Chester Taylor is quiet by nature, but for the next two weeks the Baltimore Ravens will be counting on him to make a lot of noise in their running game.
Taylor takes over as the Ravens’ feature back while star Jamal Lewis serves a two-game league-imposed suspension after pleading guilty in an Atlanta courtroom two weeks ago for setting up a drug deal in 2000.
Today against the struggling Buffalo Bills (1-4) at M&T Bank Stadium, the Ravens (3-2) will be asking Taylor to keep the league’s second-best ground attack operating at peak efficiency.
“I’m ready,” Taylor said on the team’s Web site. “Every week they try to get me more and more carries to build me up for this week. I’ll just try to take it week by week, just wait until the opportunity comes and just get ready for Buffalo.”
The third-year man out of Toledo has taken advantage of all the opportunities that have come his way. After five games, he has rushed for 164 yards on 28 carries (a 5.9 average) as Lewis’ backup.
Against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week2, Taylor rushed for a career-high 76 yards on just nine carries, including a career-long 35-yard scamper that helped hand the Steelers their only loss.
“I don’t think you can assume anything,” Bills first-year coach Mike Mularkey said of facing the Ravens without Lewis. “I’ve already told them Chester Taylor, when he’s had his opportunities, has made the most of them. He’s a little different style of runner, but the line’s not any different. I don’t think the scheme is going to change anything because they’ve been so successful with it.”
The problem Mularkey and his defense face is that there is not a lot of game film on Taylor. Lewis has been a workhorse for the Ravens in four of his five seasons in the league. The deceptive 5-foot-11, 213-pound Taylor might cause different problems for Buffalo’s seventh-rated run defense.
“They’re going to have to get used to what he does, but they’ll adapt very quickly,” Ravens coach Brian Billick said. “I’d imagine they’re spending a lot of time deciding what it is they might do about it.”
Meanwhile, a bye week helped the Ravens get healthier. Wide receiver Travis Taylor, who has missed the past four games with a groin injury, is listed as probable. However, two-time Pro Bowl tight end Todd Heap (ankle), center Mike Flynn (shoulder) are doubtful and four-time Pro Bowl outside linebacker Peter Boulware (knee) is out.
The Bills are coming off their first win under Mularkey, 20-13 over the winless Miami Dolphins last Sunday. Running back Willis McGahee, who filled in for injured back Travis Henry, rushed for 111 yards on 26 carries (4.3) in his first pro start. If Henry is healthy, he’ll start today over McGahee. But Henry, who has posted two consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons for the Bills, has a foot injury and is questionable.
McGahee suffered a devastating knee injury in his final college game in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State and was inactive all last season. The former University of Miami star showed last week he has recovered. But if McGahee doesn’t start, he’s comfortable as Henry’s backup.
“No, I won’t be disappointed, because it was his job at the beginning before I came,” McGahee said. “You just got to know your role.”
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