OWINGS MILLS – An edgy, angry atmosphere surrounded the Baltimore Ravens’ training complex all week following an embarrassing setback against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Practice sessions carried more intensity than usual, becoming chippy at times.

Scrutiny and criticism of offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and Joe Flacco increased markedly.

And second-guessing about the Ravens (4-2) reached a loud crescendo that maintained its noise heading into today’s game against the Arizona Cardinals (1-5) at M&T Bank Stadium.

“Yeah, we’ve got a chip on all of our shoulders,” fullback Vonta Leach said. “Everybody is a little edgy. We played a bad game. You’re going to feel a certain way after something like that.”

Now, the Ravens have their chance to issue a rebuttal after all of their fault lines were on display in a 12-7 loss to the Jaguars where the offense failed to generate a first down for nearly 40 minutes and narrowly avoided a shutout with a touchdown with two minutes remaining.

“It’s a must-win game,” All-Pro defensive tackle Haloti Ngata said. “People understand that we were embarrassed when we went to Jacksonville. Defensively, we have to keep doing what we’re doing and do whatever we can to help our offense and the whole team to win games.”

Humbled by the Jaguars, the Ravens are now facing a Cardinals team that’s just as desperate for a victory.

The Cardinals have lost five consecutive games this season, and haven’t won a road game since their season opener last year against the St. Louis Rams for a string of 10 consecutive losses away from home. Arizona has also lost 16 of its past 22 games.

The Ravens have won 13 of their past 14 home games, five consecutive home games and are 22-5 at home under coach John Harbaugh. And they hold a 19-3 record against losing teams in the Harbaugh era.

The Ravens haven’t lost two games in a row in over two years and have been installed as a favorite by nearly two touchdowns today.

“You want to prepare for every game the same, but it’s more of a must-win because you don’t want to lose two games in a row,” linebacker Jarret Johnson said. “When you have a game like that, you’re always anxious to go right back out there and put that loss behind you as quickly as you can.”

All of that said, the Ravens still managed to lose to the Jaguars. Who’s to say they can’t lose again to the Cardinals?

If determination to not lose again matters, then the Ravens should be able to hold off the Cardinals today.

“We need to get that taste out of our mouths,” Ngata said. “Hopefully, we can get this win at home and get that momentum going before we go out to Pittsburgh next week.”

The Ravens are headlined by the top-ranked defense in the NFL, allowing only 272.7 yards of total offense per contest and also ranking atop the charts in points surrendered per game (13.8) and third-down defense.

The offense is a different story altogether, an inconsistent unit that ranks 20th in total offense, 19th in rushing and 17th in passing.

Cameron’s play-calling is being attacked externally after Pro Bowl running back Ray Rice only carried the football eight times for 28 yards against Jacksonville.

What’s the feeling internally?

“We’re in this thing together,” Leach said. “It’s not Cam, it’s the whole offense as a whole. Everybody’s in this together. We put ourselves in this, and we’re going to get ourselves out of it.”

Retained after last season after his status was debated internally, Cameron directed an offense against Jacksonville that only generated 16 yards of total offense in a half for a franchise-worst, gained 146 yards of total offense for the second-lowest total in franchise history. They averaged just 2.8 yards on 53 offensive plays.

Cause for alarm?

There’s nothing to worry about,” said wide receiver Anquan Boldin, who faces his old football team today. “For us, we know what we’re capable of.”

”We had one bad performance, and everybody thinks we’re the worst in the league right now. If we come back and have a good performance, then you’re back on top again.”

The Ravens have won nine games in a row following a loss, and nine games in a row against NFC opponents at home with a 15-1 mark against NFC squads since 2003.

Following their 26-13 loss to the Tennessee Titans earlier this season, the Ravens bounced back by stomping the St. Louis Rams 37-7.

Their resiliency and resolve will be tested again today.

“You can’t afford to let games slip between your fingers,” Harbaugh said. “By the same token, everybody gets beat in this league. Everybody gets humiliated, everybody gets the snot kicked out of them at one time or another in life and in football. So, you have to get back up and go to work.”

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – For years, the Baltimore Ravens have tried — without success — to put together an offence that could match the play of its esteemed defence.

They hoped that several off-season moves and the maturation of quarterback Joe Flacco would make a difference this season. Over the first four weeks, it appeared as if the changes had successfully taken hold.

Then came Monday night’s performance in Jacksonville, a stinker of historical proportions that showed just how far Baltimore’s offence has to go to be a factor on a team with Super Bowl aspirations.

