As the Baltimore Ravens say goodbye to one of their all-time greats, we get to reflect on the incredible career Terrell Suggs had with the purple and black.
It’s been over a week now since Terrell Suggs departed Baltimore, Maryland for his home state of Arizona… yet I’m still not over it. I can’t imagine many others are past it, either. How do you move on from someone so talented who still has gas left in the tank?
Sure, Ed Reed also left the Ravens for a different team following Super Bowl XLVII, but Reed was well past his prime. While it hurt to lose Reed, it wasn’t nearly as significant as losing Suggs.
No, with the Baltimore Ravens losing Terrell Suggs, the team has also lost a significant amount of its pass rush, leadership, and spirit. Through his 16-year in the league, Terrell Suggs embodied the meaning of “Play like a Raven.” Suggs was a voice in the locker room and the community, and was truly someone you could look up to.
For me, Terrell Suggs will be my all-time favorite Baltimore Raven. His attitude and swagger matched his play on the field, and he was simply a character to watch. 31 teams in the NFL hated Suggs, but Baltimore embraced and loved every second of him. That’s why saying goodbye to T-Sizzle is so difficult.
Today, we take a break from our grieving of Terrell Suggs’ departure and honor his accomplishments and best moments with the team. Baltimore Ravens fans will never forget T-Sizzle, and we know that these memories will always stay with us as a new chapter unfolds in the timeline of the Ravens history.
Setting Baltimore Ravens franchise marks:
You can’t talk about Terrell Suggs, the legendary Baltimore Raven, without glossing over his jaw-dropping stats. During his 16-year stint in Baltimore, Suggs amassed 847 tackles and 132.5 sacks. This includes seven double-digit sack seasons, and missing time with two(!) torn Achilles tendons. Both Suggs’ sack numbers and forced fumbles (35) are tops in Ravens’ franchise history.
With such an impressive resume, it’s a no-brainer that Terrell Suggs will be a slam-dunk for the Pro Football Hall of Fame once he decides to hang up the cleats. The numbers don’t lie, and the offensive linemen who had to square off with T-Sizzle wouldn’t, either.
Go onto YouTube right now and type in “Terrell Suggs.” You’ll find all sorts of highlight tapes, awesome interviews, and astounding leadership skills. Suggs was the voice of the Ravens’ locker room when Ray Lewis retired, but even before then he was a prominent leader for the team. Between his attitude and swagger to his on-field talent and ability, Suggs was someone many players gravitated to.
Playing with Terrell Suggs was an honor, and many NFL players, both current and former, would do anything to play next to him. Elvis Dumervil was a massive signing for Baltimore back in 2013, but it shouldn’t come to anyone’s surprise that he was interested in playing next to Suggs. Guys like Pernell McPhee and Za’Darius Smith grew with Suggs and earned themselves big paydays under his wings. Suggs was truly a great leader for the Ravens.
A model of consistency, a true field general, a fan favorite, and an outspoken captain, Terrell Suggs was everything that the Baltimore Ravens could’ve ever asked of him. Suggs will be remembered as one of the five greatest Baltimore Ravens of all-time, and his mark on the franchise both figuratively and in the record books is beyond measure.
Winning Super Bowl XLVII:
A lot of people tend to associate career success with championships. Whether or not this is fair is irrelevant right now, but thankfully Terrell Suggs has a Super Bowl ring on his finger. Better yet, he helped the team earn it.
Despite the fact that Suggs was injured for much of the 2012 season, due to an Achilles injury suffered earlier in the year, he still came back and generated pressure off the edge. Suggs wasn’t quite as disruptive as he had been previously, but he was still a force to be reckoned with.
Baltimore didn’t have many elite pass rushers in 2012, but it didn’t help that Suggs was absent most of the year. However, fellow edge rusher Paul Kruger enjoyed a career-year, he and Suggs made a tremendous tandem that propelled the Ravens pass rush when it mattered most.
Once Super Bowl XLVII rolled around, Baltimore needed its pass rush more than ever. Mobile quarterback sensation Colin Kaepernick seemed unstoppable combined with Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter in the San Francisco 49ers backfield. With an aging Ray Lewis and decent supporting cast next to him, the onus was on Suggs to set the edge.
Thankfully, and unsurprisingly, T-Sizzle stepped up. The Ravens were able to control the game before an untimely power outage. Even with the amazing play of Joe Flacco, some of the team’s success is owed to the play that Terrell Suggs gave the team, and he was rewarded with a Super Bowl XLVII championship.
Thanksgiving night 2011:
Terrell Suggs’ 2011 season was one for the ages. It was so good, that we had to dedicate an entire slide to it (more on that later). However, there was one game in particular that stood out more than the rest of his impressive season: Thanksgiving night 2011 against the San Francisco 49ers.
