Ravens’ Rice Hopes To Play Against Steelers On Sunday

Added on Oct 02, 2010 by Jason Kearney in

NFL

Baltimore Ravens’ running back Ray Rice returned to practice late this week, albiet on a limited basis. Still, that was good news after he was injured in the fourth quarter of last Sunday’s win against the Cleveland Browns. What looked to be a potentially catestrophic injury proved to be just a deep bone bruise following an MRI that revealed no ligament or cartilage damage. Rice was listed as ‘questionable’ for Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Friday but is hoping to play and sure sounds more like a ‘game time decision’. On Saturday, Rice was upgraded to ‘probable’.

Rice was back in practice by Thursday, though wasn’t able to go full speed. He said that how he feels on Sunday will be the final determinant of whether or not he’ll play:

“If I’m able to do the things I can do and be the Ray Rice I can be, there’s no question on whether I’ll play or not. At the end of the day, Sunday’s the ultimate test.”

He also engaged in a little ‘wishful thinking’ while putting the game officials on notice that the Steelers better not target his injured knee.

“I don’t think they’re dirty. I don’t think anybody has the intent to go out there and hurt anybody. I have respect for them, they have respect for us. I don’t think it’s going to be one of those situations where they’re going to take a blatant shot at the knee.”

Rice practiced on Friday without the red ‘no contact’ vest, suggesting that he’ll at least try to go on Sunday against Pittsburgh. Ravens’ coach John Harbaugh is also optimistic:

“I’m feeling pretty good that he’s going to play.”

Other Ravens’ injury notes:

Defensive end Cory Redding did not practice Friday because of a concussion and has been downgraded to questionable for Sunday’s game. Linebacker Tavares Gooden (shoulder), wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth (foot) and tackle Jared Gaither (back) are all out for this week’s game and will likely miss more than a month of action.