Ravens Injury Report: Ray Lewis Returns to Team Facilities for First Time Since Injury

Ray Lewis is looking forward to coming back.  He may have meant in 2013, but we shouldn't put it past him that he thinks he can return this year.  For the first time since tearing his triceps muscle four weeks ago, Lewis returned to team facilities and met with his coach and teammates says Jamison Hensley of ESPN. Lewis was injured back on October 14th.  The injury looked severe at the time, and an MRI the following day confirmed it.  He was placed on the injured reserve, but designated him as eligible to return.  This means Lewis could return on December 12th.  But yesterday, Lewis made his return on a lesser scale in his surprise visit to the team facilities. "It's truly great to be back with my teammates," Lewis said in a statement. "I've really missed these guys and the feel of being around the team and in the locker room. I am focused on rehabbing and getting my arm and body as strong as they can be. I will speak in person when I know a little more about my progress. I'm working hard and looking forward to coming back and helping this team. But right now, the focus should be on the guys playing, and I'll be the biggest cheerleader I can be for them." It seems unlikely that Lewis will be able to play again, and just about everyone in the sport has all but ruled him out for the rest of the season, but it sounds as if Lewis will be back for another season if he can't play again this year.  Lewis had hinted at retirement after this year, but no player wants to go out this way. Lewis has played his entire 17-year career with the Baltimore Ravens.  He is a future Hall of Famer.  Baltimore's defense struggles without him.  But for now, and probably for this whole season, the team will have to figure out how to operate without him on defense.   Follow @TheNFLInjuryRpt !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="http://www.thenflinjuryreport.com//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-34100676-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();