Find MASN on your cable or satellite provider.

John Harbaugh knows first-hand the importance of a solid return game. Baltimore's head coach spent nine seasons as the special teams coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles, so he keeps a sharp eye on the Ravens' kick return unit.

The word "timing" is one you hear a lot when you ask questions about the key to a return, especially when those questions are tossed toward Harbaugh.

"There's a multitude of techniques and spacing and timing and geometry involved, " he said. "It basically boils down to blocking and running with the football, hitting the hole in the right spot and keeping the timing correct."

Harbaugh's Ravens have had a revolving door at the kickoff return spot this year because of injuries to normal return-man Yamon Figurs. The most recent guy to get thrust into duty is rookie running back Ray Rice.

Rice didn't return kicks in his time at Rutgers (mainly because he was too valuable to the Scarlet Knights for them to risk losing him to injury), but he told me he spent some time on the return unit back in high school.

The rookie agrees with his head coach that a major part of a successful return is timing, especially in regards to the hang time on a kick.

"The faster it gets down, the better the return is for me because I can get everything set up," Rice told me. "Its a full sprint, so you've got to think about how long you actually can hold a block on our side of the ball -- the return side."

If a kick sails into the end zone, Harbaugh says that's when timing really plays a factor. The returner has to keep count of how long the ball is airborne before making the decision of whether to bring it out or take a knee.

"Those guys develop the ability, kind of a mental clock in their head, and we give them a count that they go through when the ball is in the air [so] they can tell what the hang time on that kick is and whether they have a chance to bring it out and maintain the timing. When our guys set up and make those blocks between the 30 and 25-yard line, [the returner] is going to be coming up through the hole at that point in time. But if [the kick has] too much hang time when it's in the end zone, he's not."

If he decides to bring the ball out, Rice says the most important thing is reading his back-line of blockers and their initial movements.

"The first thing I'm looking for is the wedge," he said. "I'm looking for where they're set up at. Obviously you want to set up your blocks, so depending on what kind of return it is, that's how you want to attack it."

Rice said that it's important to be able to adjust if the ball is kicked in the opposite direction of where the return was designed to go. In that situation, he reads where the wedge goes, and follows their path.

When he gets past the initial wave of cover-guys, Rice says it's a lot of "read-and-react". With guys all around, you don't have time to plan your route, you just make the cuts that you see are there. In that regard, Rice says a return is a lot like a normal offensive play.

"When you've got the ball, to me it's like being a running back and being in the open field," he said. "You're trying to get as many yards as you can before getting touched or tackled. Obviously sometimes there's creases, but you want to get as many yards as you can before the defenders actually get to you."

Rice's style of "get as much as you can" isn't embraced league-wide. Some, like the Rams' Dante Hall, choose more of a "go for broke" attack, looking to break a big one every time they get the ball in their hands. Rice said he thinks the consistent, solid return is more valuable than the hit-or-miss approach.

"You've got to take what's there," he says. "It's like on a running play -- you can't force a running play that's not there. You can't force a kick return that's not there. One thing that's big is you want to have a good average. If you're averaging over 25 yards a kick return, that's really good according to NFL standards. The big ones will come if you stick to what you know."

For the record, on his six kick returns this season, Rice is averaging 25.8 yards per return. Hall's style, on the other hand, has netted him an average of 20.6 yards per return, but he obviously is a greater threat to break a long one.

Rice says that returning kicks is a much different art than lining up in the backfield and taking the handoff, but he's liking the opportunity to make plays regardless of the situation.

"It's fun, you know? It's different," he told me with a smile. "You see things. You see the open field more. It gets your vision working better. So I'm really enjoying it. However long I get to do it, I'll do it."