The Ravens let an opportunity to tighten their grip on the AFC North slip away with Sunday's 23-20 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Despite the loss, wide receiver Anquan Boldin isn't sounding any alarms.
In fact, he's confident the Ravens are still going to win the division.
"We are alright," Boldin said. "We're 9-3. We're still in the lead for this division. We're still going to win this division, so we're OK."
What makes Boldin so sure?
"I know what this team is all about," Boldin said. "A loss doesn't change who we are. We'll still go out, we'll win the AFC North like I said, we'll be a force to be reckoned with in the playoffs."
While Boldin was the most outspoken in his confidence that the Ravens would repeat at as AFC North champions, he wasn't the only one of his teammates who expects the Ravens to rebound.
"I know there's a lot of football left in this season," running back Ray Rice. "This game didn't determine where we are in the AFC right now. This game didn't determine the AFC North right now. We still can go ahead and win the division. We're still the defending AFC North division champions from last year, and we still got a lot of football left. We'll go ahead and try to get over this loss."
The Ravens (9-3) still have a two-game lead over the Steelers (7-5) and Bengals (7-5) with four games to play, and they control their own destiny in the divisional race.
The Steelers and Bengals face off in Week 16, so one of those two teams will have at least one more loss before the end of the season. The Ravens also play the Bengals in Cincinnati in the final week of the regular season, and beating the Bengals would knock them out of the divisional race.
Here is a look at the remaining four games for the playoff contenders in the division:
|
Ravens |
Steelers |
Bengals |
|
at Redskins (5-6) |
Chargers (4-8) |
Cowboys (6-6) |
|
Broncos (9-3) |
at Cowboys (6-6) |
at Eagles (3-9) |
|
Giants (7-4) |
Bengals (7-5) |
at Steelers (7-5) |
|
at Bengals (7-5) |
Browns (4-8) |
Ravens (9-3) |
In terms of the AFC playoff race, the Ravens are behind the Texans (11-1) and have the same record as the Broncos and Patriots.
While getting the top seed in the conference seems unlikely, the No. 2 spot is in reach. If the Ravens were to win out in the final four games – including a victory over the Broncos at M&T Bank Stadium in Week 15 – they would lock up the No. 2 seed ahead of the Broncos and Patriots because they would have a better record than Denver and hold a tie-breaker over New England.
"I think we're alright," Boldin said. "I think everybody is disappointed that we didn't pull it off, but this doesn't define us."
