Eric Detweiler, The Examiner
2008-08-14 07:00:00.0
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BALTIMORE -

Ravens coach John Harbaugh would rather have wide receiver Mark Clayton catch passes than defend them, but he didn’t have a choice during practice on Wednesday morning.

Clayton was pressed into action as a defensive back in several situations because just three cornerbacks — Frank Walker, Corey Ivy and Ronnie Prude — were healthy enough to participate in contact drills.

“You gotta give those three guys a lot of credit,” Harbaugh said. “They took every rep today and did a great job.”

Chris McAlister (right knee) was absent from the practice field. Fabian Washington (neck spasms) was in uniform but did not participate, and Samari Rolle was limited to running on the side a day after banging knees with a teammate in practice. Reserves David Pittman and Derrick Martin (undisclosed) watched drills from the sidelines.

“It is a concern,” Harbaugh said. “Those guys are all close to coming back, they’ve got little tweaks and nicks, so you’re not going to make a change. It’s not like an [injured reserve] situation where you can bring another guy in, you’ve just got to work through it.”

AGGRESSIVE OFFENSE

Harbaugh named Troy Smith the starter for Saturday’s home preseason opener against Minnesota. But the head coach said Wednesday his philosophy doesn’t change based on who is leading the offense.

“We’re going to be aggressive with everything we do offensively,” Harbaugh said. “We’re not buttoning anything down ever. Our offense the last two days just keeps getting better, and that should be our mindset Saturday night.”

Smith came off the bench to complete 5 of 12 passes for 74 yards with no interceptions in a 16-15 victory over New England last week. Quarterbacks Kyle Boller and Joe Flacco each lost a fumble, and Boller threw an interception.

But Harbaugh said holding onto the ball will not be enough for Smith to win the starting job for the regular season opener against Cincinnati on Sept. 7.

“We don’t want to say, ‘Don’t turn the ball over,’” Harbaugh said. “It’s aggressive ball security. We want to score a lot of points, and we want to secure the football.”

INJURY UPDATE

Offensive tackles Adam Terry and Jared Gaither may be close to returning from ankle sprains, but they watched practice and did light drill work the past few days.

Tight end Todd Heap did not participate in drills on Wednesday morning because of an injured calf muscle, but did some light running on the sidelines.

eric.detweiler@baltimoreexaminer.com