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The injury questions were ripped off rapid fire in John Harbaugh's direction this afternoon.
Here's what we learned from the head coach's meeting with reporters:
A number of Ravens have been sick lately, and safety Ed Reed joked yesterday that he thought he might have caught his illness from cornerback Fabian Washington, but Harbaugh doesn't think the team has an issue with a bug sweeping through the locker room.
Instead, the Ravens believe that Reed came down with some type of food poisoning, but the six-time Pro Bowler is expected to be fine for Sunday's game against the Buccaneers.
"I don't think we've got something that's catching," Harbaugh said. "[Head trainer] Bill Tessendorf thinks it was more of a food issue [with Reed]. Hopefully he didn't eat anything here. They were speculating, but it's nothing that's caught. He seems fine today."
Starting right guard Chris Chester did not practice at all this week because of the skin infection that he suffered last week, but Harbaugh said that Chester could still suit up and play Sunday.
"We haven't ruled him out," Harbaugh said. "We always like guys to practice, however Chris is a guy who's been here from the beginning. I don't think he's missed a practice all year. I'm certain he could go in and play without practicing this week. He's been in all the meetings. He has an incision, so we've got to make sure that's healed up."
Chester has been on medication to make sure that the infection has cleared, and he agreed with Harbaugh, and feels he would be ready to play if the coaches would like him to.
"I've been working on my leg and moving pretty good, so I know I probably could play," Chester said. "It's going to be the coaches' decision if they think it would be better for me to wait or for me to go this week. I'll give them my two cents. Physically, I feel more than capable of playing."
As for Cory Redding, Harbaugh said that the fact that the Ravens' defensive end returned to practice today after missing the previous two days could be viewed as a sign that he's making progress from an elbow injury.
"We'll just have to see on Sunday how the elbow's feeling," Harbaugh said. "He's going to have to be powerful enough."
According to Redding, power won't be a concern.
"I pushed Haloti [Ngata] around a little bit, so I think that's a good judge of strength on my arm," Redding said with a smile. "So, it's good. It feels good. I'm making progress.
"You never play pain free in the NFL. As long as you've been in the league, you play with pain. I'm making progress to Sunday, and just staying on top of my rehab and doing everything the docs want me to do. I feel good right now."
