Vega Ioane, Kyle Hamilton return to practice as Ravens prepare for Bills

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Lamar Jackson was once again a full participant in Ravens practice Thursday, and Baltimore received encouraging injury news elsewhere on the roster.

One of the biggest surprises was the return of rookie right guard Vega Ioane.

Ioane left Sunday’s game against Cincinnati with a knee injury that was reported by NFL Network's Ian Rapoport to be serious enough to cause him to miss time. After sitting out Wednesday’s practice, Ioane returned Thursday as a limited participant while wearing a brace on his right leg.

Ioane did not say whether he will play Sunday, but said getting back onto the practice field was an important step.

“Felt good to get back out [on the field],” Ioane said. “There's no other way to get yourself ready, prepared, things like that, get your mind right than being out there on the field itself.”

Ioane said fighting through an injury can also be a mental battle.

“I know my body, I know how things go down,” Ioane said. “I mean it's just like a mentality thing. It's not only me, everybody in this locker room has it. Things go bad, you want to fight, get back as fast as you can no matter how long it takes but try to get to back as fast as possible.”

On the other side of the ball, the Ravens got safety Kyle Hamilton back on the field after he also missed Wednesday’s practice with a knee injury. Hamilton was spotted wearing a knee brace on both Wednesday and Thursday.

Hamilton said his knee is improving, but added that an injury cannot be an excuse if he is on the field. His focus is on making sure the Ravens’ adjustments produce results after a difficult second half against Cincinnati.

“Very real, grown man conversations were had, and I think there was a point last week where that needed to be had,” Hamilton said. “The season can go one of two directions and there's obviously the direction we want to go in, so everybody takes steps this week to give us our best chance to do that.”

The Ravens defense allowed 35 unanswered points in the second half against the Bengals. Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said he believes some past failures have left scars on this Ravens team, but he expects a better response.

“Every team has its own personality,” Weaver said. “This one, you can feel like there's some scars from situations and things that have happened in the past. I know our guys will step up. I know they'll do that. I know our response will be better, [but] sometimes you just [have] got to go through these situations in order to grow. I hope this will be us failing forward.”

That response will be tested against a Bills team averaging the most points per game in the NFL and the fourth-most yards per game.

Health is always significant in the NFL, but it could play an outsized role this week. Buffalo is coming off a bye, while Baltimore heads toward Sunday with a number of encouraging health updates that the Ravens hope will pay dividends.

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