OWINGS MILLS — There was a Seinfeld episode where the character George Costanza decided to turn his life around by doing the opposite of what he would normally do.
The strategy worked for a while and, so far, the Ravens have had similar success following Costanza’s lead.
In 2017, the Ravens were blown out by the Jaguars, 44-7, in London. Coach John Harbaugh waited until the Friday morning before the game to travel to Europe. Instead, the Ravens practiced in Owings Mills during the week.
The Ravens played in London once again this season, and Harbaugh did the complete opposite with the schedule.
The Ravens traveled to England on the Monday before the game. The players were given Tuesday off before resuming a normal schedule on Wednesday-Thursday-Friday.
The players and coaches took in the sights and got acclimated to the time and cultural differences.
The result?
A resounding 24-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans.
The Ravens are now facing a similar situation with this year’s playoffs.
In 2019, the Ravens were the top seed in the postseason and practiced Tuesday, took off Wednesday, and practiced Thursday and Friday before taking the weekend off during the bye week.
The Ravens were then upset by the Titans, 28-12, in the divisional round. Tennessee running back Derrick Henry ran for 195 yards and threw a touchdown pass on a trick play.
This season, the Ravens earned the top seed again and have completely altered the practice schedule from 2019.
Instead, the Ravens will practice from Wednesday through Saturday, including a session at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday. Harbaugh opted to have a traditional game week that included the non-traditional stadium practice.
The Ravens will then have a normal practice week once the wild-card games are finished and they know their opponent.
The players are hoping for an opposite result from 2019.
“From what I understand, we’ll be doing the stadium practice and just being more mindful of not coming out slow,” nose tackle Michael Pierce said. “I remember we came out really, really slow in that Titans game. Derrick Henry ran for [Lord] knows how many yards. We have a good plan, and Coach ‘Harbs’ [head coach John Harbaugh] has a good plan. We’ll be working mostly through the break and obviously getting guys healthy, but we’ll be working, and we’re definitely mindful [of] what happened last time.”
