CHESTER, Pa. -- Red Bulls captain Dax McCarty called his teammates cowards after Sunday's 2-2 draw against the Philadelphia Union left the team with a 1-7-3 record in road games.

"We have no spine on the road," Red Bulls captain Dax McCarty told reporters after Sunday's match. "If you're going to be nervous, if you don't want the ball, teams smell blood. We're not going to win anything this year if we don't figure out a way to do better on the road."

For some reason, the Red Bulls are a different team when they play away from Red Bull Arena. They lack confidence and composure on the ball, and players shrink in big moments.

NYC FC is the only squad in the 20-team MLS with a winning record on the road (6-3-1), and 11 teams are either winless on the road or have just one road victory, but the Red Bulls will have to overcome that trend if they want to make a playoff run.

The Red Bulls, in third place in the Eastern Conference, were up 2-0 after the first half and controlled the first 60 minutes of Sunday's game, then collapsed.

"We just find ways to shoot ourselves in the foot on the road," coach Jesse Marsch told reporters after Sunday's match. "Until we start to figure out how handle games and moments better, then it's going to feel like we're starting at square one every time we go on the road."

The Red Bulls, tied for the most road losses in the MLS, don't have much time to solve their road struggles. They still have to face the L.A. Galaxy, Toronto F.C., D.C. United and Philadelphia Union on the road this season.

The Red Bulls need to capture a top-two seed in the Eastern Conference to get home-field advantage in more than one playoff game. The trajectory of the Red Bulls' season isn't pointing in that direction, and they could face an early post-season exit at the hands of the Union or New York City F.C.

"I would say, 'Let's learn from it,' but clearly that's not in our repertoire right now," McCarty said. "We don't learn from our mistakes."

Even with a man advantage Sunday, the Red Bulls were outplayed -- and had to stack their defense against the more aggressive Union.

"They just dominated us the rest of the game, even with 10 men. It was an embarrassment. It's called wanting the ball. It's called wanting to play, wanting to be on the front foot."

"Any time our head coach feels like we have to go with five in the back when we're up a man, I'm at a loss for words. I'm speechless. They gave us a lesson in football in the last 30 minutes of the game," McCarty added.

Chris Pontius and C.J. Sapong scored goals about a minute apart to help the Union rally for the tie. Pontius scored on a cross from Fabian Herbers into a wide-open net to tie the game in the 68th minute. Pontius scored on a penalty shot after a penalty and a yellow card on Sal Zizzo in the 67th minute

It could get worse: The Red Bulls next face NYC FC at Red Bull Arena on July 24, and the rival has feasted on the road this season.

Daniel Falkenheim may be reached at DFalkenheim@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Thefalkon. Find NJ.com on Facebook.