Gunzlingr
10-16-2007, 04:08 PM
Despite guarded optimism that star left offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=3540) will be able to play again this season, Baltimore Ravens (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/clubhouse?team=bal) officials are beginning to consider the possibility of life without the 10-time Pro Bowl performer for the rest of 2007.
http://assets.espn.go.com/i/nfl/profiles/players/statsid/s3540.jpg Ogden
And possibly for good.
It is all but certain that Ogden, who has appeared in just one of the Ravens' six games this season, will not play when Baltimore faces the Buffalo Bills (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/clubhouse?team=buf) on Sunday afternoon. The Ravens then have a bye week before resuming play at Pittsburgh in a critical Monday night divisional matchup on Nov. 5.
And coach Brian Billick has suggested that, if Ogden isn't able to play against the Steelers, the Ravens may have to shut him down for the year by placing him on injured reserve. By rule, that would end his season. And it could, given Ogden's recent injury problems, end the career of a player who will likely be elected to the Hall of Fame someday.
"If he's not ready for Pittsburgh, I don't know that he will be [ready to play this season]," Billick told Baltimore-area reporters. "Jonathan Oden will come back when Jonathan Ogden is ready. But if not by then, it becomes a very legitimate question: 'Geez, is this going to happen?' I don't know what the time frame would be. I don't know that the toe or the foot is going to get any stronger or better. I don't know that it isn't."
Ogden, 33, hyperextended the big toe of his left foot last season and missed virtually all of the Ravens' offseason conditioning program this spring. He contemplated retirement, opted to play in 2007 but sat out much of training camp and the preseason as he rehabilitated the toe. But in the Sept. 10 season opener against Cincinnati, he compounded the problem by spraining his left foot.
More... (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3066299&campaign=rss&source=NFLHeadlines)
http://assets.espn.go.com/i/nfl/profiles/players/statsid/s3540.jpg Ogden
And possibly for good.
It is all but certain that Ogden, who has appeared in just one of the Ravens' six games this season, will not play when Baltimore faces the Buffalo Bills (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/clubhouse?team=buf) on Sunday afternoon. The Ravens then have a bye week before resuming play at Pittsburgh in a critical Monday night divisional matchup on Nov. 5.
And coach Brian Billick has suggested that, if Ogden isn't able to play against the Steelers, the Ravens may have to shut him down for the year by placing him on injured reserve. By rule, that would end his season. And it could, given Ogden's recent injury problems, end the career of a player who will likely be elected to the Hall of Fame someday.
"If he's not ready for Pittsburgh, I don't know that he will be [ready to play this season]," Billick told Baltimore-area reporters. "Jonathan Oden will come back when Jonathan Ogden is ready. But if not by then, it becomes a very legitimate question: 'Geez, is this going to happen?' I don't know what the time frame would be. I don't know that the toe or the foot is going to get any stronger or better. I don't know that it isn't."
Ogden, 33, hyperextended the big toe of his left foot last season and missed virtually all of the Ravens' offseason conditioning program this spring. He contemplated retirement, opted to play in 2007 but sat out much of training camp and the preseason as he rehabilitated the toe. But in the Sept. 10 season opener against Cincinnati, he compounded the problem by spraining his left foot.
More... (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3066299&campaign=rss&source=NFLHeadlines)