Ravens' Lewis Held Out of Practice

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) _ Baltimore Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis missed practice Wednesday with a sore shoulder and was listed as doubtful for Sunday's game against Indianapolis. <br><br>Lewis

Wednesday, October 9th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) _ Baltimore Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis missed practice Wednesday with a sore shoulder and was listed as doubtful for Sunday's game against Indianapolis.

Lewis partially dislocated his left shoulder Sunday night against the Cleveland Browns. Playing without him in the fourth quarter, the Ravens blew most of a 23-0 lead but escaped with a 26-21 victory.

The Ravens now face the prospect of playing an entire game without the five-time Pro Bowler, whose 69 tackles over four games is nearly twice that of any of his teammates. He also has two interceptions and a fumble recovery.

``This is the next big challenge for us,'' Ravens coach Brian Billick said. ``If indeed Ray can't go, we're going to see how this team responds. How great would that be to step up on the road under these circumstances and come away with a win? That would be huge.''

After an 0-2 start, the Ravens defeated previously unbeaten Denver at home, then beat Cleveland on the road to even their record and take over first place in the NFC North.

Now comes another daunting task: defeating the Colts, who are off to a 3-1 start behind new coach Tony Dungy and quarterback Peyton Manning.

``I'm never prepared to play without Ray, but we have to. If Tony were any kind of sport, he'd put Peyton down. Fair is fair,'' Billick said with a grin. ``But I don't think Tony is going to do that.''

With Lewis in the lineup, Baltimore blanked the Browns for three quarters and allowed 5.8 yards per play. Without him, the Ravens yielded three touchdowns and gave up 7.0 yards per play.

Baltimore outside linebacker Peter Boulware, who played the past two seasons with a sore shoulder, expects Lewis to be in the lineup against the Colts.

``Knowing Ray, I think he'll be out there. He's such a competitor,'' Boulware said. ``We've talked about it. I told him he'll be able to work through it and be able to play.''

Under guidelines for the NFL's injury report, a player listed as doubtful has approximately a 25 percent chance of playing. Although the Ravens will be better prepared to play without Lewis than they were last weekend, the defense clearly won't be the same without him.

``A guy like Ray goes down, you're always going to miss something,'' Boulware said. ``But I think our guys are up for the challenge.''

Lewis received medical treatment for much of Wednesday afternoon and did not talk to the media. He would almost certainly play in pain, but the Ravens are also worried about risking further injury to arguably the most important player on the team.

``We'd prefer to err on the side of caution,'' said Billick, who also planned to hold Lewis out of Thursday's practice. ``If he's really feeling better by Friday, he could possibly go.''

Lewis has played in 63 straight games since Oct. 11, 1998, when he missed the second of two straight games with a dislocated elbow. Those were the only two games he's missed since the start of the 1997 season, his second year in the NFL.

If Lewis can't play, he will be replaced by the tandem of Bernardo Harris and Bart Scott.

``I looking forward to playing,'' Harris said. ``Coming here, I knew my role, and that I wasn't going to play ahead of Ray. But it's a long season, and I knew my opportunities would come up.

``I'm pretty comfortable with it,'' Harris said. ``I'm still trying to get it down, but it's about going out and playing with passion and intensity, like Ray does.''