Ravens 'very hopeful' Rice will play against Bills
OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowl running back Ray Rice returned to practice Wednesday on a limited basis and is expected to play Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.
Rice sat out the Ravens' 30-9 win over the Houston Texans last Sunday due to a left hip flexor strain.
"Very hopeful," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said of Rice's prognosis for this week. "We're going to see what he can do, and we'll have our fingers crossed."
Backup running back Bernard Pierce was held to 65 yards and one touchdown on 24 carries against Houston.
The Ravens are ranked 25th in rushing offense, averaging 77.3 yards per game. They're 31st overall in average per carry, picking up 2.6 yards per rush.
The Bills and are tied for 30th in the NFL in run defense, surrendering 155 rushing yards per game. During the Bills' loss Sunday, New York Jets running back Bilal Powell ran for a career-high 149 yards on 27 carries.
"They've got a lot of good guys, but when you look at the film, you see one or two breakdowns and somebody might hit a big run on them," Baltimore fullback Vonta Leach said. "They've been stopping the run consistently the more I look at tape."
The Ravens' longest runs this season are a 25-yarder by Pierce and a 14-yarder by Rice.
"Yeah, we need to run the ball better," quarterback Joe Flacco said. "We need to clean a couple of things up. When you look at the film, we're really close.
"We're blocking things well. A lot of those runs are so close to hitting. If we continue to do what we do and just mix it up a little bit, then we'll start hitting some runs."
