It appears rookie quarterback Joe Flacco will play take all of the snaps against the Falcons in both teams’ final preseason game on Thursday night at M&T Bank Stadium.
Troy Smith (viral illness) and Kyle Boller (shoulder) did not practice on Tuesday, meaning Flacco is team’s only healthy quarterback. Smith was held out of this past Saturday’s game with an illness stemming from his tonsils. Boller still is waiting on the results from his magnetic resonance imaging test.
“Troy is getting better, but he’s just so drained and dehydrated,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “He hasn’t been able to eat in four days. He was in the meetings this morning and really just didn’t have the energy to get through the rest of the day.”
If Flacco should get injured and can’t play, the Ravens will turn to wide receiver Mark Clayton as their emergency quarterback. Clayton, a 2005 first-round pick, has taken some snaps at quarterback during practice. But he hopes to catch passes on Thursday, not throw them.
“We would run the ball a fair amount and possibly run some simple roll out plays,” Clayton said. “I’m not going to be able to sit back there and dissect defenses.”
EDWARDS OUT FOR YEAR: Among the roster moves made by the Ravens Tuesday, none were was more surprising than the team placing defensive tackle Dwan Edwards on injured reserve, ending his season with a back injury.
The Ravens were counting on the 6-foot-3, 293-pounder to have a tremendous season after playing all 16 games last year for the first time since the team selected him in the second round of the 2004 draft.
Edwards started 13 games and finished with a sack and a career-high 58 tackles as a replacement for Trevor Pryce, who missed most of the season with a torn pectoral muscle.
“It’s been an ongoing thing where he was feeling a little bit of tightness and they did an MRI just as a precaution and they caught something which is fortunate,” Harbaugh said. “He’ll play again, but it’s going to take a good portion of the year to get corrected. Dwan Edwards is a big loss for us because he’s a big part of our rotation. He’s really coming on as a football player.”
WILLIAMS PRIMED FOR RETURN: Wide receiver Demetrius Williams believes he’ll be ready for the season opener against Cincinnati on Sept. 7 after missing all of training camp with an injured left Achilles’ tendon. Williams, a fourth-round pick in 2006, returned to practice Monday after passing his physical and being removed from the physically unable to perform list. Williams missed seven games last season with an injured ankle and finished with 20 catches for 290 yards.
“Right now, it’s coming day-by-day,” he said. “The last few days I’ve been out there practicing, it’s been doing a lot better and I just hope it can continue.”
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