beat them every time you play. They still have that chip on their shoulder."
Patriots-Ravens has been one of the best rivalries in football this century, and it would be a shame if that no longer was the case beginning in 2020. One way to re-ignite the rivalry would be for the Patriots and their young quarterback Jarrett Stidham to beat the Ravens and reigning league MVP Lamar Jackson in Week 10.