The Baltimore Ravens may be having a pretty strong season—at least in comparison to their 2015 season, but one thing that cannot be said about them is that they have been road warriors of any sort. And that is bad news, because they are out of home games, where they secured six of their eight victories, going 6-2 overall.
On the road this season, the Ravens are just 2-6, with wins over the Browns and the Jaguars. And those two victories came in the second and third games of the season, back in September. They have gone 0-4 on the road since then, including to two losses in MetLife Stadium in back-to-back weeks against the Giants, and then the Jets. They also came out the losers of their tilts up in Foxboro and down in Dallas, though those two opponents—as the Steelers well know—are nothing to sneeze at.
Baltimore’s final two games culminate in a tour of the eastern parts of the Midwest, starting in Pittsburgh and then heading over to Cincinnati. The Pittsburgh Steelers are certainly hoping to ensure that they have a losing record on the road by the time that the Christmas festivities have ended.
The best that the Ravens has managed to muster over the course of their trips outside of their city has been 25 points, a score that they put up against a listless Browns team that in the second week of the second was already on its second quarterback, who proved to be a worse option than both the first and the third options—and maybe the fourth option as well.
The Ravens also hit 23 points twice on the road, in losses to the Giant and the Patriots, but in their other three games outside of Baltimore, they have been held to fewer than 20 points scored, something that they did only twice at home. They also managed to score more than 25 points in four of their eight home games, to drive home the differential.
It probably wouldn’t be much of a surprise to point out that a lot of that has had to do with the road performance of quarterback Joe Flacco, who, much like the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger, has been much more consistent in front of a home crowd rather than playing to a hostile environment.
Eight of Flacco’s 13 interceptions have come in his six games on the road, including at least one interception in five of them. He has thrown multiple interceptions in half of his road games.
In contrast, he has just five touchdown passes in six games outside of Baltimore, which is pretty amazing, averaging fewer than a touchdown pass per game. He has had three road games in which he did not throw a touchdown at all.
Overall, by the way, Flacco has thrown an interception in four consecutive games, and has taken multiple sacks in three of the four, including five sacks in the past two games—although he also has eight touchdown passes in his past three games, out of 19.
