It took nearly 13 quarters of preseason action, but Ravens receiver Demetrius Williams finally got on the stat sheet.
The third-year receiver caught a 22-yard pass over the middle on the final play of the first quarter in the Atlanta Falcons 10-9 win over Baltimore on Thursday night in front of an announced crowd of 70,149 at M&T Bank Stadium.
“It felt good,” Williams said. “I hadn’t been out there in a while, so it felt good to knock some of the rust off and get back out there in the swing of things.”
The 6-foot-2, 197-pounder missed almost the entire preseason before returning from an Achilles injury last week and saw his first game action against the Falcons. In 2006 he made 22 catches for 396 yards with two touchdowns. Last fall, he had 20 catches for 290 yards before he missed the final seven games with an ankle injury.
“To get him out there is good, he got his feet wet again,” Ravens receiver Derrick Mason said. “He got the opportunity to catch a ball, got pushed around a little bit. He needed that to get his body back in to it.”
WELCOME BACK: Left tackle Jared Gaither made his preseason debut against Atlanta after missing several weeks with a sprained right ankle. His impact was immediately noticed as the offensive line played one of its best quarters in the first against the Falcons, giving starting quarterback Joe Flacco time to throw and routinely opening running lanes. With right tackle Adam Terry returning last week from a sprained left ankle, the offensive line appears to be finally gelling.
“We are young guys, and we haven’t had a lot of different people around us,” Gaither said. “Because of that, we are starting to build the kind of chemistry that we need.”
INJURY REPORT: Ravens running back Corey Ross left in the second quarter to get an MRI on a sprained right ankle, which revealed no ligament damage. Quarterback Kyle Boller remained sidelined with a right shoulder injury and running back Willis McGahee is still recovering from arthroscopic surgery in his left knee. Quarterback Troy Smith, who was taken to Union Memorial Hospital on Thursday afternoon with infected tonsils, is expected to remains hospitalized for at least the next two days.
The Ravens also opted to rest linebackers Ray Lewis and Tavares Gooden, receiver Marcus Smith and defensive lineman Kelly Gregg. Defensive backs Ed Reed, Chris McAlister, Samari Rolle, Derrick Martin and Fabian Washington did not play. The team also waived kicker Piotr Czech to make room to sign backup quarterback Casey Bramlet, who played most of Thursday night’s game.
“I knew there was a chance I was going to play, but I didn’t know if it was going to be in the second half or the fourth quarter,” Bramlet said. “I was just ready. When they told me to go in, I made sure I was ready when they called on me.”
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