Short Week Speeds Recovery

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Getting over a heartbreaking 23-20 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers won't be easy for Ravens fans, but for the players, the healing started as soon as the team plane landed in Baltimore.

Coaches wasted no time breaking down film of their next opponent, the Tennessee Titans. In fact, that process started last week.

After a day off Tuesday, the Ravens will return to their training facility in Owings Mills, Md., to begin game-planning for the Titans in earnest.

The sour taste of Monday's hard-fought primetime battle may linger with outside observers, but a short week means the Ravens will have to dial in as soon as possible.

Head coach John Harbaugh doesn't think that will ever be a problem with his group.

"It's a big challenge, but it's something I think guys in the NFL learn how to do," Harbaugh said in his Tuesday press conference. "They move on pretty quickly. You know, we'll probably be looking back at the game, or the fans certainly will be looking back at the game for a couple of days, but the players, they're already over it, and they've already moved on to Tennessee.

"You have to."

In keeping with the "one game at a time" mentality, the Ravens aren't panicking after dropping their first game of the 2008 campaign.

They are simply doing what every team in the league strives for – moving on to the next week. .

"Big picture, we've got a game next week against Tennessee," Harbaugh stated. "All the other 'big picture' stuff, that's kind of for fans and for the media to look at that and figure all that out.

"Until you start winning a bunch of games, it's really pointless to look at the big picture. The big picture is Tennessee six days from now."

The Ravens won't make any major alterations to their schedule heading into the Week 4 contest.

Baltimore will work through its typical routine up until game time. But, Harbaugh is considering some slight changes to the actual practices in order to keep bodies fresh, especially after the Ravens had their Nov. 9 bye moved up to Week 2 because of Hurricane Ike's path through Houston.

"I wouldn't say we're going to lighten the load," he said. "The workload is going to have to be the same because we have to get ready to play a very good team, and the challenges are the same.

"We may change up drills, tempo drills, things like that, as far as coming off the physical game and making sure that we are recovered as much as we can be. But, the workload itself will be the same."

The quick turnaround sits particularly with players coming off a loss, because there is a fresh opponent near on the horizon.

Following a game where miscues were a big reason the Steelers came back from a 10-point deficit and then seized victory with an overtime field goal, the Ravens are eager to right those wrongs as soon as possible.

"We've got to put it behind us," said wideout Derrick Mason. "That's all we can do. We can't dwell on this.

"We have to get ready for a 4-0 Tennessee Titans team, and we have to put this behind us quickly."

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