Ogden

They are respectful of each other's Pro Bowl talent, so much so that neither would say much except how good the other player is. Ravens left tackle Jonathan Ogden and Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor will square off during Sunday's wild-card playoff game at Pro Player Stadium in Miami. When speaking of Taylor, one of the league's fastest pass rushers, Ogden, as he usually does, took the high road. "He's a good player," Ogden said. "I've just got to go out there and get it done.

The Ravens are into preliminary negotiations with Florida State defensive end Peter Boulware, the team's top draft pick, and Boulware's agents, Eugene Parker and Roosevelt Barnes, want a deal similar to the one signed by left tackle Jonathan Ogden and negotiated by vice president David Modell a year ago.Boulware, like Ogden, was the Ravens' top pick and fourth overall selection in the draft. Ogden signed a seven-year deal worth $2.2 million a year, including a $6.8 million signing bonus. The contract also included voidables and buybacks in the last four years.

As the holdout stretched into its 31st day for Ravens top draft pick Peter Boulware, the talks between the team and Boulware agent Eugene Parker fell silent, although Parker said the Ravens could break the impasse by addressing some recent history -- namely the deal signed by last year's top Ravens pick, offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden.Two days ago, Boulware walked away from a six-year, $18.5 million offer that includes a $6 million signing bonus. Last year, Ogden avoided a training camp holdout by signing a seven-year deal worth $15.5 million, including a $6.8 million bonus, injury guarantees amounting to another $1.94 million in the first two years and clauses that would allow Ogden to void the deal in its fourth year.

Offensive lineman Jonathan Ogden admits to being a little tentative in Thursday night's loss to the Chiefs. Ogden is still recovering from a neck injury on the artificial turf at Atlanta on Oct. 3.He picked the wrong game to be tentative, having to face Pro Bowl linebacker Derrick Thomas on passing situations. Ordinarily, a matchup like this would be one to watch, but with Ogden not fully healthy, Thomas was able to take advantage a few times.Thomas did not get a sack, but he did get a couple of hurries on quarterback Stoney Case.

Baltimore Ravens offensive line coach Kirk Ferentz was watching UCLA's offense when he put the video on rewind to watch Jonathan Ogden again."There was one play where he was about 15 yards downfield and then he starts driving the free safety further down the field," said Ferentz. "He does it so easily that it never occurs to you that he is 6-8 and weighs 318 pounds. He's so fluid and good at what he does that he lulls you to sleep."Ogden's athleticism is why the club made him the No. 1 pick in Ravens history Saturday, and why it believes he will have an easy transition to playing left guard.

I intend to live in Baltimore for a long time," Marques Ogden was saying yesterday morning, a couple of hours before a walk-through practice with the Baltimore Blackbirds, the city's first indoor football team, at 1st Mariner Arena. "So I want to do whatever I can to make this a safe and productive city." That's not Ogden's explanation for agreeing to be an offensive and defensive line coach with the Blackbirds of the American Indoor Football Association. (Last night's game against the Montgomery Bears was Ogden's first as an official Blackbirds coach.

Beginning June 3, the Baltimore Ravens will conduct a two-week rookie minicamp at their Owings Mills training complex, but top draft pick Jonathan Ogden will not be there.Ozzie Newsome, the team's director of football operations, said Ogden will miss the minicamp because he will be finishing his final exams at UCLA.Ogden, 6 feet 8 and 318 pounds, is expected to start at left guard this fall. He was the first lineman selected in last month's NFL draft and was the fourth player taken overall.

The Ravens are still in a holding pattern regarding offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden. Ogden, a 10-time Pro Bowl pick, practiced yesterday for the first time in pads but was limited during practice, according to the team. Afterward, Ogden, who has been sidelined for the entire offseason and preseason with a hyperextended toe, said he was "cautiously optimistic" about playing against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night but also acknowledged that if the game was yesterday, he would not have played.

RavensThe day after Return specialist B.J. Sams is done for the season with a severe knee injury, and Pro Bowl offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden is out indefinitely with a hyperextended toe, Ravens coach Brian Billick announced on his weekly radio show last night. Ogden missed the preseason with the toe injury and left two plays into the second quarter Monday night against the Cincinnati Bengals after feeling pain. Billick, who had previously canceled his day-after news conference with local reporters, told WBAL radio that Ogden was "the most serious" of the injured starters.

With the Ravens' home opener against the New York Jets three days away, there are varying degrees of concern regarding three star players. Linebacker Ray Lewis is certain he'll start Sunday despite having a badly strained triceps muscle in his right arm. Offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden is doubtful about facing the Jets after "substantially" aggravating a toe injury, but he's confident he'll play again this season. And quarterback Steve McNair could start with an injured groin -- coach Brian Billick said he's "very optimistic" about it -- although Kyle Boller took all the snaps yesterday with the first-team offense.