Honestly, I haven’t been as excitedly awaiting the release of the NFL schedule as I usually do at this time of year.  I was fully ready to go all-out orange and black for the next several months, and was eagerly anticipating having something to root for throughout the summer aside from the start of Ravens’ training camp.  As a result of the combination of Buck’s Birds starting the season 6-1, and the NFL labor issues dragging on with no end in sight, the start of football season was the furthest thing from my mind.

However, as the Orioles ride their now EIGHT game losing streak into tonight, I find myself once again looking forward to football just a bit.  I’m not giving up on the O’s by any means, but it’s impossible for any Birdwatcher to not have a foreboding feeling of “here we go again” as the team slips from 6-1 to 6-9 and all warm fuzzies from the fast start fade quickly into a distant memory.

Hopefully the team will get their act together sooner rather than later, and we’ll indeed have the near-.500 ballclub that many were predicting to cheer on throughout the summer.  If not though, this NFL lockout becomes even more frustrating as we won’t even have purple days in Westminster to save us come July.

Assuming there is NFL football in 2011, here is the Ravens’ schedule:

September 11 – Pittsburgh

September 18 – @ Tennessee

September 25 – @ St. Louis

October 2 – New York Jets

October 9 – Bye

October 16 – Houston

October 24 – @ Jacksonville (Monday Night)

October 30 – Arizona

November 6 – @ Pittsburgh

November 13 – @ Seattle

November 20 – Cincinnati

November 24 – San Francisco (Thanksgiving Night)

December 4 – @ Cleveland

December 11 – Indianapolis

December 18 – @ San Diego

December 24 – Cleveland

January 1 – @ Cincinnati

First impressions: Pretty shocked that the NFL chose to give the Ravens the Thanksgiving night game, but upon further review the reason becomes obvious – Harbowl 2011.  Jim vs. John on National Television. Ugh, already dreading the media week leading up to that.

Being done with Pittsburgh by the beginning of November? And before even a single game with Cleveland? Odd, to say the least, and surprising considering that Baltimore-Pittsburgh matchups more often than not have division-winning implications.

Anywho, there’s the schedule.  Now let’s just hope these games actually get played.