(Sports Network) – The Baltimore Ravens have had trouble this season following up big victories when they face a team below .500. They have a chance to buck that trend this Sunday with a matchup with the last-place Cleveland Browns.

The Ravens look to win a sixth straight divisional game and seventh in a row over the Browns this weekend at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

With an 8-3 record, Baltimore is not only tied with Pittsburgh for first place in the AFC North, but for the best record in the conference along with New England and Houston. The Ravens could be in an even better position, but all three of its losses this year have come against teams that were under .500 at the time.

Baltimore followed up a big Week 1 win over Pittsburgh with a loss in Tennessee, knocked off first-place Houston on Oct. 16 one week before an ugly defeat in Jacksonville and then followed up a road win over the Steelers with a setback in Seattle.

The Ravens hope those woes, which seem to creep up on the road, don’t follow them to Cleveland after they knocked off San Francisco by a 16-6 score in the “Harbaugh Bowl” on Thanksgiving. Baltimore used a club record-tying nine sacks and a touchdown pass from Joe Flacco to tight end Dennis Pitta to give head coach John Harbaugh a victory over the Niners and their sideline general, little brother Jim Harbaugh.

“It’s just a big win for us,” said John Harbaugh afterward. “It’s an opportunity going forward. It positions us really well. Now we have to conquer a game in Cleveland, one that’s been plaguing us all year.”‘

Harbaugh was referring to the Ravens’ issues against losing teams following big wins. Baltimore needs to shake the trend quickly, as its next four games are all against teams under .500, a stretch that is book-marked with games versus the Browns.

Baltimore’s head coach shook off the notion that his team just wasn’t ready for those games, saying that the Ravens just didn’t play well. He also stressed the challenge of this game given that the Browns are in the same division and are coming off a solid showing.

“We’ve got to turn over every stone,” Harbaugh said. “We certainly acknowledge that those three losses, coming off of big wins, against teams with sub-.500 records, were not good performances. They are team losses the way we look at it — coaches, players, all of us.”

The Browns certainly seem capable of pulling off the upset considering their performance last weekend in a 23-20 loss to Cincinnati. Cleveland, though, failed to hold leads of 17-7 and 20-10 as the Bengals’ Mike Nugent hit a 26- yard game-winning field with 38 ticks left.

That came after Cleveland’s Phil Dawson missed a 55-yard attempt at the other end following a bad snap. He had already hit a season-long 54-yarder earlier in the game, but long snapper Ryan Pontbriand’s toss back to the holder was low.

Pontbriand fell on the sword Tuesday, getting released.

“We didn’t finish it off,” said Browns head coach Pat Shurmur. “The Bengals did a good job of coming back on us. Just like if we had won the game it’d be a team victory, we lost the game and it was a team loss.”

Cleveland has lost four of its last five games and does not have an easy road to the end of its season. Four of its final five tests are against AFC North co-leaders Baltimore and Pittsburgh, including a meeting at the Ravens on Dec. 24.

The Ravens, meanwhile, have won two in a row despite playing both games without linebacker Ray Lewis, whom Harbaugh said has a chance of returning for this game.

Baltimore, which has won seven of its last eight versus AFC North opponents, can reach 9-3 for the second time in team history with a victory over Cleveland, joining the 2006 club.

SERIES HISTORY

The Ravens own a commanding 17-7 lead in their all-time series with the Browns, whose first edition of the franchise moved to Baltimore to become the Ravens prior to the 1996 season before re-entering the NFL as an expansion team in 1999, and have won each of the last six bouts between the rivals. Baltimore recorded its third straight home-and-home sweep of the Browns by following up a 24-17 home victory during Week 3 of the 2010 season with a 20-10 triumph in Cleveland last December, and also left Ohio with wins in both 2008 (37-27) and 2009 (16-0). The Browns last bested the Ravens via a 33-30 overtime decision at M&T Bank Stadium on Nov. 18, 2007 and topped Baltimore at home by a 27-13 count that same year as well.

Harbaugh is 6-0 lifetime against the Browns as a head coach, while Shurmur will be facing both the Ravens and Harbaugh in his current position. The two sideline bosses previously worked together on the staff of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999-2007, with Shurmur then the team’s quarterback coach and Harbaugh the special teams coordinator and later in charge of defensive backs.