“I wouldn?t begin to classify a team going in, not in the least,” Billick said. “I would never categorize a team like the Cleveland Browns. We lost to Cleveland the last time we played them at their place, a division game, to finish the season. Didn?t feel very good about it. We?ve got to have respect. How do you disrespect someone that just beat you?”

The Ravens, for the second week in a row, are favored to beat a perceived lesser team. Billick said his mentor, Bud Grant, the successful former Minnesota Vikings coach, advised him on such games.

“He said that was the biggest challenge to a champion,” Billick said. “He said the big games will take care of themselves, the road games will take care of themselves. The challenge that that represents, it?s easy. Those are the hardest challenges of all sometimes.”

Ogden, Rolle improving: During Sunday?s rout of the Raiders, the Ravens lost two important cogs in the machine. Left tackle Jonathan Ogden left the game after going to the ground with a hyperextended right knee. Rolle was in street clothes during the second half after spraining his foot.

Billick said both Pro Bowlers should be ready come 4:05 p.m. Sunday in Cleveland.

“Better,” Billick said of the players? condition. “Right now, I?m not aware of anybody that?s not going to be available on Sunday, but we?ll let the next two days pan out.”

Newsome likes fearsome defense: Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome is one of the many impressed with the team?s defense.

“It?s not just Ray?s defense anymore,” Newsome said of Ray Lewis, the team?s star linebacker. “It?s the Baltimore Ravens? defense, and everybody is participating.”