Arthur Maulet is expected to be designated to return off injured reserve this week, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Monday, bringing the slot cornerback one step closer to a possible season debut.

“He should practice this week, and then we’ll see where he’s at physically and roster-wise and all those kind of things,” Harbaugh said at his weekly news conference.

Maulet, one of the standouts of offseason workouts and the opening weeks of training camp, started the season on IR while recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. Once designated to return, he would have a 21-day window during which he can practice. If activated this week, Maulet could fill the spot on the Ravens’ 53-man roster vacated by cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis, who was placed on IR Saturday because of a hamstring injury.

The Ravens, who’ve rotated through several slot defenders over the season’s first four weeks, face the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday in their AFC North opener. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is completing a career-high 70.9% of his attempts this season, averaging 244.5 passing yards per game, and has thrown seven touchdowns and one interception.

Harbaugh did not have a timetable for the return of defensive lineman Michael Pierce, who was ruled out of Sunday’s win over the Buffalo Bills because of a shoulder injury. Pierce was a full participant in practice Thursday and Friday, but was downgraded to doubtful Saturday.

“It’s just kind of the way it works,” Harbaugh said. “You never can predict anything. That’s why I just hate to predict what a guy’s going to do or not going to do, because you just never know. It wasn’t something we necessarily anticipated, but that’s what happened.”

Starting left guard Andrew Vorhees, who sat out Sunday’s win, could also return against Cincinnati. He missed practice last week because of an ankle injury suffered in the Ravens’ Week 3 win over the Dallas Cowboys and wasn’t at full strength during pregame workouts Sunday night. Harbaugh said the Ravens have confidence in Patrick Mekari, who moved over from right tackle to left guard against Buffalo, and rookie right tackle Roger Rosengarten.

“As we go forward, we’ll see how Andrew’s ankle is and all that, but Pat can continue to do it, and he’s only going to get better if he gets more reps there,” Harbaugh said. “And obviously Rodger is a guy that’s been coming on. He’s a high draft pick. He’s a guy we have a lot of expectations for, and he didn’t do anything in that game [against Buffalo] to dampen that down at all. So I think you just kind of take it as it comes every single week and try to put the best group out there you can with the best next guys playing, and have everybody ready so when need arises, you can put a player in there that’s ready to help you win.”

Harbaugh blames himself

Harbaugh, a magnet for game management critiques this season, was criticized again Sunday for handing the Bills a first down with his timeout usage.

Late in the second quarter, the Ravens were assessed a timeout because of an injury to cornerback Marlon Humphrey after he helped force an incompletion on third-and-2. But before the Bills could snap the ball on fourth-and-2 near midfield, Harbaugh called another timeout, which is forbidden under NFL rules. Officials called a delay-of-game penalty, giving Buffalo a first down. The Ravens ultimately forced a punt on the drive.

“That was not good,” Harbaugh said of the back-to-back timeouts. “That was one I want back. There’s a lot of reasons stuff happens in a game, and there’s a lot of things that happen, but I want that one back. That was bad. I felt bad about it at the time. Still feel bad about it. Going to feel bad about it next year, and 10 years from now, I’m going to hate it still. Just a bad, bad sequence for us — for me, especially.”