The Story of the 2015 Baltimore Ravens

(photo credit: phase.com)

When John Harbaugh headed to the locker room after the team's Dec. 27 win over the Steelers a feeling of relief had to come over him. Yes, Baltimore was in the middle of a season from hell. It was their first win in about a month and 2015 was the first time Harbaugh didn't lead Charm City to the playoffs. But his battered squad had fought through and earned a season sweep against Pittsburgh and made it their division rivals would need help in Week 17 to make the postseason.

Looking back at the 2015 Ravens' season it's clear that its the beginning of a transition for one of the League's marquee franchises. The wheels started to come off for Baltimore when veteran Defensive End Terrell Suggs was lost for the season after going down with a torn Achilles in Week 1. With that injury the Ravens took the field for the first time in franchise history without a member Ray Lewis, Suggs, or Ed Reed.

Injuries would be the main theme of 2015 with 20 players finishing the season on injured reserve. The rash of injuries led some to believe that there was a locker room curse with five players (Suggs, Steve Smith Sr, Breshad Perriman, Justin Forsett and Chris Canty) ending up on injured reserve the order their lockers went from left to right. Then Canty's locker room neighbor rookie corner Tray Walker passed away after the season.

As imagined these injuries took led to a drop in production on both sides of the ball. After finishing the 2014 season ranking eighth in scoring offense and sixth in scoring defense, Baltimore fell to 25th and 24th respectively in those categories.

I imagine that Baltimore's management looks at 2015 as a lost season given everything that happened. They'll probably look to the draft to add depth to a roster that tied the second worst record in franchise history. Areas of priority will likely be the Offensive Line and Secondary. Given the talent the Ravens have I would not be surprised if they are back to competing for the playoffs in 2016.