The Baltimore Ravens returned home after spending an extended amount of time away from Baltimore thanks to opening the season at Denver and in Oakland. The team decided to fly straight to San Jose after the game in Denver two Sundays ago rather than fly back to Baltimore only to fly across the country again to Oakland a few days later. The Ravens are glad to be back in a familiar setting after an unsuccessful road trip.
Head coach John Harbaugh says the team is looking forward to returning to M&T Bank Stadium for their first home game of the 2015 season on Sunday, September 25th.
“It’s good to be home. You get eight [games] at home and eight on the road,” Harbaugh said. “We’re looking forward to getting one at home this week and seeing if we can make the most of it. It has been a long time since we played at home, and we’re looking forward to that. We’ll need the Purple Wall in full force on Sunday.”
The Ravens did not start the season the way that they wanted to. This is the first time that the team has started the season with two losses under Harbaugh’s watch. They will play their first divisional game when they host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. The Bengals are 2-0 and beat the Ravens when they last met in Baltimore in 2014.
Even though it’s early in the season, the Ravens know that it is very important to win their first home game.
“We’ve had two tough losses on the road, and we’ll re-group this week and put all of our focus on finding a way to beat a tough division rival,” Harbaugh said. “We have to find a way to make the plays we need to make when we need to make them, and hopefully, at home we can do those things.”
The home field advantage is definitely important for the Ravens as they try to regroup. The veteran players are well aware that it will take more than just some home cooking to win.
“Obviously the games don’t get easier. We have Cincinnati coming to town and they’re playing good football,” Marshall Yanda said after the Raiders game. “I just know we’re 0 and 2 and we have to get better, and we’re going to attack when we get back to Baltimore.”
Ravens defensive lineman Chris Canty talked about how they have to earn victories on Sundays and that teams won’t come to Baltimore feeling sorry for the Ravens. The Bengals will be coming to town with the intent of putting the Ravens away.
The Ravens are a better team at home, having won six of their ten wins last season at M&T Bank Stadium. They have the second best home record (36 wins, 7 losses) of all teams in the NFL since 2008 when coach Harbaugh first arrived in Baltimore. It is safe to say that winning in Baltimore doesn’t come easily. The Ravens will need to pull everything together to avoid falling behind the Bengals by three games early in the season.