Hit the road? Baltimore doesn't mind this trip to Indy

It took Chris Carr a season, but the Ravens' defensive back learned the secret to the team's postseason success.

Last year at this time, Carr was on the Titans, the AFC's top-seeded team that had a first-round bye to prepare for the sixth-seeded Ravens.

Final score: Ravens 13, Titans 10.

"The Ravens play really physical football and that's what they did last year in Tennessee," he said. "When you play physical football, you can just go out and win. It doesn't matter where you play -- in the snow, in the rain or in a dome."

But the last place the Ravens may want to be on Saturday night at 8:15 p.m. ET is Indianapolis, a city that has represented nothing but heartbreak for Baltimore football. Since the Ravens entered the league in 1996 -- a dozen years after the Baltimore Colts loaded their equipment into Mayflower moving vans and left for Indianapolis in the middle of the night -- the Ravens are 0-4 at the RCA Dome and Lucas Oil Stadium.

"We're not focused on the past -- just what's in front of us," said Ravens tight end Todd Heap. "Our goal was to get into the playoffs and to win in the playoffs."

The Colts' dominance extends beyond America's heartland. The Ravens have dropped seven straight, including a playoff game in 2007, to the Colts.

"It's all about finishing against Indianapolis," Ravens receiver Mark Clayton said. "Finishing means doing the little things and we haven't done that when we've played them. But just because we've lost to them before doesn't mean anything. We have great leadership and we're confident."

And for good reason. The Ravens are the best road playoff team in league history. Want proof? They are 6-2 all-time in playoff road games since 2000, and their .750 winning percentage is the league's best in the over the past 50 years. Their six road playoff wins during the 2000s are tied with the Cowboys, who won six playoff games away from home in the 1970s, for the most by any team in any decade.

"We know what the playoffs are all about," Heap said. "We're not bothered about going on the road."

But what happened in previous postseasons doesn't impact what's happened -- or will happen -- this year. After all, which team last week looked like it had won three Super Bowls this decade: New England or Baltimore?

"I was certainly watching the game on TV, and saw [Ray] Rice's [83-yard touchdown] run," Colts quarterback Peyton Manning said. "You felt like that really sent a jolt through their team and their defense fed off that."

The Ravens no longer resemble a squad that was once 6-6 and on the verge of spoiling a season in which it was regarded as possibly the league's best through three games. Now, the Ravens head to Indianapolis having won four of their past five games after becoming the first road team to win in the postseason in Foxborough, Mass. since 1978.

"A lot of people wrote us off and look how far we've come -- it says a lot about us," Ravens fullback Le'Ron McClain said. "Us being underdogs? Look around the room: There are a lot of us who have been underdogs our whole lives. No, that doesn't bother us -- not at all."

Ray Rice caught Peyton Manning's eye, rushing for 159 yards vs. the Patriots last week. (Getty Images)

Still, Indianapolis has been nearly unbeatable this season. They won 14 straight games, watched Peyton Manning get named Most Valuable Player for the fourth time and averaged 26 points per game while allowing 19.2. But here's a number that's just as important: 0. That's zero, as in the number of playoff games Indianapolis has won in franchise history after earning a first-round bye.

Four times -- against Cleveland in 1988, Tennessee in 2000, Pittsburgh in 2006 and San Diego in 2008 -- the Colts earned a week off after the regular season and each time, they ended up getting corralled the next time they took the field.

Can the Ravens run the streak to five? They certainly believe they can. They've allowed just 29 touchdowns this season -- second-fewest in the league -- and have allowed just 145 points in the past 11 games. It's been 12 games since they've allowed a 100-yard rusher, which may not bode well for Joseph Addai.

Offensively, quarterback Joe Flacco shouldn't be bothered by a hip contusion and Heap's back spasms shouldn't prevent him from playing on Saturday. Sure, the Ravens will see their former kicker Matt Stover wearing blue and white on the opposing sideline as they did during the regular season. But Stover can't win the game if Baltimore scores as it did against the Patriots.

But for the Ravens -- just like every team in the league -- beating the Colts comes down to a common denominator: stopping Manning. Manning has completed 194 of 305 passes (63.6 percent) for 2,443 yards with 17 touchdowns against seven interceptions against the Ravens, who he's beaten seven times in nine games.

"We just need to get to him because he doesn't want to get hit," Ravens linebacker Antwan Barnes said. "We need to hit him hard and knock him to the ground."