Two teams each going in the wrong direction in recent weeks will clash at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday as the Ravens take on the New York Giants for the fourth time in their regular-season history.

Mired in a three-game losing streak and needing a win to clinch their second straight AFC North title, Baltimore takes on the 8-6 Giants, who are in need of two wins in their final two games to have the opportunity to defend their Super Bowl title in January. Having lost four of the last six games it’s played, New York has been even more inconsistent than the Ravens this season, looking like arguably the best team in the NFL in dominating wins over San Francisco and Green Bay and turning in terrible road performances at Cincinnati and Atlanta.

The Ravens hold a 2-1 all-time record over New York in the regular season and, of course, own a victory in the only postseason meeting between the teams, which occurred in Super Bowl XXXV on Jan. 28, 2001.

Here’s what to expect as the Ravens will look to finally lock up the division title and secure a home playoff game after failing to do so the last few weeks …

1. Ray Lewis will not play against the Giants, but the returning Dannell Ellerbe will pay dividends for the Baltimore run defense, which will hold New York to less than 110 rushing yards. Maligned all season despite allowing the ninth-lowest yards per carry average (4.1) in the NFL, the rush defense has struggled immensely in the last two weeks as Washington and Denver have run all over the Ravens. The Giants rank 15th in rush offense, but the shifty Ahmad Bradshaw has been hampered by knee and foot injuries. Ellerbe is expected to be a game-time decision, but he practiced all week on a limited basis and the Ravens didn’t promote inside linebacker Nigel Carr from the practice squad to take injured Jameel McClain’s place on the 53-man roster, an indication that they may feel confident in Ellerbe’s status against the Giants. The fourth-year linebacker ranks third on the team with 78 tackles despite beginning the season in a reserve role and missing the last three games with an ankle injury. His presence will help in slowing the Giants’ rushing attack.

2. Giants tight end Martellus Bennett will catch a touchdown and produce 75 receiving yards against the Baltimore pass defense. The Ravens’ struggles against tight ends have been overblown this season as Brent Celek, Jason Witten, and Heath Miller are the only three opponents to have more than 60 receiving yards in a game from that position. However, the middle of the field has been vulnerable and the Giants have been happy with their return for Bennett, who has 50 receptions for 584 yards and five touchdowns in his first season in New York. Ellerbe is regarded as the Ravens’ best linebacker in pass coverage, but he would be playing at less than 100 percent and has struggled to use the backpedal. Baltimore linebackers take too many false steps to account for the run and don’t get enough depth in coverage, which will lead to the talented Bennett getting open in the intermediate portion of the field as the Ravens secondary is focused on stopping Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz, and Domenik Hixon in the passing game.

3. Ray Rice will collect only his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season. With Joe Flacco and the offense sputtering in recent weeks, new offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell must rely on his unit’s biggest strength and that’s Rice. Though on pace for his lowest rushing total since his rookie year, Rice’s 4.5 yards per carry average doesn’t reflect a poor season, but his 263 projected carries would be his lowest amount since 2009. Marshal Yanda’s expected return will allow the Ravens to run effectively to the right side as they normally like to do, and the Giants have allowed 4.6 yards per carry, which is 26th in the NFL. New York’s front seven is filled with plenty of big names, but the group hasn’t performed well this season and Rice will receive plenty of opportunities as the Ravens try to control the tempo of the game. The uncertain status of rookie Bernard Pierce will likely force the Ravens to rely more heavily on Rice than normal, which won’t necessarily be a bad thing as they need production from their best offensive player.

4. The Giants’ play action coupled with the the Ravens’ ineffective pass rush and undisciplined secondary will lead to a long touchdown to Victor Cruz. Paul Kruger and Arthur Jones have been the only consistent contributors to the pass rush in recent weeks, but the biceps injury to Terrell Suggs now makes you wonder if teams will begin turning more attention toward Kruger as they did early in the season when he rarely was able to make an impact. New York has allowed just 16 sacks all season, so it’s difficult to envision the Ravens putting much heat on Eli Manning. The Giants quarterback loves using play-action passing, and the Ravens secondary has been burned all season due to miscommunication and biting on double moves. Cruz leads the Giants with 79 catches, 1,019 receiving yards, and nine touchdowns. He’ll add a 10th to those totals on Sunday to bounce back from his poor performance in Atlanta last week.

