For an obvious reason, James Hurst might have been one of the happiest Ravens to see Joe Flacco return Saturday night.
Hurst was in at left tackle when he was pushed back into the quarterback in the final minute of an eventual 16-13 win against the St. Louis Rams on Nov. 22. Flacco tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee and was lost for the remainder of the season.
"I'm just happy to see him out there," Hurst said after Monday's practice. "What's in the past is in the past. I've talked to him about it, and that's resolved. I'm just seeing what I can do better. It's football, and I'm really happy for him that he's healthy and that he looks good and that we're ready to go."
Flacco, who had knee surgery on Dec. 8, returned in time for the beginning of training camp and had practiced regularly. In his preseason debut Saturday night, Flacco completed 11 of 16 passes for 94 yards, led the offense to a Justin Tucker field goal in one of his two series and got up from a sack with no setback in a 30-9 victory over the Detroit Lions.
Hurst, who has started 13 games over the past two seasons and is currently listed as rookie Ronnie Stanley's primary backup on the team's depth chart, said Flacco's return served to inspire his teammates.
"It was great," Hurst said. "He was fired up. Just having your leader on offense come out there and play and play well like he did, he's such a commanding presence and a great leader for us. Having him out there boosts everyone's confidence. It gets everyone going a little bit. So we were really excited."