Victory parades, as we discussed yesterday, are events when players can do pretty much whatever they want – for example, sing or dance badly. Still, some caution must be exercised… as Ray Rice can now attest.

With 1:59 to go in the 4th quarter and down 3, the Ravens faced a 4th and 29 at midfield. And as Joe Flacco bounced in the pocket, finally dumping it off the Ray Rice at the line of scrimmage, all hope seemed lost. But then something interesting happened: Rice ran past pretty much the entire Chargers defense for a game-saving first down in one of the more remarkable plays of the year. (He also got quite a helpful spot from the refs.) The game would go into overtime, the Ravens would win 16-13, and Chargers fans would be left STMFH.

From Houston’s 43-13 shellacking of Baltimore. The athletically freakish defensive lineman — check out his combine stats — got into it a bit with everyone’s favorite undersized running back, Ray Rice. Rice, for the record, stands at a relatively diminutive (for a football player) 5’8″ – albeit 5’8″ of brick-solid muscle mass. So it was definitely a truck stop burrito Watt was talking about. [Houston Chron]

Not much stopped the Ravens last night. They beat the Bengals 44-13, making their division foes look rather unlike the playoff team they were a year ago. Thy dominated on both sides of the ball. One person, though, got the better of them.

We know NFL players, and professional athletes as a whole, enjoy poking fun at each other. Really, they’re just big fraternities of rich, athletic men that aren’t above pulling some pranks on one another. Especially if they have short teammates.

Ray Rice became the second Pro-Bowl running back to ink a long term deal today, re-upping with the Ravens for five years. The details, after the jump.

In the 23rd hour of contract negotiations, the Bears and Matt Forte finally agreed to a deal. The details, after the jump.

Need to check last-minute NFL injuries? We’ve got you covered with some weekly last-minute maneuvering of our own – SportsGrid’s NFL injury update. Today’s will be highlighted by tons of RBs.

Tonight, the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets kick off the Monday Night Football season. Most of the attention will probably focused on Rex Ryan, the Ines Sainz mess, Hard Knocks, Revis, etc. – but not one guy on the other side who might well steal the show.

The player ratings for Madden 11 have been snagged, and in addition to getting Madden heads giddy for the upcoming season of virtual football, it also gives fantasy nerds something to pour over.