There are days the aches and pains Haloti Ngata has absorbed have him wishing he could stay in bed. But when he makes his way to the Ravens' training facility in Owings Mills, the defensive tackle seems to shed the soreness - and about 15 years.
Before practice, Ngata, 24, can often be found with the quarterbacks, tossing the football with them.
Last week, Ngata - who has been hampered by a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee - stood in as a running back for the scout team. After he hauled in a deep pass from assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, Ngata pretended to make a run to the end zone before eventually turning back and flipping the football to an assistant.
Ngata's body might have aged, but his inner child has not.
"I'm not an old veteran, but I'm kind of a veteran now," he said. "I'm more comfortable around the team. I try to joke around with them and have fun. It [stinks] if it's all boring."
Defensive tackle Justin Bannan said Ngata is a regular comedian in defensive meetings.
"He's like a big kid out there," Bannan said with a chuckle. "He'll make you laugh."
Opposing running backs have not enjoyed Ngata nearly as much. Ever since the Ravens used the 12th overall pick in the 2006 draft on the 6-foot-4, 345-pound defensive tackle, Ngata has been part of a run-stopping unit that has not surrendered 100 yards to a rusher in the past 19 games.
After an impressive rookie season during which he recorded 51 tackles, three deflected passes, an interception and a sack, Ngata exceeded those numbers last year with 94 tackles, three sacks, two deflected passes and a forced fumble.
Ngata credits his development to working alongside familiar faces in defensive line coach Clarence Brooks and linemates Kelly Gregg, Trevor Pryce, Bannan and Dwan Edwards, and to a third season in Ryan's defensive alignments.
"Just knowing the playbook and not having to worry about it, I can just work on my technique and just go out there and play," Ngata said. "I'm not thinking too much anymore. I'm just going out and playing now, so I feel like I've grown a lot."
General manager Ozzie Newsome told Ryan that no defensive tackle had completed a better stretch than the final seven games of last season for Ngata (43 tackles, 26 of them solo, and two sacks), who played on a sprained left knee in the last four contests. For his efforts, Ngata was picked by USA Today to its All-Joe Team, reserved for players who are invaluable to their teams but did not make the Pro Bowl.