The Ravens didn’t make a first down until the third quarter, converted only two of 12 third-down opportunities and managed only 146 yards, including a franchise-record low 16 yards before halftime. It all added up to a 12-7 defeat that dropped Baltimore (4-2) out of first place in the AFC North.

Rather than dance around the subject, coach John Harbaugh on Tuesday acknowledged the obvious.

“No excuses. It has to be a lot better. Not even close to the way we’re capable of performing on offence,” he said. “Everybody realizes that. We have to do a better job, starting with me. I got to do a better job of making some decisions. We all have to do a better job of coaching, playing, executing, all those different things.”

The off-season addition of linemen Bryant McKinnie and Andre Gurode, along with fullback Vonta Leach and wide receiver Lee Evans, was supposed to improve an attack that sputtered at times last season. After the Ravens scored 35 in the opener against Pittsburgh and dropped 37 points on the St. Louis Rams, there was optimism that Baltimore had finally become a complete team.

Not quite.

Ray Rice gained only 28 yards on the ground against the Jaguars and Flacco received very little protection during a night that ended, appropriately, with an interception.

“That was a tough loss,” Harbaugh said. “We played bad on one side of the ball especially, and we didn’t play well enough on the other two sides to overcome that.”

Perhaps, but it’s tough to fault a defence that didn’t allow a touchdown or blame the special teams, even if Billy Cundiff did miss horribly on a 51-yard field goal try.

No, this one was all about the offence — or lack of it. Sure the line is a work in progress, and Evans has been missing for weeks with a sprained ankle. But there is no excuse for a performance that awful.

“We’ve been pretty wildly inconsistent, especially on offence,” Harbaugh said. “With our offensive line situation, I don’t think that’s completely unexpected.”

Offensive co-ordinator Cam Cameron said, “First of all you have to be fundamentally sound. We have some new moving parts. That’s not an excuse. That’s something we’re working through.”

Rice rushed only eight times, lost a fumble and spent long stretches on the bench. He never got into a groove, and the same can be said for the offence as a whole.

“He’s got to get more than eight carries,” Harbaugh said. “We were just trying to find a way to beat the defence and get a first down and get going. Because when you do that, that’s when those carries start adding up. You go three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out, it’s going to be hard to get those carries stacked up too much.

“You go first-down run and you get a yard, now you’ve got to find a way to get nine yards on the next two. By the same token, eight carries is never going to be a winning formula for Ray Rice, there’s no doubt about it.”

Harbaugh was asked if Cameron deserved much of the blame.

“It’s warranted for all of us,” he replied. “We all deserve to have fingers pointed at us when the offence plays like that. That’s tough. It’s just a bad performance and everyone knows it. … It’s still early in the season, but we can’t afford more performances like that. We all know that.”

Updated Oct 14, 2011 8:56 PM ET

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP)

The NFL has fined Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice $7,500 for grabbing the facemask of St. Louis Rams cornerback Bradley Fletcher.

Rice plans to appeal. No penalty was called on the play.

It is not illegal to stiff-arm an opponent, but the league said offensive players are not allowed to grab an opponent’s facemask. Raven coach John Harbaugh says ”he didn’t really see” whether Rice grabbed or twisted Fletcher’s facemask.

The play occurred in the Ravens’ 37-7 win over the Rams on Sept. 25.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The NFL has fined Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice $7,500 for grabbing the facemask of St. Louis Rams cornerback Bradley Fletcher.

Rice plans to appeal. No penalty was called on the play.

It is not illegal to stiff-arm an opponent, but the league said offensive players are not allowed to grab an opponent’s facemask. Raven coach John Harbaugh said “he didn’t really see” whether Rice grabbed or twisted Fletcher’s facemask.

The play occurred in the Ravens’ 37-7 win over the Rams on Sept. 25.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP)—The NFL has fined Baltimore Ravens running back Ray
Rice(notes) $7,500 for grabbing the facemask of St. Louis Rams cornerback Bradley
Fletcher(notes).

Rice plans to appeal. No penalty was called on the play.

It is not illegal to stiff-arm an opponent, but the league said offensive
players are not allowed to grab an opponent’s facemask. Raven coach John
Harbaugh says “he didn’t really see” whether Rice grabbed or twisted
Fletcher’s facemask.

The play occurred in the Ravens’ 37-7 win over the Rams on Sept. 25.