5. I trust Manning more than Flacco and the Ravens offense, and it will be the difference in a 27-21 win for the Giants. Both teams have flaws on each side of the football, but it’s difficult to overlook Flacco’s six turnovers in the last three games. Manning has been inconsistent as well and has similar season totals to the Baltimore quarterback, but his pedigree and track record for playing well when his back is against the wall should give the Giants confidence in these final two games. Flacco was playing exceptionally well at home this season until the last two contests at M&T Bank Stadium when he posted absolute duds. The Giants will be a desperate football team after being thoroughly embarrassed in Atlanta last week, and I can’t bet against a two-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player. It will be the difference in Sunday’s game as I just can’t put any faith in Flacco, Caldwell, and the Ravens offense at this point. The group lacks confidence and won’t do enough to overcome a banged-up defense and an opponent needing a win even more than they do.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens know they’re struggling at the wrong time of the season.

A three-game losing streak, an ever-growing list of injuries, and problems on both sides of the ball have caused the karma of a 9-2 start to disintegrate into a growing sense that they’re backing into the playoffs with two difficult games remaining and a 9-5 record. A change at the offensive coordinator position has created an even greater perception that the Ravens are a team in disarray.

But coach John Harbaugh’s message has been consistent over the last few weeks. And the words focusing on the big picture have been echoed throughout the Baltimore locker room.

“We’re going to do everything we can do and fight like crazy to become the team that we’re capable of becoming,” coach John Harbaugh said. “And we’re not that team yet. It’s a long season, but all of our goals and all of our dreams are squarely in front of us. And that’s what we’re shooting for.”

Even with the troubles surrounding the Ravens, the head coach is right. Contrary to the beliefs of many fans and media alike, Baltimore’s season isn’t over nor beyond repair. The Packers of 2010 and last year’s Giants are prime examples of that, even if the Ravens aren’t destined for the same championship track when 2012 is all said and done.

However, the focus cannot be on the accomplishment of making the playoffs for the fifth straight year or looking ahead to building on last season’s disappointment in Foxborough. Complacency can be a dangerous trap for a team that’s been so close to their ultimate goal of the Super Bowl in two of the last four seasons. To simply dwell on what could still happen in January while struggles in December are apparent comes across as dismissive or even cavalier if you discuss those goals too much.

Cautious optimism that injured players might return is acceptable, but viewing the return of Ray Lewis as the ultimate fix or holding optimism that Terrell Suggs can put forth a superman-like performance with a torn biceps doesn’t help the rest of the players on the roster. It only deflects the current problems and how to remedy them.

The Ravens also shouldn’t dwell on their poor play over the last three weeks. It’s true they fumbled the possibility of securing a first-round bye, but a division title and the ever-important home playoff game are only one victory away.

“There’s not really much you can do about the past,” quarterback Joe Flacco said. “You have to just live in the present and move forward, and I think that’s what we’re trying to do.”

The present is Sunday’s meeting with the New York Giants, a team in worse position than the Ravens after losing four of their last six games to put their playoff hopes in serious jeopardy. For Baltimore, any discussions of the postseason or potentially resting starters in Week 17 or hoping to get injured starters back cloud what’s important for a team that should only be worrying about the now.

It’s about tabling the big picture and their biggest goals and dwelling on the simple task of winning one football game. Perhaps it’s channeling former head coach Brian Billick’s ban on using the word “playoffs” in the Ravens’ Super Bowl XXXV season or even borrowing a page from the 2012 Orioles after manager Buck Showalter trained his players to compartmentalize each game and series while the outside world wondered if they’d make their first trip to the playoffs in 15 years.

Injured safety Bernard Pollard didn’t seem interested in discussing the big picture or the Ravens’ ultimate goals before Wednesday’s practice. In his second year in Baltimore, Pollard has never been afraid to tell it like it is and his comments suggested the Ravens might be a little too comfortable with their current position.

“Everybody’s talking about [how] we’re in the playoffs,” Pollard said. “Who cares? The way we’ve played, who cares about the playoffs. With the way we’ve played, that’s going to carry over into the playoffs. And we don’t want that to happen. We have to come together.”

Even if the Giants are faced with a slimmer margin for error, the Ravens have to recapture that mentality where they feel as though there isn’t a next week or a second chance.

With so many factors working against them in recent weeks, they’d be well served in simplifying their approach by blocking out the past and the future. If not, the supremely-talented but inconsistent Giants will be ready to serve up the type of experience the Denver Broncos provided last week in embarrassing the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium.

