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By TOM WITHERS, Associated Press 9:03 PM Thursday, December 22, 2011

BEREA, Ohio — As the days turned to weeks, T.J. Ward held out hope his injured right foot would heal so he could play again this season.

Time ran out for him on Thursday with two games left.

The Browns placed their hard-hitting strong safety on injured reserve with a sprained right foot, an injury coach Pat Shurmur said does not need surgery — "at this point."

Ward, a second-round pick last year, started eight games before getting hurt on Nov. 6 against Houston. Both he and the team had been optimistic that he would get back on the field, and it appeared he might return last week when he did some individual drills. However, with only two games to go and the Browns' depth being thinned by mounting injuries, the team decided to end Ward's 2011 season.

"We were looking at his recovery and games left available," Shurmur said after Thursday's practice in explaining the move. "We had some players that got knocked out of action this past week and it's a move we needed to make."

The team signed wide receiver Rod Windsor from the practice squad to fill Ward's roster spot. With Jordan Norwood out with a concussion, the team needed another wide receiver for Saturday's game in Baltimore.

Ward made 38 tackles — 27 of them solo — and forced one fumble. He became more of a vocal leader on Cleveland's defense and several of his teammates credited Ward with his grasp and knowledge of Cleveland's 4-3 defensive system.

"He was doing well," said linebacker D'Qwell Jackson, who sympathizes with Ward after being out with injuries the past two years. "He's been battling these injuries, man, and it's tough. You don't know when they're coming and you just have to deal with them the best way you know how. You try to do everything preventative as you can and when it happens and it just lingers it's a tough position to be in.

"I feel sorry for him because he wanted to play bad this year. We were playing well in certain areas of our defense and he would have been a major, major factor in there. We missed him, without a doubt."

Ward was not available for comment.

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