





SAN DIEGO — Joe Flacco kept his eyes locked upfield, surveyed his options and saw a powder-blue wall of resistance standing between the Baltimore Ravens and survival. In what looked more like an act of resignation than realistic aerial attack, Flacco flipped a short pass to halfback Ray Rice at the Ravens' 39-yard line — two yards past the line of scrimmage, and more than a quarter of a football field away from a seemingly futile first down.

Then, football's equivalent of a massive seismic event occurred: Rice eluded three Chargers defenders, fought through a collision with another who'd been involuntarily launched, and lunged forward while being dragged down by two tacklers. He ended up just past the first-down marker, and a team that's been defying logic all season had just given the NFL another unlikely jolt. After surviving an excruciating replay reversal that left them inches from defeat, the Ravens parlayed their unlikely fourth-and-29 conversion into a game-tying field goal on the final play of regulation and emerged with a 16-13 overtime victory Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium.

"This was an awesome win," said Terrell Suggs, the Ravens' All-Pro pass rusher, after Baltimore (9-2) remained a game behind the Houston Texans in the race for homefield advantage in the AFC playoffs. "I'm still amazed. You get a fourth-and-29, it's a momentum changer. It was a miracle play."

Now, in a plot twist that may provide the NFL's answer to Willis Reed's one-legged inspiration in 1970 and Kirk Gibson's limp-off blast in 1988, the Ravens are quietly looking forward to another miracle, perhaps this one of the Christmas variety.

More than half a dozen sources told Yahoo! Sports that legendary linebacker Ray Lewis, believed to be lost for the season after suffering a torn triceps in mid-October, is expected to return before the end of the 2012 campaign, perhaps as early as the Ravens' Dec. 16 showdown with the AFC West-leading Denver Broncos at M&T Bank Stadium.

"At the end of the day, you're gonna see Ray Lewis again," said veteran linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, one of the many players attempting to fill the void during the future Hall of Famer's absence. "For the greatest player in Ravens history to be able to return from this injury and come on this championship run with us? When he was said to be down and out? Man, that's critical mass. When he comes through that tunnel, that's gonna be the earthquake and the tsunami."

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Lewis, who gave a fiery speech before Sunday's game and cheered on his teammates from the sidelines, wouldn't confirm his plans to return, saying, "You've got eyes — what do you expect to happen? I'm here to support my team."



A source close to Lewis said the 37-year-old linebacker has been aggressively treating his triceps injury with a variation of the platelet-rich plasma therapy that helped injured Pittsburgh Steelers wideout Hines Ward return from a knee sprain to play in the team's Super Bowl XLIII victory. The source said Lewis could practice as soon as this Thursday — the day he's eligible to do so after having been placed on the "injured reserve designated to return" list six weeks earlier — and almost certainly will return sometime in the next month.

Depending upon the way his arm responds, Lewis could be activated to face the Broncos (the first game for which he'd be eligible), or for the following week's home game against the New York Giants — or, if a more conservative approach is favored, Baltimore's playoff opener. "He might not be back until we really need him," Ayanbadejo said. "Pittsburgh losing probably gives us more time."

"We'll see in another couple of weeks," Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said Sunday. "Stay tuned."

Said Ravens coach John Harbaugh: "I would say it's possible. We can't put Ray out there until he's ready to win those battles. But if it can be done, yes, we want to do it."

One player who's especially captivated by the prospect of Lewis' return is Suggs, who recently made a stunning comeback of his own. Described Sunday by Harbaugh as a "walking miracle" — there's that word again — Suggs shocked the football world by making his 2012 debut in an Oct. 21 defeat to the Houston Texans, less than six months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon.

"When I got hurt I asked the doctors, 'How long do I have to sit out?' " Suggs recalled Sunday. "They said, 'Well, the earliest most people come back from this is nine months, but it's usually a year.' I just chose not to accept that. I had to get back. We came so close last year. We're on the brink of something big. I didn't want to leave the job undone."

For a split second last January, the Ravens appeared headed for their first Super Bowl since 2000, but wideout Lee Evans failed to secure an apparent game-winning touchdown catch, Billy Cundiff shanked a 32-yard field goal that would have forced overtime and the New England Patriots escaped with a 23-20 AFC championship game victory.

Evans and Cundiff are gone, but the Ravens who've remained have been galvanized by a desire to complete their quest for a championship. Though Baltimore has been underwhelming at times, particularly in its six road games (defeats to the Texans and Eagles, and tight victories over the Chiefs, Browns, Steelers and Chargers), the Ravens have a three-game lead over Pittsburgh (their opponent next Sunday in Baltimore) in the AFC North and a one-game edge over the Broncos and Patriots in the battle for a first-round playoff bye.

"They say we've had to win close games on the road," Ravens linebacker Jameel McClain said Sunday. "You know what? It's the NFL. They can judge us if they want. We're 9-2. It's football. Not every game is gonna be easy.

"We all understand that feeling from last [January]. It's something we don't want to feel again, and we're all digging deep to try to get back. Look at what Terrell Suggs did. That was phenomenal. They said that man would be out the entire season, and he worked so hard to get back when he did."

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