BALTIMORE — In a losing cause, Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs delivered one of the top performances of his career.
Suggs recorded 1 1/2 sacks, three tackles for losses and five quarterback hits in a 13-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, constantly harassing quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on Sunday night at M&T Bank Stadium.
"He’s a heck of a player," Roethlisberger said. "We kept trying to change our blocking schemes on him, and he got through. One time after a play, I looked at him and he was bleeding from the mouth. I was bleeding from the nose. That says it all about a Ravens-Steelers football game."
Suggs was relentless in chasing down Roethlisberger and had consecutive tackles for losses during a goal-line stand in the second half.
"He’s a beast, he’s a beast," Ravens outside linebacker Jarret Johnson said. "He plays his ass off. I can’t say enough about him. We watched some highlights and like the first 10 plays were all Terrell’s plays. He kicked ass all night. The guy’s a beast."
Suggs leads the Ravens with nine sacks.
Signed to a six-year, $62.5 million contract last year prior to a career-worst season where he was held to 3 1/2 sacks, Suggs is having a resurgent campaign.
"Terrell played fantastic," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "He broke the huddle for us. Terrell was a dominant player. He’s one of the premier players in the league, and he played great.”
It was arguably one of the best games of Suggs’ career.
However, the three-time Pro Bowl pass rusher took no satisfaction out of his five tackles.
"We didn’t win," Suggs said. "You can say you had a good game, but that wouldn’t be the best one. I think plays were left on the field and even some momentum.”
Suggs was unable to force Roethlisberger to fumble in the fourth quarter as the elusive quarterback wriggled out of his grasp to throw it away.
"I was trying to strip it," Suggs said. "I didn’t even know he was outside the tackle box. Once I did strip the ball, I was just going to bring him down. Me and him, I think we weigh the same.
"He threw the ball out of bounds, and they score in the next two plays. I didn’t get it. Grenades and horseshoes. In this game, almost doesn’t cut it.”
The Ravens (8-4) fell one game behind the Steelers (9-3) in the AFC North, a major setback in the playoff race.
"We’re going to move on because if we let this get to us, not only can we not lose the division, but we can still slip farther down the line and not make the playoffs at all," Suggs said. "But we’re going to move on. It’s going to suck.
"It’s going to hurt tonight, but the moment I get home, I’m going to kiss both of my babies and get over it. They don’t really care what happened today. I may have some diapers to change. Daddy will be Daddy.“
Despite Suggs’ reaction to the game, his teammates were extremely impressive about the impact he made.
Suggs has 5 1/2 sacks in his past five games and has 66 ½ sacks for his career.
"We were aware of it," cornerback Chris Carr said. "We could hear the sacks, and we could hear everyone cheering out there. We were covering for a long time, and it’s good.
"Suggs is one of those players who is one of the best in the league, and he had a great game tonight. Unfortunately, we just didn’t get the job done.”
