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I mentioned earlier that Tom Zbikowski did not practice today after suffering a heel injury in Sunday's loss to the Patriots.
The third-year safety said today that when he first felt the pain in his heel, he thought it might be the worst-case scenario - an injury to his Achilles tendon.
Luckily, an X-ray confirmed that the Achilles was not the issue.
"As an athlete, that's your worst nightmare," Zbikowski said. "I've seen a dude snap his Achilles and it's not something I want to see or happen to me. You've got to err on the side of caution. You rest it and let it settle down. It's basically just irritated."
Zbikowski, who has filled in for Ed Reed at the starting free safety spot through the season's first six games, could still play this Sunday when the Ravens take on the Bills at M&T Bank Stadium.
The injury could linger, however, so Zbikowski will just have to see how it responds to treatment this week.
"It's one of those things that could take two days, as soon as it settles down, or it could take a week or two," Zbikowski said. "You just have to see. It got progressively worse. There's only so much you can do. When things aren't too badly injured, they feel better as you're doing them. This thing kept getting worse."
While Zbikowski was held out of today's practice, defensive end Paul Kruger returned to the practice fields after missing much of the last few weeks because of sprained MCL.
Kruger said that he doesn't expect to play again this Sunday, but he sounds confident that he'll be ready to return after the Ravens get their bye week next week.
"It's getting better," Kruger said. "It's a couple weeks of recovery. I'm excited about the bye. It's going to be two weeks to get it back healthy.
"I'm doing a bunch of different rehab stuff, lifting and treadmill every day. Running will irritate it a little bit, but that's good to get it moving and get it working and let it recover."