The 49ers had been in a slump for quite some time, but the team experienced a Renaissance with new Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh quickly turned a talented, but directionless team into one of the best in the league. San Francisco was rolling through their opponents week-after-week, and it was Thanksgiving night against his brother John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens that gave him the best shot to prove his claim to fame.
Instead, the Ravens, or rather Terrell Suggs, had a different narrative in mind. The 2011 season featured one of the best defenses the Baltimore Ravens have ever fielded, and a large part of that is because of Terrell Suggs. All year long, Suggs was harassing offensive tackles and destroying their quarterbacks. His helmet-slapping sack celebration was seen on what was nearly a weekly basis. He was simply unstoppable.
Even against arguably the best offensive line in the NFL in 2011, Suggs wrecked havoc. Versus a potential future Hall of Famer in left tackle Joe Staley, Suggs simply took him behind the woodshed. The late Deacon Jones would be proud of T-Sizzle’s night, as he put the 49ers offensive line in a burlap bag and beat them with a baseball bat.
Suggs destroyed quarterback Alex Smith to the tune of three sacks and forcing a crucial fumble that would seal away one of the most important wins for the Baltimore Ravens in their franchise’s history. The Ravens were the better tam that night, and almost all the props go to Terrell Suggs.
Winning the 2003 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award:
Coming out of Arizona State University, Terrell Suggs was the All-Time sack leader in NCAA history (before being passed in 2018 by Louisiana Tech’s Jaylon Ferguson) at 44.0 sacks. Suggs was known for his ferocity off the edge and lightning quick speed. The Baltimore Ravens fell in love with him and selected him 10th overall in the 2003 NFL Draft.
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As a rookie, Suggs wasted no time acclimating to the NFL and became one of the league’s most feared edge rushers at just barely 21-years old. T-Sizzle recorded 12.0 sacks in 14 games with just one start(!) as a rookie, including a sack in each of his first six career games. Those kind of numbers make you think of Hall of Famers like Michael Strahan, but it was Suggs all along.
A season like Suggs had as a rookie wasn’t rewarded with a Pro Bowl appearance, but he was given the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award, and rightfully so. It was practically an instant truth that Terrell Suggs was going to be, if not already was, one of the league’s top pass rushers.
He certainly lived up to that billing, as Suggs will 100% be enshrined forever in the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day. The fact that Suggs is still going at nearly 37-years of age is remarkable, but he remains productive and impactful and that’s nearly impossible to find in “old men” like Suggs.
We’ve seen some incredible rookie seasons, but Terrell Suggs’ 2003 rookie year will always remain one of the best we’ve seen.
Winning the 2011 NFL Defensive Player of the Year award:
Of all the accomplishments that Terrell Suggs achieved in his time as a Baltimore Raven, none where more impressive than his incredible 2011 season. It was in 2011 that Suggs took home the NFL’s most prestigious honor for defensive players, promptly named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year. It was no walk in the park, as 2011 saw some of the best defensive performances of the last 20-years.
Jared Allen (then with the Minnesota Vikings) came one sack short of setting the single-season sack record with 22.0. Jason Pierre-Paul (then with the New York Giants) also had a season for the ages, notching 86 tackles and 16.5 sacks. DeMarcus Ware (then with the Dallas Cowboys) came a half-sack shy of tying his single-season best with an incredible 19.5 sacks. Additionally, safety Charles Woodson (then with the Green bay Packers) had a league leading seven interceptions, including a pick-six, to go with 17 pass deflections and 2.0 sacks.
Despite all these incredible seasons, it was Terrell Suggs who walked away with the trophy for his excellence. Suggs finished tied for fifth in sacks at 14.0, but led the NFL with seven forced fumbles.
It wasn’t just numbers, however. T-Sizzle turned his A-game on when he played against some of the best teams in the league. In prime-time games, Suggs was the star of the show. When the Ravens needed a stop, Suggs was there. When Baltimore needed a spark to jump-start the team again, it was Suggs who answered the call.
Everything that Terrell Suggs did and accomplished in 2011 was truly amazing. To been seen as elite and to out-play his peers is remarkable, especially when you look back at the listed names and notice that three of them are future Hall of Famers. Suggs will be right behind them, and with the hardware to remind folks that he is in the same talent league as them.
Saying goodbye is never easy, but saying goodbye to Terrell Suggs is the hardest one I’ve had yet. The day Suggs retired was going to be a sad one, but to see him walk away from the organization is gut-wrenching. But the man that T-Sizzle was for the city of Baltimore and its fans speaks even louder than his play. Terrel Suggs epitomized what it meant to “Play like a Raven.” Suggs will return one day to sign back with, and retire as, a Baltimore Raven and I can’t wait for that day.
Until then, thank you Terrell Suggs for everything you’ve given us. Once a Raven, ALWAYS a Raven!