By Edward Lee | edward.lee@baltsun.com

October 27, 2009
The bye week arrived at a most opportune time for the Ravens' injured players.

Players like quarterback Joe Flacco, offensive tackle Jared Gaither and linebacker Jarret Johnson benefited from a week off to let their bodies heal. Without mentioning any player specifically, coach John Harbaugh said everyone participated in practice Monday.

"Everybody practiced to some extent, one way or another," he said during his weekly media briefing. "They're all working to get ready for the game, and we'll see how it goes."

The most significant concern might be the status of Flacco, who rolled his right ankle in the first quarter of a 33-31 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Oct. 18. Flacco, who finished with a career-high 385 passing yards in that game, did not practice last week.

When asked about Flacco's mobility, Harbaugh said: "I don't know. He looked all right. He's fine. You guys will see him in practice on Wednesday. He's Joe."

Gaither has missed the past two games with a neck injury but pledged to play Sunday against the Denver Broncos. If Gaither does return, he would likely be matched up against linebacker Elvis Dumervil, who ranks first in the NFL with 10 sacks.

Speculation has emerged that rookie Michael Oher could remain at left tackle and Gaither would move to right tackle, but Harbaugh wouldn't give any weight to that rumor.

"I wouldn't tell you if I thought that was possible, but all things are possible," he said. "We're going to play our guys in the position that we think gives us the best advantage against guys like him and the rest of the Broncos. It's a fast and aggressive defense, and they present a lot of challenges."

With Samari Rolle telling The Baltimore Sunthat he is contemplating retirement after undergoing fusion surgery on his neck for the second time in less than a year, Harbaugh said there has been little change in the cornerback's status.

"He's not here, and he's not practicing," Harbaugh said. "I reached out to Samari. I haven't heard back yet. Talking to Bill [Tessendorf, the team's head trainer] a little bit, that's where the non-optimism comes from. I think I read some of his quotes in the paper. I think he's dealing with some stuff right now. The ball's in his court. I don't want to speak for Samari."

End zone
At 47, Harbaugh is the 12th-youngest head coach in the NFL. Denver has the league's second-youngest in Josh McDaniels, who is less than 5 months older than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Raheem Morris. "I didn't really react to it age-wise," Harbaugh said when he was asked about the trend of younger head coaches. "You're happy for guys to get an opportunity. ... Guys are ready when they're ready, and obviously it's paid off pretty well for Denver." ... Harbaugh smiled when asked about seeing former Philadelphia Eagles safety Brian Dawkins in a Broncos jersey. "The only uniform that I think it feels strange to look at him in is the brown [throwback] one with the striped socks," joked Harbaugh, who was the Eagles' secondary coach in 2007. "That looked very strange, but it was still Brian Dawkins under that uniform. You could tell in the way he played. He's playing as well as ever." ... Harbaugh estimated that about 75 percent of the players stayed in town over the bye week. "Even through the weekend after we kind of mandated some time off, I still saw some guys in here," he said. "Guys were working, but guys got away to spend time with their families and stuff."