The numbers for the Ravens aren't pretty away from M&T Bank Stadium.
The offense has averaged 32.3 points per game at home, compared to 15 on the road. The unit has a tendency to go stagnant, and has just one touchdown in the last 10 road quarters. It even gave up nine points last week in Houston, and the Ravens are 1-2 on the road this season.
Offensive Coordinator Cam Cameron said his group needs to change that trend.
"It's time for us to go on the road and play well. Period. End of story," Cameron said during this week’s edition of Ravens Game Plan. "There are no 'what ifs,' excuses or any of those things."
The Ravens will get a chance on Sunday to show that they can have success on the road, as they travel to Cleveland to face a Browns team that has won two of its last three games (both wins at home).
"The bottom line, let's go on the road and let's play well. We got a road game coming up, it will be time to do that," Cameron said.
Diagnosing the offensive struggles on the road was a priority for the coaching staff during last week's bye. The group went through a period of self evaluation and Head Coach John Harbaugh said they will consider making offensive adjustments, including on the offensive line and how they utilize specific players like fullback Vonta Leach.
As part of the self-scouting process, Cameron said that he and the offensive staff went through the grades on every player based on specific situations – runs, passes, receiving, etc. – to determine if something needs to change.
"It's a total evaluation, just to make sure we're not missing anything and seeing if there is something we can steer toward to help us win," Cameron said.
During the bye week, the team practiced on Monday and Tuesday before Harbaugh gave the players five days off. Getting the time to step away from the weekly game preparation and take a large-scale look at the season could be just what the offense needs to become more consistent regardless of where they play.
"It's hard to go week to week and try to get better at something when you're not practicing it because we're preparing for a game," running back Ray Rice said before the loss to the Texans. "So we say we're getting better, but we're really preparing for the next team. You get to the bye week, then we'll get to focus on ourselves."
Rice specifically pointed to the bye week as an opportunity for the offense to put it all together and play their best football.
"Coaches really get to analyze how good we really are, then that's when you start to get things corrected," Rice said.
Ultimately, Cameron said, the offense just needs to do a better job with simple tasks that have made them successful in the four victories at home.
"The bottom line is that we need to take care of the football better, probably communicate better, we need to score more points, take advantage of opportunities, all of those things," Cameron said.
