The Baltimore Ravens are just four days away from kicking off their 30th season against the Buffalo Bills—the same team that ended their playoff run last year.
WATCH: Ravens ready to face Bills in season opener, putting playoff loss behind them
Despite the emotional weight of that matchup, Ravens coach John Harbaugh and his players say they're treating Sunday night's game like any other.
"I'm trying to win regardless. I don't look at no opponent and be like, "I gotta beat them. I feel like we gotta beat everybody," quarterback Lamar Jackson said.
The Ravens appear focused on moving forward rather than dwelling on past disappointments. Tight end Mark Andrews, who will be making his return to Buffalo, where he dropped a crucial game-tying two-point conversion in that playoff loss, emphasized that this is a fresh start.
"You know this is a new season. I had a full training camp of getting better; it's a new team. For me it's just looking at it; it's two really good teams going against each other. I'm gonna play my part. I'm gonna do my job to the best of my ability, which I'm excited about," Andrews said.
Jackson expressed continued confidence in his tight end, saying he expects Andrews to be "the Mark that we always get, a guy who loves football, a guy who's eager to win, who wants to win."
Coach Harbaugh acknowledged the reality of facing Buffalo again but said the team isn't shying away from it.
"That's the last game we played, and we didn't win, and we were disappointed by it," Harbaugh said.
The Ravens' defense will face last year's MVP, Josh Allen, but linebacker Roquan Smith believes the key to victory lies in stopping Buffalo's ground game first.
"That starts with stopping Cook. [I've] got a lot of respect for him, the way he runs the ball, and whatnot, and stopping them, making them one-dimensional, and forcing it to be a dropback game, and when you do that, then things can go a different direction," Smith said.
In positive news for Baltimore, cornerback Jaire Alexander returned to practice Wednesday after being sidelined since August 9 with a knee issue.
Andrews said the team has worked "really, really hard" and believes they have "a hungry team, a team that's ready to go" for what he called "a great test."
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