The Ravens have had enough extended stays away from home.
Head Coach John Harbaugh announced Friday that his team will not remain out West between their Week 6 and 7 games in San Francisco and Phoenix, respectively.
The decision comes after the Ravens spent a week in California's Bay Area, ending with a 37-33 loss in Oakland. The Ravens flew straight from Denver to San Jose after their Week 1 game to cut down on the cross-country flights.
Harbaugh talked with the leadership council of players before making the decision. The vote leaned heavily on not going.
"We're not going to stay on the West Coast next time," Harbaugh said Friday. "We'll be doing a normal travel schedule for both of those games."
The upcoming extended trip would have been especially long – 11 days – because Baltimore would have to wait for a Monday Night Football game. The Ravens would have left for San Francisco on Friday, Oct. 16 and not returned until the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
"That was the main part of it," Harbaugh said. "It's just a long week. … It's just too long."
The players shared the same sentiment in their meeting with Harbaugh.
"Personally, for me, being away from your family, it's just too long. I got tired of face timing," running back Justin Forsett said. "For me, I'm glad to be coming back."
The Ravens have already had two long trips away from home this year.
They went to Philadelphia for five nights and four days before their second preseason game. They were in the Bay area for eight nights and seven days leading up to their Week 2 matchup against the Raiders.
On Monday, Harbaugh thanked Ravens Owner Steve Bisciotti for the commitment and the team's staff for all the work required to make the trips happen.
"The organization was phenomenal," Harbaugh said. "I would have loved to reap the benefits of that and been able to stand up here and talk about what a plus that was in winning two football games. But, we're not able to do that, because we didn't get the job done.
"But from the effort – the work effort – we can stand on that foundation going forward. We came a long way as a football team over the course of the week, and I'm proud of the way the organization handled it."
