Suggs: I’m not finished yet
There’s just no predicting how well this team will turn out Veteran LB says he’ll be ready to start practice before long
It is the nature of a pro football training camp to begin with a large measure of uncertainty, if only because nothing is ever very certain in the NFL.
Every team has rehabilitating players. Every team has a large group of rookies. Every team has new free agents. Even the lucky teams that will start off healthier and more established than the rest know they are subject to all manner of unforeseen circumstances.
The Ravens were one of those teams at this time last year, and everybody saw what happened. They hope they have made all the right offseason moves to turn around last season’s hugely disappointing 5-11 record, but they will hold their first Rush linebacker Terrell Suggs, who is on the physicallyunable-to-perform list, answers questions Wednesday.
For a little more than 10 minutes, Ravens rush linebacker Terrell Suggs appeared to be very much in his element again.
He referred to himself in the third person, dropped a few expletives and quoted the poet Robert Frost. He joked about getting a new license after he was arrested for driving without a valid one in March. He mentioned his recent tussle with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on the HBO show “Ballers.”
And when he was asked how many sacks he has left in his 33-year-old body, Suggs flashed that wide smile and nodded Today: first practice M&T Bank Stadium practices: Monday (7 p.m.) and Aug. 6 (6 p.m.)
at the legitimacy of the question.
“We’re going to find out,” he said Wednesday on the eve of the Ravens’ first full-squad practice at the Under Armour Performance Center.
“The answer to that question is I have a lot of promises to keep … many miles before I can sleep. I question [it] every day. I get up and I love football. I love the locker room. I love my teammates. I love ... being confrontational. I love talking [trash]. That’s just part of being ‘Sizzle.’ I think once I kind of get back to being him, I think all your questions will be answered.”
Suggs insists that day will come relatively soon. The franchise’s all-time leader in sacks (106.5) and forced fumbles (29) will start training camp on the physicallyunable-to-perform list as he continues to rehabilitate his surgically repaired torn Achilles tendon and works his way back into football shape.
“I’m not going to give no timetable, but it’s not going to be long,” Suggs said. “We’re close to where we want to be. I’ll be honest with you: The Ravens side of me is like, ‘Sizz, let’s go. Let’s play some football.’ But I’ve got to be smart with it. I can’t be timid, but I’ve got to be smart. It won’t be long before I’ll be off of [PUP] and out there practicing with the guys.”
Suggs’ comments were his first since days before the Ravens’ regular-seasonopening loss to the Denver Broncos in September. Late in that game, Suggs tore the Achilles tendon in his left leg and was carted off the field, the injury ending his season before it had really begun. He had torn the Achilles in his right leg two years earlier, and that year he stunned team officials and teammates by returning to the field in five months.
However, the latest injury has sidelined Suggs for 10 months. His extended silence, disappearance from the team after the injury and his offseason arrest led to questions about Suggs’ mindset and commitment to the organization and his career.
Suggs, though, said Wednesday that he never considered retiring during the arduous rehabilitation process and that he doesn’t foresee the 2016 season as being his last.
“It’s not something I want to visit at the end of this year, end of next year. Maybe the year after that, we can talk about it. What will I be, 36 then? But I’m not worried about that right now,” Suggs said. “This is 14 years Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs in last season’s opener. Late in that game, he tore his Achilles tendon and was lost for the season. for me. I came in here a young 20-year-old, didn’t really know anything. I had some of the greatest Jedi masters teaching me. We have seen a lot of Ravens come and go, and I’m one of the last few here. It’s a fair question, but in my eyes, premature. It’s not yet. I’m a lot younger in spirit than I am in my number in the league.”
Suggs did acknowledge how difficult the past10 months have been. The Ravens fell to 5-11 last year, their worst record since 2007. Team owner Steve Bisciotti cited Suggs’ absence and the disappearance of the pass rush as one of the primary reasons for the disappointing season.
On many occasions, Suggs said, he exchanged text messages with his teammates to offer encouragement and advice. However, being laid up after surgery, he also felt helpless. He compared being injured to “the girl that got away.”
“It just didn’t feel good, but now we get a chance to kind of make it right,” Suggs said. “Last year is gone. We’ve got to beat that team. We’ve got to make sure that team
“I’m a lot younger in spirit than I am in my number in the league.” Ravens rush linebacker Terrell Suggs, age 33
doesn’t show up on September 11. We worked too hard; our fans deserve better, and we deserve better. Wework our tails off. It takes a lot to be considered a Raven. We’ve just got to get back to that.”
Quarterback Joe Flacco said Suggs’ return to the field is a significant step toward that.
“It’s always good to have his personality around the building and what he brings to this whole place,” Flacco said Wednesday. “He’s been here every year since I’ve been here and a lot longer than that. He’s just a lot of fun. I think he gives the young guys a lot of direction, and they look up to him. They’ve been watching him play for a long time now.”
Suggs is at or near the top of most of the franchise’s all-time defensive lists. At his best, he’s been one of the game’s most feared pass rushers and an accomplished edgesetter against the run.
Whether he can be that player again, at his age, on two surgically repaired Achilles, remains to be seen. Suggs understands the skepticism. It also appears to be driving him.
“The simple fact that I had the opportunity to rehab, come back, listen to my naysayers — that’s a privilege,” he said. “Every dark cloud has a silver lining, so I guess that’s kind of mine. People say, ‘He can’t do it again.’ I guess we’re going to find out.”