Wisdom teeth or no wisdom teeth, Rice will practice

May 27, 2010 11:26 AM by Dan Kolko View Comments

Ray Rice is by no means a proven veteran, having only played two years in the NFL.

But after getting his wisdom teeth taken out last Friday, Rice could have easily pulled a veteran move and opted to take a couple days off from the Ravens' voluntary minicamps this week.

The team's trainers, coaches, and Rice's teammates probably wouldn't have thought twice if the running back had said he wanted an extra day or two to help him recover and let his cheeks shrink back down to size.

Instead, the 2009 Pro Bowler was back out there when passing camp kicked off on Monday, going through drills and participating in practice as if the dental procedure had never happened.

"Yesterday was tough," Rice admitted after practice on Tuesday. "Monday, my jaw was a little sore, but now it's pretty good. I was out there running around."

I know when I got my wisdom teeth taken out, I laid around for days drooling all over my couch feeling worthless. Obviously, Rice is a little tougher than me.

To help Rice out a little bit, the Ravens' equipment staff fitted him with a new helmet for this week, which was intended to provide him some more padding around the mouth area.

With that improved helmet strapped on, Rice went back to work, making an impressive toe-tapping touchdown grab during 11-on-11 drills and later taking the handoff on a statue of liberty and finishing the play by dunking the football over the crossbar.

"OTAs are all about having fun, so you've got to get some spunk in practice," Rice said of the throw-down. "We've got some great competition out there. The defense is getting better, the offense, we see ourselves getting better, and this is what OTAs are about.

"This is where my season was made last year, in OTAs, minicamps, being here in the offseason, so it's definitely beneficial."

Rice also took time to dish out a little friendly advice to cornerback Prince Miller, putting the undrafted rookie aside after he was burned on a route by Derrick Mason.

"I asked him if he was alright," Rice said with a big smile. "It looked like [when] Michael Jordan takes his guys to school, like basic fundamentals. It was just one of the routes, we knew what Mason was doing, but it looked like little young boy had a little problem. So I said, 'Hey, you OK?'

"I don't want him to get offended by that. That's Derrick Mason, you know what I'm saying?"