The Ravens still remember last year's game against the Houston Texans.
Baltimore suffered a 30-point loss at Houston's Reliant Stadium, the worst loss ever under Head Coach John Harbaugh. With the Texans coming to M&T Bank Stadium Sunday, this week has been a reminder of that game as the Ravens are focused on avoiding a similar outcome.
"We got a great Houston team coming into our house, they kind beat our [butts] so to say, and that's not going to happen in our house," tight end Ed Dickson said. "We're going to go out and play as hard as we can and give them a run for their money."
As much as the Ravens may want to forget about a loss like that, they have spent this week closely reviewing the tape from last year's game. The coaching staff has gone through the film to see where the breakdowns occurred, and what areas the Ravens need to clean up for this weekend.
"We watched it," Harbaugh said. "You have to watch it. We watched it very carefully to see how they attacked us and what they did to play the type of game they did against us."
The loss came at a pivotal time of the season last year for the Ravens, as it was the first game following the injury to linebacker Ray Lewis. The loss stung, but the Ravens responded by rattling off four straight victories to put them in prime position to win the division.
"The emotions, you have to put those aside," Harbaugh said. "That was a tough loss for us, but we moved forward after that game in the same way, and now we've got to take a look at it again to make sure we understand what they were doing to us and how they did so well against us."
This year's matchup against Houston is similar to many of the games the two teams have played against each other in recent years [add]. Both teams have Super Bowl aspirations, and this is a critical early-season matchup for the budding rivals.
This will be the sixth game between the Ravens and Texans in the last five years, and Harbaugh said he sees the game becoming a rivalry for the young franchises.
"It seems like we've played them every year and they've always been tough, hard-fought games," Harbaugh said. "Obviously, last year, they got the better of us in a big way. We have a lot of respect for the whole program, the organization, the coaches and the players as well."
