Ray Rice regrets playing through injury for Baltimore Ravens

There is an old saying in sports that you need to know the difference between playing through pain and knowing when you’re injured and need to let your ailment heal.

In the NFL a player’s toughness is easily questioned if they don’t play through most injuries, but Baltimore Ravens’ running back Ray Rice regrets playing through a hip injury that limited his effectiveness in 2013.

"“I played through an injury and I probably should have thought twice about it, but I’m glad I was able to push through the season and not have any surgical procedures,” Rice told FoxSports.com’s Ross Jones. “One thing I know my body needed was rest, and we had a tough turnaround, and we didn’t do what we wanted to this year, but I’m positive that things are looking better for next year already. We’ll get this thing rolling again.”"

Rice only ran for 660 yards on 214 carries, both totals were the lowest for the former second round pick out of Rutgers since his rookie season in 2008, and only scored four touchdowns while averaging a career-low 3.1 yards per carry.

One year after winning the Super Bowl, the Ravens were kept out of the postseason with an 8-8 record. A healthy Rice in 2014 should go a long way toward getting Baltimore back into the playoffs.