John Harbaugh sets the tone before the Ravens tackle three division clashes

Another Baltimore Ravens win places another check mark on their list of short-term goals. The pivot came early. The plan was to avoid the slow start, and that didn't happen.

Five losses in the first six games took care of that, and that's when the early bye came in handy. Players and coaches said they still believed, but can we all be honest? There were days when it was hard to believe that.

There wasn't much room for error. The margin was as slim as slim can be imagined, but John Harbaugh's team executed its plan perfectly. One week at a time... win one game... Then, win another... Then, win another...

Five straight wins since the Week 7 bye have finally catapulted the Ravens over .500, to 6-5. Now, it feels like they can really place their stamp on the AFC North. They met and exceeded the challenge set by the New York Jets. Now, three straight divisional clashes are on the horizon. They sandwich a home game vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers between two games vs. the Cincinnati Bengals over the next three weeks.

Baltimore isn't going to think too far ahead. That has been Coach Harbaugh's mantra since the losing streak consumed the conversation. He echoed that with the first game, a Thanksgiving night home date vs. Cincinnati. When asked whether these challenging divisional games carry a different kind of juice, Harbaugh said the following during his postgame interview after the win over the Jets.

"I don't know if I'd say different juice, because I think the juice has been there every single week. You couldn't underestimate or under-calculate the juice that's gone into these games. And the fact that our guys have what it takes to come to bring it again. 'Ro' [Roquan Smith] was talking to the team in the locker room in the final break about that very thing this week against the Bengals. And it's just the Bengals, it's the Bengals on Thursday night. That's it."

They say players and teams take on the personality of their head coach. Zf Flowers discussed winning over New York and preparing for a Thanksgiving evening affair.

"We're just going to keep trying to execute and get things better every day in practice. I feel fresh, so I didn't really do too much today, and [there were] not too many tackles [on me], so we'll be all right."

This team hasn't backed off its stance all season, and it feels the best is yet to come. They're on top of the AFC North despite an identical record with the Steelers, thanks to a better record vs. AFC North competition.

The results of these head-to-head divisional clashes will go a long way in deciding this division. This feels like a two-team race between Baltimore and Pittsburgh. The winner might be the lone team representing the AFC North in the postseason.

This article originally appeared on Eagles Wire: John Harbaugh sets the tone before three consecutive divisional games