Ray Rice

After Ravens running back Ray Rice posted on Facebook about the alleged bullying of a boy at Dundalk High School, Baltimore County school officials said Thursday that they had "thoroughly investigated" the situation. School officials are prohibited from speaking publicly about an individual student, but in its statement the school system said procedures had been followed. In a Thursday morning Facebook post, Rice said, "I want to know exactly what is going on at Dundalk High School.

After Ravens running back Ray Rice posted on Facebook about the alleged bullying of a boy at Dundalk High School, Baltimore County school officials said Thursday that they had "thoroughly investigated" the situation. School officials are prohibited from speaking publicly about an individual student, but in its statement the school system said procedures had been followed. In a Thursday morning Facebook post, Rice said, "I want to know exactly what is going on at Dundalk High School.

Ray Rice is showing off his chess skills in a new online ad campaign. The increasingly marketable Ravens running back has been unveiled this week as not only the newest pitchman for Xenith football helmets, but the face of the company's player safety campaign. As part of the arrangement, Rice stars in the Massachusetts-based company's online ad to introduce the "enlightened warrior. " The minute-long online commercial for the safety campaign has a chess theme. It opens with Rice explaining how he's been playing the board game since he was 9 years old. He says: "Chess helps me stay focused.

Ravens running back Ray Rice has not rumbled into the second or third level often this season, but it seems that whenever he has, he has often been dragged down by the first defender he encounters. In the past, he might have ran through arm tackles or left them grasping at air with a sharp cut in the open field. His inability to force missed tackles is symptomatic of the entire Ravens offense, whose playmakers usually haven't been able to wiggle free whenever they have met resistance from the defense this season.

While Ray Rice continued to bask in the glow of his 29-yard, catch-and-run on fourth-and-29 against the San Diego Chargers, quarterback Joe Flacco admitted that he didn't do any reflecting on the play and he didn't plan to. “We got away with one and I'll be glad. I could have looked like a big-time idiot if we don't get that play,” Flacco said. “I kind of went out on a limb there to check the ball down on fourth-and-29. We don't get that, everybody is crushing me: 'What the hell is he doing checking the ball down on fourth-and-29?

The status of the contract negotiations between the Ravens and Ray Rice will loom over the offseason and that will remain true whether the Pro Bowl running back shows up at organized team activities later this month or opts to stay home until a deal is done. Rice told reporters Tuesdayin New York at Nike's official uniform unveiling, he still hasn't decided what he is going to do as he waits to see if negotiations with the Ravens result in a long-term contract extension or him playing the 2012 season under the franchise tag. “Me and my agent (Todd France)

The Baltimore Ravens' Ray Rice joined a campaign to raise money for anti-bullying efforts, designing a T-shirt that encourages youth to be kind to each other. The purple T-shirt that reads "You can be a hero to someone just by being a friend," is part of CustomInk's bullying prevention efforts, and comes during the official National Bullying Awareness month. The Virginia-based company tapped singers, actors and other athletes to design T-shirts that spread messages against bullying.

On occasion, Ray Rice likes to exchange sweaty jerseys with opposing players that he admires, and he already knows which Cleveland Browns player will be in his crosshairs after the final whistle blows Sunday afternoon. Rice plans to seek out rookie running back Trent Richardson, who looked up to Rice and other backs while weaving his way to the NFL. But the respect is mutual, as Rice has been a “huge fan” of Richardson, the third pick in April's NFL draft, since watching Richardson run over and around defenders while he was at Alabama.

Ravens running back Ray Rice talks about this Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

It was his turn, so Ray Rice thrust himself off an adjacent table and landed right behind a microphone without spilling so much as a drop of his drink. "That should answer the questions about my hip," Rice said, suppressing a smile. The questions predictably still came Wednesday - about Rice's health, his subpar numbers and his hold on the starting running-back spot. Rice answered each one, his tone neither defiant nor defensive. In the midst of probably the toughest stretch of his six-year career, Rice maintained that he pays no attention to the criticism and he's not bothered by the talk that backup Bernard Pierce could have a more prominent role in the running game going forward.

It was true last year, and it was true again Thanksgiving night: No one does the NFL like “NBC Sunday Night Football.” From the opening aerial shots making even old Baltimore look all glittery and glam, to Bob Costas welcoming tens of millions of viewers to M&T Bank Stadium, NBC made the Ravens-Pittsburgh Steelers game seem like the only place in the world to be Thursday night. After weeks of CBS Sports, what a pleasure it was to be in the skilled veteran hands of coordinating producer Fred Gaudelli, director Drew Esocoff, play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and analyst Cris Collinsworth.

