The Ravens have lacked a consistent pass rush since they stepped on the field for their very first preseason game in Atlanta.
Sergio Kindle was drafted with the hope that he could provide some explosiveness off the edge.
Add it up and you would think that Kindle could make his way on to the 46-man active list on Sundays – at least one, right?
After all, couldn’t the Ravens do without Anthony Allen’s ½ special teams tackle per game? Couldn’t they do without Deonte Thompson’s 20-yard kick returns from 8 yards deep?
Here’s a kid the Ravens have paid for 2+ years just to give him a chance; a kid they burned a second round pick on – their first in the 2010 NFL Draft.
All of these signs suggest just giving Kindle a shot in 2012, just one! But it never happened. Not even at home against the Cleveland Browns.
So when the Ravens promoted Josh Bynes from the practice squad AND Steve Bisciotti shared with us on Wednesday on the Ravens Rap that Bynes would see some action in Houston, Kindle was saved only because of Ray Lewis’ injured status.
And then Terrell Suggs, recovered heel, plump physique and all came knocking on the door. Then it became a question of “when” not “if” for Kindle.
Today the Ravens placed Suggs on the 53-man active roster even though they had 3 weeks to do so. To make room for Suggs, the Ravens finally cut ties with Kindle who apparently has no game left despite impressing the coaches during training camp.
The move is a curious one for sure.
It stands to reason that the Ravens would rest Suggs through the bye week and perhaps give him some limited snaps against the Browns in Cleveland on November 4. Clearly the club knows more about Suggs’ injury than any of us and they won’t take risks with their highly paid All-Pro.
But might he really take the field tomorrow or is this just some gamesmanship on John Harbaugh’s part? And if it is gamesmanship, are the Texans even paying attention? Could an out of shape Suggs really send Gary Kubiak back to the drawing board to restructure his plan of attack?
Last year against the Texans in two games Suggs had a total of 6 tackles and 0 sacks. During the regular season game on October 16, 2011 won by the Ravens 29-14, Suggs didn’t register a single defensive statistic. In 4 career games against the Texans Suggs had 4 sacks, 3 of them in a game won by the Ravens on December 4, 2005 at M&T Bank Stadium by the score of 16-15.
So as of late even a healthier and lighter Suggs hasn’t really been a major hindrance to the successful execution of Kubiak’s game plan.
I doubt that Harbaugh’s cat-and-mouse act has forced the Texans’ coaching staff to work overtime and run out of midnight oil.
Maybe all the noise about Suggs is simply a well-crafted red herring intended to take the focus off the abysmal defensive play from Dean Pees’ crew.
