Osemele absent from Thursday's practice

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OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Despite optimism that the 53-man roster was as close to full strength as possible following the Week 8 bye, the Ravens were without a starting member of their offensive line for the second straight day on Thursday as they continued preparations for Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns.
After right tackle Michael Oher sat out Wednesday’s workout with an ankle injury, left guard Kelechi Osemele did not participate after being a limited participant a day earlier. Osemele has been nursing a back injury all season and acknowledged prior to the bye that he would be undergoing offseason surgery to correct a bad disc, making it likely that the Ravens will need to monitor his practice time for the rest of the season.
“The back’s a big thing. It’s connected to everything,” said Osemele about the injury during the bye week. “It’s connected to your legs. It’s everything from that point down is affected. It’s affected my power. I’m an offensive lineman. I need to have strong legs. So, obviously it’s affected me.”
Oher was suited up and working fully after he was listed as a non-participant the day before. His ankle injury was not considered serious as he was moving around well during Thursday’s practice.
Wide receiver Brandon Stokley (groin) was present and working for the second straight day and was listed as a limited participant once again. Linebacker Josh Bynes (finger) was a full participant after being limited on Wednesday.
With veteran Jameel McClain back to action, Bynes has been relegated to a reserve role and is expected to play a larger role on special teams, an area in which the Ravens have expressed strong desire to improve. Considering McClain was the incumbent at the weakside inside linebacker position, Bynes took the expected demotion in stride as defensive coordinator Dean Pees said he has full confidence to continue playing the young linebacker should McClain need a breather.
“I think it definitely helps on our special teams, because we definitely need to get better on that end,” Bynes said. “Defensively, it just helps us out as a unit. We’ll see how that goes and what not. It just helps this defense tremendously.”
There was one notable change to the Browns’ injury report as starting running back Willis McGahee was a non-participant on Thursday after practicing fully a day earlier. The former Raven is dealing with a knee injury as he prepares to take on his former team.
Here is Thursday’s injury report:
BALTIMORE
DID NOT PARTICIPATE: G Kelechi Osemele (back/knee)
LIMITED PARTICIPATION: WR Brandon Stokley (thigh)
FULL PARTICIPATION: LB Josh Bynes (finger/thigh), DT Terrence Cody (knee), C Ryan Jensen (foot), T Michael Oher (ankle), RB Bernard Pierce (thigh)
CLEVELAND
DID NOT PARTICIPATE: RB Willis McGahee (knee)
LIMITED PARTICIPATION: LB Quentin Groves (ankle), DL Billy Winn (Quad)
FULL PARTICIPATION: RB Willis McGahee (knee), RB Chris Ogbonnaya (ribs), DB Chris Owens (finger), LB Jabaal Sheard (wrist)