It's not often someone welcomes the command to hit the floor and do push-ups, but Hilltop Elementary School fifth-grader Christian Gavarrete didn't hesitate Tuesday when Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice ordered, "Give me 20. " The 10-year-old said he hadn't done that many push-ups in two years, but with schoolmates and staff cheering him, Gavarrete accomplished the feat well enough to impress even Rice. The Ravens star visited Hilltop Elementary to stress the importance of breakfast and exercise as part of the Maryland Meals for Achievement program, which serves free breakfasts to students regardless of family income.

The Ravens offense produced plenty of fireworks last season, especially in the playoffs, with big chunk plays down the field. Those 20-plus-yard plays have fizzled out this season, particularly in recent weeks. Right now, the Ravens are tied for 21st in the NFL with 34 plays of 20 or more yards. They have produced just six such plays in their last four games, three of which were losses. And they have just two big plays in the past two weeks, and one was aided by a 15-yard penalty but still technically counted.

A collection of what other media outlets are saying as the Ravens prepare to play against the New York Jets on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium. * ProFootballTalk's Michael David Smith talks about Ravens running back Ray Rice's success against the Chicago Bears, but he cautions against thinking it'll happen again this week . Unfortunately for Chicago, the Bears' defense has been allowing big holes all season. (The hole Packers running back James Starks ran through might have been the biggest I've ever seen.)

It has been a rough transition for the Ravens at the center position, going from one of the best centers of his generation in Matt Birk to second-year player Gino Gradkowski. That says more about how underrated Birk may have been in his final couple of years in Baltimore than it does about Gradkowski's struggles. But quietly, perhaps because the Ravens have been losing, Gradkowski has been improving at the position over the past few weeks. And his performance Sunday was probably his best of the season.

Stuck in neutral throughout the season, the Ravens finally resurrected their running game Sunday. A bright spot for the Ravens during a 23-20 overtime loss to the Bears at Soldier Field was rushing for a season-high 174 yards on 41 carries. Three-time Pro Bowl running back Ray Rice regained his old form as he exploited the Bears' vulnerable run defense, rushing for a season-high 131 yards and one touchdown on 25 carries. Rice displayed speed, power and elusiveness unseen since last season when the Ravens won the Super Bowl . "We're heading in the right direction," Rice said.

Ray Rice rushes in to help Ellicott City. Get ready for 27 for Old EC. For 27 days, beginning Friday and running through Oct. 10, participating merchants and restaurants will offer themed specials featuring Rice's jersey number, 27. Then, 27 percent of those sales will be donated to benefit community recovery efforts from the derailment. There will be an online auction on the 27forOldEC Facebook page featuring donated Ravens football items in addition to the various specials offered by the businesses.  Follow Baltimore Diner on Twitter @gorelickingood

Two guns and cash were stolen in a weekend burglary at the Reisterstown home of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, Baltimore County police confirmed. Police said surveillance video showed that a man entered through a rear window at Rice's home in the northwestern Baltimore suburbs and made off with two guns and $2,000 in cash after ransacking the home. Cpl. Cathleen Batton, a police spokeswoman, said the break-in occurred some time between 8:30 p.m. Friday and 12:50 a.m. Saturday, and was reported to police about 1:20 a.m. Rice was not home at the time, Batton said.

The Ravens don't play like a championship caliber team but play with the heart of defending champions. Their 2013 playoff hopes took another hit Sunday after a grueling 23-20 overtime loss to the Chicago Bears in a five-hour game which included a 113-minute delay. Barring major collapses from around the AFC and the Ravens running the table in their six remaining games, it will be extremely hard for this team to advance into the postseason, the first time that would happen under sixth-year coach John Harbaugh.

You look at Vonta Leach and it's hard to avoid this conclusion: He was put on Earth to knock people over. Even shorn of his pads, the Ravens fullback resembles a human battering ram - stout from his black cleats up to his boulder of a head. Of course he became a fullback. The universe designed him to obliterate, not evade. And Leach has the outlook to match, equal parts fearless and selfless. "You just can't give a damn," he said with a hearty laugh when asked to explain the fullback mentality.