“If you think that team is going to come in and lay an egg, we have our hands full,” running back Ray Rice said. “This team won the Super Bowl last year. They have a lot at stake.”

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BALTIMORE — It’s been the same message in each of the last three weeks as the Ravens licked their wounds in the locker room following a loss.

The words have become a broken record, however, for a team in the midst of its first three-game losing streak since Oct. 2009 after a humiliating 34-17 defeat at the hands of the Denver Broncos. It was the Ravens’ worst loss at M&T Bank Stadium in over five years, and it leaves Baltimore in the same position it’s held since the beginning of December.

“Every goal that we have, starting with our first goal — which is to win the AFC North — is in front of us,” Harbaugh said. “It’s still there, and every dream that we have, which is the ultimate dream is still available to us. And that’s what you keep in mind. It’s a tough league for tough guys, and you have to find a way to put it behind you, improve, address the issues, own them and move on.”

Yes, their goals are still right in front of them – and a Pittsburgh loss to Dallas officially punched their fifth consecutive trip to the postseason Sunday evening — but it’s become painfully apparent the Ravens are backpedaling instead of moving forward. The dismissal of Cam Cameron and promotion of offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell were supposed to pump new life into the Ravens offense, but Joe Flacco and the unit responded by scoring just 17 points, their lowest output at home all season.

An overwhelmingly undermanned defense put forth a respectable first-half effort of only 10 points allowed before Denver’s Chris Harris returned a Joe Flacco interception 98 yards for a touchdown just seconds before halftime to make it a 17-0 deficit at intermission. The Baltimore defense wilted in the second half, allowing 14 points in the first half of the third quarter that put the game out of reach.

Most players echoed Harbaugh’s words about their goals still being within reach — even if their body language and tone didn’t exactly inspire confidence — but safety Ed Reed expressed the sentiment most fans felt as M&T Bank Stadium emptied early in the fourth quarter with the Ravens trailing 31-3 entering the final 15 minutes. The 34-year-old included his own performance in describing what was an unacceptable effort in front of the home fans.

“I am embarrassed as a player to come out and perform the way we have,” Reed said. “You have weeks like that. We’re not the only team that lost today, and we still have two more games. But, as a Ravens nation, as a player, I am embarrassed for our city.”

Sunday was supposed to be the first game in a new era of football for Flacco after his turbulent relationship with Cameron was finally laid to rest. Instead, the quarterback turned in one of the worst moments of his career with a second of hesitation before throwing an inexplicable out route intended for Anquan Boldin that was jumped by Harris. It turned what should have been a one-possession game into a 17-point deficit.

No one knows if the Ravens would have mustered a better fight had the defensive score never taken place, but it’s difficult to envision this one turning into the most lopsided home loss of the Harbaugh era with such ease.

Just like his team, Flacco is moving in reverse when he needs to be at his best after committing two turnovers that led to 10 points. It was the fifth-year quarterback’s third straight game with two giveaways, and he’s fumbled once in each of them.

“We’ve just got to keep moving forward, keep our eye on the prize,” Flacco said. “Everything in this league is ‘what have you done for me lately,’ and we’ve got to continue to move forward and stay confident because nobody’s going to be too high on us except ourselves. We’ve got to go out there and seize whatever opportunities we have ahead of us.”

Even with the Ravens now guaranteed a playoff spot and still holding a one-game advantage over Cincinnati in the AFC North, it’s nearly impossible to feel encouraged by their chances as it pertains to the postseason. Five of the Ravens’ seven inactives on Sunday were starters and that’s not counting linebacker Ray Lewis, who remains on the injured reserve-designated to return list with a right triceps injury.

More names were added to the infirmary report on Sunday as wide receiver Torrey Smith and running back Bernard Pierce sustained concussions, wide receiver Tandon Doss twisted his ankle, and linebacker Albert McClellan pushed his way through a hamstring injury. Pro Bowl linebacker Terrell Suggs played against the Broncos, but his impact was minimal as you continue to wonder what exactly he’ll bring to the table the rest of the way with a torn right biceps.

Just a few weeks ago, we labeled the Ravens resilient because of their ability to overcome their health woes, but you just wonder if they’ve finally hit the brick wall, especially with the loss of their best offensive lineman Marshal Yanda as the unit struggled immensely once again on Sunday.

