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Bob Haynie: Ravens On The Ropes After Loss To Raiders

I know, the Baltimore Ravens have only played two of their scheduled 16 regular season games. I am also aware of the fact that teams have started 0-2 and have gone on to have successful seasons.

However, after losing to the Raiders on Sunday afternoon in Oakland, the Ravens find themselves in a very difficult spot. The loss to Oakland was Baltimore's second consecutive to start the 2015 campaign.

A week after preventing the Broncos from scoring an offensive touchdown in a tough 19-13 defeat in Denver, the Ravens defense was shredded by the Raiders. Oakland QB Derek Carr hit Seth Roberts with a 12-yard TD pass with 26 seconds left to cap off a big day and secure the 37-33 upset for the home team.

Carr threw for 351 yards and three TD's as the Raiders piled up 448 yards of total offense. QB Joe Flacco threw for 384 yards and two touchdowns himself as the Ravens posted 493 yards of offense.

Unfortunately for coach John Harbaugh, the Baltimore D--minus Terrell Suggs--had a rough 60 minutes at O.co Coliseum.

Since 1990, only 11.7 percent of NFL teams that start the season 0-2 advance to the postseason. Of course, that is the situation the Ravens find themselves in at this time.

Now, they are in almost a must-win scenario with two huge division games facing them in a span of five days.

This coming Sunday, Baltimore will play it's regular season home opener at M&T Bank Stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals are 2-0 to start 2015 and have beaten the Ravens three-straight times.

After Cincy, the Ravens will travel to Pittsburgh to meet the Steelers on Thursday Night Football. The Steelers are 1-1 but looked impressive in smashing the San Francisco 49'ers on Sunday.

0-2 with two very difficult games looming. Not an ideal place for the Ravens to be before they even get into October.

Can their season be in peril already?

The next two games will go a long way in deciding if the Baltimore Ravens could be playoff worthy in 2015.

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