By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Bengals might have to reshuffle their defensive secondary Sunday at Baltimore.

Cornerback Artrell Hawkins was downgraded from probable to questionable and had his knee drained of fluid on Friday morning.

Cornerback Jeff Burris, who has not played since the third quarter Nov. 9 against Houston because of two concussions, was upgraded from out to doubtful.

Burris practiced Friday for the third consecutive day, while Hawkins could not be spotted in uniform.

"We'll see what happens in Jeff. Jeff's had three good days of practice, though. He's ready to go," coach Marvin Lewis said after practice Friday. "We have to make sure that's the right thing."

Lewis declined to confirm whether Hawkins practiced.

The Bengals top cornerback situation has Burris and Tory James starting with Hawkins as the nickel back. The Bengals also have used two free safeties - Mark Roman and Kevin Kaesviharn - along with strong safety Rogers Beckett and two cornerbacks in nickel coverage on pass downs.

Guard Matt O'Dwyer (foot) was listed as doubtful.

Practice ran a few minutes past the 1 p.m. scheduled end after going 20 minutes longer than scheduled Wednesday and Thursday.

MARVIN'S VIEW: Looking ahead to the first-place showdown against the Ravens, Lewis sees turnovers as a key factor. "We've got to get some, and avoid them, and play field-position, and execute and make plays," he said.

HOMECOMING: Lewis, the Ravens' defensive coordinator for six seasons before staying in the Baltimore-Washington area for a season as Redskins coordinator, said he would have 10 people at the game. Some of his friends, Lewis said, don't want to attend, though.

WINTER WONDERLAND: The Baltimore area was hit with up to 7 inches of snow Friday, forcing the Ravens to practice in a high school gym near their Owings Mills, Md., offices.

Rookie linebacker/defensive end Terrell Suggs was involved in a weather-related car accident en route to practice Friday morning but was not injured. He arrived an hour late to practice.

WEATHER FORECAST: The temperature is supposed to be in the mid-30s Sunday, and precipitation is expected to fall during the game on the M&T Bank Stadium synthetic field for the first time this season.

Sportexe's Momentum Turf, one of the new generation of longer-bladed artificial surfaces, was installed in the offseason.

The heating element was turned on Thursday in an attempt to prevent snow from accumulating.

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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