As Christmas draws near, the Baltimore Ravens are rapidly becoming the Chia Pets of the NFL. The Snuggie. The fruitcake.
It's not because those things are abjectly terrible. As the Ravens showed in handling one of the AFC's best teams on the road Saturday night, they are anything but.
It's because a postseason date with Baltimore is the gift no one wants to get. Because with an unconventional (by today's pass-happy standards) offense and arguably the league's best defense, the Ravens are a matchup nightmare for the contenders on the AFC side of the bracket.