OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- It might not be a bad idea to remind the Baltimore Ravens offense that Monday night's game in Arizona begins at 5:30 p.m. PT.

The Ravens have been sleepwalking on their opening drives this season, ranking as the slowest-starting offense in the league. Baltimore has more punts (five) than first downs (three) on its first drives of games, and the Ravens are one of two teams (the Houston Texans are the other) not to score a point the first time they touch the ball.

John Harbaugh's offense could use another cup of coffee to get going -- the Ravens are at or near the bottom in several first-drive categories. AP Photo/Nick Wass

It's another reason why the Ravens are off to their worst start in franchise history. How so? Under coach John Harbaugh, Baltimore is 52-13 (.800) when scoring first and 21-32 (.396) when it doesn't.

"We have to start games better," Harbaugh said. "I think it has to do with execution. It has to do with play calling, getting some completions early, getting off with a good run on first down if you run it, hitting the play-action pass -- those kinds of things -- even a quick drop-back pass."

Look at these troubling numbers on the Ravens' six opening drives this season:

Total yards: 48 (last in NFL)

Passing yards per attempt: 3.14 (31st in NFL)

Rushing yards per attempt: 1.12 (last in NFL)

First downs: Three (Tied for last)

Points: 0 (Tied for last)

These statistics show how it has been a total breakdown as far as running and throwing the ball early in games. Compare that to the Green Bay Packers and Cincinnati Bengals, the NFL's fastest-starting offenses who have scored 28 points each on opening drives. It should be noted that the Packers and Bengals are two of the five remaining undefeated teams in the league.

The Ravens started stressing faster starts last season. In practice, Baltimore would go from individual drills to running three to five plays with the crowd noise cranked up.

"[It's] to kind of get our blood flowing and to be able to turn it on when the start of the game happens," Harbaugh said.

This strategy worked last season, when the Ravens were tied for sixth with points scored on opening drives. This year, Baltimore has yet to move the ball past its own 39-yard line on the first drive.

The biggest difference between last year and this year is the offensive coordinator scripting the plays. The Ravens have gone from Gary Kubiak to Marc Trestman.

"We were disappointed in our first 15 [plays] this week, because we had three or four mental errors on plays that we thought we should've executed better that would've allowed us to make first downs and continue drives," Trestman said. "That's part of the thing that sometimes you don't see. It literally is ... it's a step here; it's a hat placement here; it's a depth here. Each and every week, I could be saying the same thing on one side of it or another, and that's really the difference in continuing a drive or having to punt the ball on fourth down.”