Wide Receiver

After criticizing the New England Patriots on social media one day earlier, Ravens reserve linebacker and special-teams ace  Brendon Ayanbadejo quickly backpedaled Monday morning by issuing an apology. As the Patriots were putting the finishing touches on their victory Sunday night over the Houston Texans in the AFC divisional round, Ayanbadejo took aim at the defending AFC champions. "New England does some suspect stuff on offense," Ayanbadejo wrote on his Twitter account.

Before his record-breaking sophomore season at Iowa Western Community College, Deon Long spent his summer days working out and running routes with Maryland quarterback Ricardo Young and wide receiver Stefon Diggs . The offseason workouts clearly paid off, with Long catching 25 touchdown passes in leading Iowa Western to the National Junior College Athletic Association championship, and Diggs emerging as one of the most electric wide...

Bernard Pierce returned to practice for the first time this week and after Thursday's session, the rookie running back declared himself and his injured right knee ready for the Ravens' road game against the Denver Broncos in Saturday's AFC Divisional playoff round. “I'm good,” he said. “I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go to war with my guys.” Pierce's availability could be significant for the Ravens. He has led the team in rushing in each of the last three contests, culminating with a 13-carry, 103-yard performance in last Sunday's 24-9 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Wildcard round.

Dennis Pitta is enjoying the kind of year others might envy with career highs in catches and receiving yards and a shared franchise record for touchdowns by a tight end. And it's the kind of year he said he envisioned in the preseason. ""You don't go into a season thinking, 'It probably won't be a good year. We'll just weather it out.' You expect to come in and play well. I've been given a lot of good opportunities, and I've been able to make the most of them," Pitta said. Pitta's 61 receptions for 669 yards were the most by a Ravens tight end since 2006 when Todd Heap led the offense with 73 catches for 765 yards.

Devin Burns  - a former wide receiver who filled in at quarterback for Maryland last season after a spate of injuries at the position - has withdrawn from the school and is expected to transfer. Burns, who was in his third season last fall, would have faced a logjam of quarterbacks on the depth chart in 2013.  The presumed starter is C.J. Brown, who tore an anterior cruciate ligament while making a cut during a preseason practice last August. Burns volunteered to play quarterback after Brown's injury.

Before Sunday's 24-9 win over the Indianapolis Colts, wide receiver Anquan Boldin, not a man of many words, approached quarterback Joe Flacco and told him he that had 200 receiving yards in him. "I don't know if he thought I was joking," Boldin said. "But he gave me a shot in the second half. " After being held without a catch for most of the first half, Boldin was involved early and often in the second half, catching all five passes Flacco threw his way while establishing a new franchise single-game playoff record with 145 receiving yards.

Coach John Harbaugh's decision to rest many of his starters before and during Sunday's 23-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals might have been a heady move based on the participation numbers at Wednesday's practice. Every player was present and accounted for in practice. That includes the six starters who were deactivated prior to Sunday's contest. Inside linebacker Ray Lewis (torn right triceps), outside linebacker Terrell Suggs (torn right biceps) and wide receiver Anquan Boldin (bruised left shoulder)

Veteran safety Ed Reed was not the only Raven fined for actions during the team's 33-14 victory over the New York Giants last week. Ravens left tackle Michael Oher was fined $10,000 for a chop block on Giants defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka  early in the third quarter. Oher was called for a personal foul on the play, one of his two penalities on the Ravens' 16-play, 82-yard drive that ended with Justin Tucker's 21-yard field goal. Earlier in that drive, Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith was called for a personal foul for a crack-back block.

Holding court inside the Ravens' locker room Thursday, veteran free safety Ed Reed was in no hurry to head toward the exit door. Reed is following a similar unrushed, stress-free approach toward addressing his uncertain future with the team after 11 seasons. With his six-year, $44.4 million contract expiring at the end of this season and Reed scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent for the first time, the former NFL Defensive Player of the Year is acting like a man who's savoring every moment of his time with the Ravens.

Anquan Boldin has been diagnosed with a bruised shoulder, and the Ravens wide receiver's availability for Sunday's regular-season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals is uncertain. “Anquan's got a shoulder bruise,” coach John Harbaugh said Monday. “So we'll see how that develops during the course of the week. All the other stuff that we had were basically things that will be day-to-day type things. There were no major injuries. So we're very fortunate there. So we continue to get a little bit more healthy, and some of the guys who have been working through some injuries should get a little bit better throughout the course of the week.” Harbaugh's latter comment presumably referred to a pair of injured starters in strong safety Bernard Pollard and outside linebacker Albert McClellan, who did not suit up for the Ravens' 33-14 thumping of the New York Giants Sunday evening due to rib and hamstring ailments.