OWINGS MILLS - A combative John Harbaugh had zero interest in dwelling on the Baltimore Ravens' latest road setback, comparing it to previous defeats or engaging in an amateur psychological debate about his football team.

One day after an embarrassing 22-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks where kick returner David Reed lost two fumbles, the running game was abandoned and Marshawn Lynch repeatedly grinded out yards against the Baltimore defense, the Ravens returned from the Pacific Northwest eager to move on to a pivotal AFC North game Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.

And Harbaugh bristled at questions exploring the similarities between previous road losses this season to the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Tennessee Titans that followed emotional wins.

"I'm not a psychologist," Harbaugh said. "I think what you do is you look at football. You look at what you can do better as a football team. We're moving forward. We took responsibility for the loss. We did not play well. I'm surprised I haven't gotten any questions about the game. I guess that's too straightforward.

"We've won some other football games that people didn't expect us to win, against some really good football teams. So, tie the psychology together on that for me. I don't have time to be looking at that. We're going back to football. We'll study the football, as a football team. We'll have our answers in-house. That will be football-related answers, and we'll come out to play on Sunday."

Undefeated in four home games, the Ravens' inability to handle success following big victories over the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Houston Texans could come back to haunt them as they chase a division title and possibly home-field advantage for the postseason.

Now, the Ravens (6-3) are tied for second with the Bengals (6-3) in the division, owning the tiebreaker over the first-place Steelers (7-3), who are a half-game up in the AFC North.

Harbaugh took umbrage at a suggestion that he was whitewashing the Seahawks game and immediately turning the page toward the Bengals.

"We're going to do everything we can to eliminate the negatives and build on and make more positives and win the next football game," he said. "If you're insinuating that we just ignore what happened in the past, you definitely haven't been paying attention the last four years of what we've been doing here.

"It's not our job to lick everybody else's wounds for them. Licking wounds? No. We're not licking any wounds. We are moving on. That's what we do."

The Ravens fell behind 19-7 by halftime against the Seahawks primarily due to Reed's fumbles and a flat offense.

The Ravens also failed to utilize Pro Bowl running back Ray Rice much at all. He rushed for 19 yards on four carries in the first half, catching two passes for six yards.

Rice would carry the ball exactly once in the second half, finishing the game with five rushes for 27 yards. He did catch eight passes for 54 yards, but it's an unusually small workload for him.

Rice politely declined interview requests after the game, saying he would reserve his comments until Wednesday because: "I don't want to say the wrong thing right now."

"Ray understands football," Harbaugh said. "Ray knows what kinds of fronts we were getting and what the situation of the game was. Ray and I talk all the time, and he knows football."

The Ravens rushed for only 75 yards on 12 carries, averaging 6.3 yards per rush.

"I'm not going to rip the coaches," center Matt Birk said. "Circumstances kind of dictate what happens to a certain extent. Most teams probably want to shut down Ray Rice. We still have to find a way. When we do call his number, we've got to block it up and get him to the second level and in positions where he's at his best. When you're trying to play catch-up and other teams know that, it's hard to stay balanced."

And wide receiver Anquan Boldin pointed out that Rice needs to be a big part of the game plan.

"Ray definitely has to get involved," Boldin said. "I guess it was a situation where we were down and it kind of took him out of the game."

Harbaugh insisted that he wouldn't change the run-pass ratio due to the Seahawks crowding the line of scrimmage with an outside linebacker and a strong safety, essentially daring the Ravens to throw it downfield.

They did so regularly, albeit without much accuracy on intermediate or long passes as quarterback Joe Flacco attempted a career-high 52 throws for 29 completions, 255 yards, one touchdown and one interception for a pedestrian 67.4 passer rating.

"I don't know how you would do it any differently," Harbaugh said. "We were in a situation where we lost two possessions. When you don't have very many plays, it's hard to build up your running game. And when you're down, you've got to throw it to get back in the game.

"I think every game is different. You've got to do in any particular game what you've got to do to try to move the ball. In the end, we definitely want to have more runs. The way the game went, we had to throw it. Based on some fronts they were giving us early, we felt like we had to throw it, too."

In regards to Rice, there was a commonality from the loss to Jacksonville.

Against the Jaguars and the Seahawks, Rice had only 13 touches as he had eight carries for 28 yards against the Jaguars with five catches for 35 yards.

"Every game stands on its own two feet," Harbaugh said. "The comparisons that people want to draw between the three games, you can draw that all you want. That's all hypothetical, theoretical stuff.

"When you know football, you understand that the schemes that you see and the situations that you face are different in every single game. No, I didn't see a lot more opportunities to run the ball."

Regardless, the Ravens need to quickly regroup and learn from their mistakes.

They host the Bengals on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium followed by a quick turnaround with a Thanksgiving game four days later in the so-called Harbaugh Bowl against the 8-1 San Francisco 49ers coached by Jim Harbaugh, Harbaugh's brother.

Consistency has eluded the Ravens every time they win a big game this year.

"We can't come out lackadaisical," free safety Ed Reed said. "You got to win these games to be one of those elite teams like we're claiming to be. If we're claiming to be that team, we got to come out and play week to week. It can't be elite one week and ‘Unnecessary Roughness' the next week. It's got to be every time."

The Ravens have displayed a troubling tendency to play down to the level of their opponents.

"These are the kind of games you have to have, especially against teams and opponents you're supposed to beat," fullback Vonte Leach said. "We came out flat."

The loss definitely stung the Ravens, who endured a long plane ride home after being beaten by the Seahawks

"Frustrated, confused, pissed off," defensive lineman Arthur Jones wrote on his Twitter account Monday. "Somebody prayer for me. I need a direction !!!"

Added Harbaugh: "I expect them to be hurt. This is a bunch of pros, they work very hard at it, they take a lot of pride in what they do."

The Ravens have made the playoffs each of the past three years, but haven't reached the the AFC championship game since Harbaugh's first season.

With seven remaining games, the Ravens could either win the division or fail to qualify for the postseason depending on how they rebound from another draining loss.

"The story of the season is going to be written at the end," Harbaugh said. "I am not writing that story now. The story for us as a football team is this week. You look at last week, and you correct it.

"All the other story lines, I'd like to give you an answer. But I'm really not interested, to be honest with you. So, you guys can write that story. It's not my job to have that answer for you."