The Ravens are back on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” for the first time since the venerable series’ 2001 premiere season, this time sharing each hour with their AFC North neighbors.

The fifth episode of this in-season look at the division debuted Tuesday night, showcasing the Ravens and Steelers managing the four-day turnaround to Christmas games and the Bengals clinging to postseason life with a dramatic win.

From now until the end of the season, we’ll recap each episode, highlighting striking moments, memorable characters and tasty Ravens-related nuggets.

Key Ravens scene

If the Ravens had been given the power to design their schedule, they would not have opted to play three games in 11 days, with the last of those in Houston on Christmas.

But “Hard Knocks” showed them making the best of a difficult scenario.

“Look at the teams that are playing this schedule,” offensive coordinator Todd Monken told his players. “It means you’re really good.”

Monken recalled how he went from 11-5 in his first season as an NFL assistant to 5-11 the next year. He joked that he put an addition on his house one year only to realize his job security was nonexistent the next.

“Easy to get spoiled making the playoffs,” he said, urging the Ravens not to take their enduring success for granted.

At a subsequent practice, Monken’s boss, John Harbaugh, took obvious delight in how quickly his team was bouncing back from its 34-17 victory over the Steelers.

“They recover so fast,” he enthused to senior special teams coach Randy Brown. Later, he sidled up to wide receiver Rashod Bateman. “Bate, is it my imagination or are you moving really good?” Harbaugh said.

Data from that day’s session confirmed what Harbaugh’s eyes told him.

“Wait until you see the speeds from today,” Sam Rosengarten, the Ravens’ director of high performance, told the coach.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Harbaugh said as he surveyed the speed figures.

“They are flying around,” Rosengarten said.

These sequences effectively set the table for the Ravens’ overpowering victory over the Texans.

Other Ravens tidbits

The team’s top pass rusher, 33-year-old Kyle Van Noy, did not mince words describing the toll of preparing for a third game in 11 days. “I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to play this game,” he said to defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike early in the episode. Fatigue did not stop Van Noy from pushing his sack total to a career-high 11 1/2.

Ravens defenders played a game of Texans Jeopardy as they prepared for the AFC South champions, and linebacker Roquan Smith lost a chunk of change when he guessed Texas is the “Longhorn State” rather than the Lone Star State. Perhaps he was dreaming ahead to a possible College Football Playoff matchup between his Georgia Bulldogs and the Texas Longhorns.

If you wanted to relive Lamar Jackson’s astonishing Christmas highlight reel, this was your episode. The NFL Films cameras didn’t capture much that we didn’t see during the Netflix broadcast, but Jackson’s moves will never not dazzle.

He reacted to breaking Michael Vick’s record for career rushing yards by a quarterback with typical nonchalance. “Appreciate you, man,” he said after Harbaugh pulled him into a congratulatory embrace.

Harbaugh couldn’t resist a gentle poke at his quarterback’s stated plan to watch Beyoncé’s halftime performance. “Lamar will not be in the locker room for that,” he told his players when he reminded them the break would last five minutes longer than usual.

“That’s a pretty great Christmas present,” Harbaugh said to safety Kyle Hamilton at the end of a blissfully unstressful holiday.

Best non-Ravens scene

“Hard Knocks” featured plenty of action from Cincinnati’s absurd, sublime season-saving victory over the Denver Broncos but did little to mine further drama from behind-the-scenes Bengals footage.

As usual with this series, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin did the best job summing up his team’s circumstances, even in a week in which Pittsburgh lost its season-long grip on the AFC North.

“How do you learn and grow from failure?” he asked his players as they gathered a day after losing to the Ravens. “First, own it. It requires some self-awareness.”

Like Monken, Tomlin put a positive spin on his team’s holiday assignment. “LeBron [James] done worked Christmas for 20 years,” he said. “It’s a beautiful thing. That’s the way I look at it.”

He was just as quotable after turnovers and missed opportunities doomed the Steelers to a third straight loss.

“You know, that sucked, to be blunt,” Tomlin said. “It’s junior varsity. It’s not good enough. I’m less concerned about control of the division. I’m more concerned about our performance.”

Perhaps that’s a forecast of how he’ll treat his team’s next game against the Bengals, even if the Ravens clinch the AFC North earlier Saturday. Some have speculated Tomlin might rest his starters, but he sounded like a man who just wants to see the Steelers play good football again.

Episode MVP

Monken showed little enthusiasm for “Hard Knocks” before the series started airing, so perhaps it’s no surprise that the Ravens’ most quotable (and amusingly profane) coach has been a minor character.

But viewers got a taste of him early in this episode with his joke about hastily building an addition after his first glimpse of NFL success and his suggestion that the Ravens take playing on Christmas as a high compliment.

Monken has seen it all at every level of the sport, and his offbeat flourishes of wisdom are always welcome.

Have a news tip? Contact Childs Walker at daviwalker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6893 and x.com/ChildsWalker.