“You have to do whatever you can to overcome it, and that’s what we’ve been doing,” Harbaugh said. “Getting healthy is going to be important for us. That’s something that I think we are getting closer to doing. If we can get healthy and get strong down the stretch here, that will help us.”

Maybe the return of Lewis will spark a Ravens team that appeared flat and even disinterested at times on Sunday. Perhaps Suggs — who employed an unconventional four-point stance to keep his body weight off his right arm — will see more explosion return from his surgically-repaired Achilles tendon, even if now playing with only one good arm.

And maybe the light comes on for the Ravens offense with another week of adjusting to Caldwell at the helm.

None of those possibilities feel very likely right now as the Ravens continue to see their goals staring them in the face. They keep moving in the wrong direction instead of seizing what they feel is rightfully theirs.

They’re running out of time to avoid any outcome other than backing into the playoffs as a once-promising season continues to look like it’s slipping away. And it appears they don’t have a clue how to make things right as they were embarrassed on their home turf by an impressive Broncos team.

The Ravens look stuck in reverse as they see a division title still staring right at them, but they’re unable to grab it.

“All we need to do is get one win,” running back Ray Rice said. “There is no sugarcoating. We’re banged up a bunch. It’s late in the year. It’s not getting any easier. We either put it on our shoulders, get it fixed, or we’ll weed ourselves out like the other teams in the league.”

As we all try to process the unthinkable tragedy that took place in Newtown, Conn. on Friday that claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the news devastated me not only as a person but as a former educator.

Taking great pride in my five years as a fifth grade teacher, I struggle to find words to respond to such a heinous act. When I was teaching, we would conduct lockdown drills several times a year and I would always have at least a few students — older than the ones at Sandy Hook, mind you — who would grow uneasy, even though they were fully aware that we were only conducting a drill. As we gathered in a corner of the room with the classroom door locked and the lights off, I would always reassure my kids by saying there was a 99.9 percent chance that we’d never need to do this because of a dangerous situation, but we needed to be prepared just in case.

The thought of that 0.1-percent scenario actually playing out breaks my heart as I found myself thinking about the hundreds of students I worked with over the years. Though not a parent myself, I can only pray I’ll never have to experience the pain the parents and families directly affected in Newtown are feeling right now.

We all have memories of our days in school with some of our experiences more positive than others, but it’s my hope that we felt safe in the classroom. Sadly, with school shootings becoming more rampant in recent years, this feeling is crumbling when such monstrosities can even be carried out against a kindergarten class.

Whether you’re a parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, cousin, godparent, neighbor, or friend of a young child, the mere thought of kindergartners going to school in the morning and never coming home again is too much to take. As for the teachers and staff members who did everything in their power — even losing their lives in some cases — to try to protect innocent children, their efforts will not go unappreciated in my eyes.

I’m sure I speak for everyone in the WNST.net circle in saying our thoughts and prayers are with everyone impacted.

With the details of the tragedy just beginning to unfold as the media met with Ravens players early Friday afternoon, it was too soon to receive any direct reaction. However, numerous players — some of them having children of a similar age to the victims — have commented on the massacre using social media. Here is a sampling:

(Editor’s note: These messages were collected via players’ verified accounts on social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. Their words, punctuation, and sentence structures are unedited with the acknowledgement of errors being present.)

Ray Lewis: “We must wake up, the time is now evil is now attacking our kids. Lord please show us another way, why so much silence when so much pain exists everyday. We must come together, lets not let this be just another Tragedy. The only way to do it is together, if it takes a village to raise 1 child then it’s gonna take everything we have to save our children. Lets start having real conversation to make our world a better place. Lord my Prayer today is please help thru this Storm. Me and my family will be Praying for the entire Sandy Hook Elementary School, you’re not alone.”

Ray Rice: “My prayers go out to all the families in Connecticut who lost a loved one today.”

Torrey Smith: “Our world is crazy..Prayers up for those effected by the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. People who do crazy things like this shooting always take the easy way out”

Jameel McClain: “Crazy world..stop the violence!!”

Michael Oher: “My heart goes out to the families involved in this devastating tragedy…My thoughts and prayers are with you. May God be with us all.”

Tandon Doss: “Man what’s wrong w the world …I don’t understand how u can take someone else’s life .. But prayers up to all involved”

Brendon Ayanbadejo: “As a father of 2, 1 in elementary school I will not stop voicing safety for my family and fellow citizens”

Bryan Hall: “My heart and prayers go out to all families of this horrific event that happened in Connecticut….”