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Battered Ravens set to face reeling Bills

Oct 21, 2007 - 10:29 AM Baltimore (4-2) at Buffalo (1-4) Sunday 1:00 pm EDT

ORCHARD PARK, New York (Ticker) -- The Buffalo Bills are coming off a bye week. The Baltimore Ravens cannot wait to get to theirs.

The Ravens play their final game before their bye week when they limp into Buffalo on Sunday to take on the Bills in a battle of injury-riddled squads.

An ailing back sidelined quarterback Steve McNair and a hamstring injury knocked tight end Todd Heap out of Sunday's 22-3 victory over the winless St. Louis Rams.

Four other starters sat out for the Ravens, including Pro Bowl offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden, but Baltimore's defense compensated with a franchise-record five interceptions to go along with four sacks.

Kyle Boller, who started in place of McNair for the second time this season, was 18-of-30 for 184 yards but could only get the Ravens into the end zone once.

Matt Stover kicked five field goals and is 8-for-8 in his last two games, accounting for 25 of Baltimore's 31 points.

Boller is expected to start this week as Billick hopes to get McNair back fully healthy for Week Nine.

"We need the bye desperately physically and emotionally to rest," Billick said. "We have to get Steve McNair fully healthy. It's in our interest to come back after the bye week with Steve fully healthy."

The Bills won't have any sympathy for the Ravens' injuries. Buffalo has lost three defensive starters this season and has had to play rookie Trent Edwards at quarterback the past two weeks after starter J.P. Losman suffered an MCL sprain in Week Three against the New England Patriots. Losman could return this week.

Edwards completed 23-of-31 passes for 176 yards with an interception against St. Louis and was 22-of-28 for 234 yards, a TD and one interception in the Bills' lone win, a 17-14 victory over the New York Jets.

Buffalo is coming off a heartbreaking 25-24 defeat to the Dallas Cowboys on October 8, surrendering nine points in the final 20 seconds.

The Bills became the second team in league history to lose a game in which they returned two interceptions and a kickoff for touchdowns.