"Then, we were off and running. It's pretty exciting to be starting your program. There's a lot of optimism. You haven't lost a game yet, so there's all kind of positive encouragement between each other."

Both Harbaugh and Zorn had to roll up their sleeves with young quarterbacks and instill their own imprint on strong, preexisting cultures and opinionated personalities on veteran-laden teams.

Between Harbaugh and the other first-year coaches, including the Atlanta Falcons' Mike Smith, the Miami Dolphins' Tony Sparano and Zorn, they have a collective record of 30-18. A year ago, those teams finished a combined 19-45.

Harbaugh has instilled a stronger sense of discipline with the Ravens, building camaraderie through various motivational messages and mixing up the locker room. There's also a harder edge with Harbaugh than Billick in terms of practice routine, strictness of rules and intensity.

"We might not always see eye to eye, but we are a family," center Jason Brown said. "Nothing is going to separate us. It's like when you were a kid and you didn't like your parents always telling you what to do, but later on you thank God for those parents telling you what you needed to do so you could grow up and do the right thing. You might not always like what someone tells you, but sometimes you need to hear it."

The Redskins are trailing the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants (11-1) in the NFC East, but remain in solid position to earn a wild-card berth.

They are struggling following a strong 4-1 start. Their 23-7 collapse against the Giants at FedEx Field last week represented the Redskins' third loss in the past four games, losing each game at home.

During that span, the offense has scored just 43 points. Now, the fan base is growing restless following a 6-2 start.

"I think it's showing us that we haven't reached that elite status," Zorn said. "It doesn't mean we're not good. It just means we are one of the teams that didn't separate. We're battling. We haven't lost heart, and we haven' t lost hope of putting a good game together."

The Redskins have dipped to 28th in scoring, averaging 17.3 points per game despite having the NFL's second leading rusher in Clinton Portis and the NFL's sixth-ranked defense.

"A lot of it has to do with big plays," Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell told Washington reporters. "We really haven't had any big plays to put more points on the board or to keep the crowd pumped. We haven't had the big plays that can just separate a game."

Conversely, the Ravens are 6-1 since an Oct. 19 win over the Dolphins and lead the league in scoring over that period with a 30.6 average as rookie quarterback Joe Flacco has registered an NFL-high 99.1 quarterback rating over the past seven games. He has thrown 11 touchdowns with just two interceptions during those seven games.

The Ravens' defense hasn't allowed a score in 10 quarters.

A strong Coach of the Year candidate with Smith the early favorite for the turnaround he has engineered, Harbaugh has his team poised to make a playoff run one year removed from a 5-11 disaster that cost Billick his job after nine seasons and one Super Bowl victory.

"He just seems to have a real peace about where he is, and I think he's brought tremendous enthusiasm," Zorn said. "I think he coaches with encouragement. I always hear him encouraging his players, and he seems to have a positive effect on me.

"I think that's what you need. This will be the first time we've gotten to watch them extensively, and they're very organized. They know what they're doing."

Aaron Wilson covers the Baltimore Ravens for the Carroll County Times and the Annapolis Capital.