Every week, the Ravens seem to do more out of a double-tight-end formation than any other team in the league.

Rookie Terry Jones made his fifth start of the season alongside Todd Heap in Sunday's 23-19 win over the Houston Texans. At various stages of the game, the Ravens either aligned Heap and Jones side-by-side, split Heap out wide as a receiver or bookended the two on the line in the conventional, two-tight-end set.

"We've used it in different configurations: two-tight-end single back, two-tight-end double back, Todd broken out in a receiver alignment," Ravens coach Brian Billick said. "We've done that a lot the last couple of games."

Jones kept a drive alive by making a 27-yard completion from the Ravens' 26 with just under 11 minutes left in the game with Houston. It was the biggest reception of the season for Jones both in terms of yardage and importance - he took a jarring hit from Texans safety Matt Stevens after the catch.

A penalty flag originally came out, but the officials decided Stevens' hit was legal.

"Terry with the big catch, though he doesn't remember it," Billick said. "But he's played very well for us.

"From my understanding, it was legal, but [Stevens will] be fined. Terry did establish both feet on the ground, and that seems to be the barometer. You are no longer defenseless when you get that second foot on the ground. The guy did lead with the head, but I don't think it was malicious."

Said Jones on how he was able to get open, "Sometimes people are going to overplay Todd and Travis [Taylor]."

And when that happens, the Ravens need someone else to become a third downfield receiver. The team is struggling to find such a threat from the receiving corps, and played well over 70 percent of its snaps in a double-tight-end set, a rarity in the NFL, against Houston. Of those snaps, nearly half came with Taylor as the lone receiver.

"I was just trying to take advantage of my opportunities," Jones said.

Action for Rabach

Despite being a backup, guard Casey Rabach has logged time in each of the past four games, filling in for temporarily injured linemen.

Rabach played about 30 snaps in place of right guard Bennie Anderson, who left Sunday's game with a "stinger", but should be able to practice this week.

"That's my role on this team now, to wait for somebody to get hurt," Rabach said. "That sounds kind of funny to say, but it's a situation where they need me. It's a little more difficult coming off the bench than starting the game and getting in a rhythm. But coaches put me in a good situation all through the week where I prepare myself and know what is going on."

Forget the speech

Billick realized he can do away with the pre-game talk he figured to deliver before Sunday's game.

Originally thinking Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay played Sunday afternoon before the Ravens-Browns 4:15 kickoff, Billick thought he would have to brace his team on the outcome of that game. But the Steelers and Bucs play Monday night.

"I didn't realize they were playing on Monday night," Billick said. "My concern was to work up the old, 'Oh, guys, here's how we are approaching it [speech].' We conceivably would have known when we took the field what the situation was. So that's another speech that goes in the file and we don't have to worry about.

"It's great for us because you can go out for a game and it doesn't matter, and that is the way it ought to be."

Hymes gets the call

When the Ravens did use two receivers, Randy Hymes surprisingly replaced Ron Johnson in the lineup against the Texans and finished with one catch for 11 yards.

Johnson started the previous game against New Orleans in place of the suspended Javin Hunter but did not catch a pass. Johnson has two catches for 19 yards over the past seven games, three of which he has started.

"We played Randy a little bit last week," Billick said of the 6-foot-3, 211-pound Hymes. "He has some ability. We want to find out about Randy, and we'd rather not wait until training camp next year to find out how far he's come. We'll continue to see how he handles it."

End zone

Jeff Blake (offense), Adalius Thomas (defense) and Bart Scott (special teams) were awarded game balls. ... No major injuries resulted from Sunday's game, and the players had yesterday off.