But during the summer of 2012, things changed.
McKinnie’s history of weight issues concerned the Ravens’ brass. After all, reliability is one of the character traits they search for in young men each April. “Can we count on you?” is a key question.
In late July, McKinnie failed to report to camp on time, citing a back injury he sustained at home in Florida. The Ravens were reportedly fining him $30,000 per day for not being in Owings Mills. In addition, media outlets were reporting that he had massive unsettled financial obligations totaling over $4 million to a company that had loaned him money during the NFL lockout in the summer of 2011.
He reported four days late and the Ravens were upset with his conditioning. From there, there are two sides to the story of why he was removed from the starting left tackle role as Michael Oher was moved back to the left side – or “The Blind Side” as the movie about him was called. The Ravens wound up using rookie Kelechi Osemele at the right tackle position for much of the year. Oher’s athleticism made him a better fit and a more effective player at right tackle, but Harbaugh and Cameron were adamant about not utilizing an out-of-shape McKinnie, despite his past credentials.
Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron didn’t like the way McKinnie practiced or the way he looked at practice. He was sluggish. And Harbaugh’s philosophy is that if you’re not practicing well there’s no way for a coach to think that you’ll play well. It’s a fundamental belief.
McKinnie was given some limited duty on jumbo packages and on special teams. He appeared, almost in a cameo appearance, in 11 of the first 15 games, but only spent appreciable time on offense in the Houston game when Osemele’s ankle was in an air cast. When he was inserted into the game, he was injured again.
Harbaugh’s thought was simple: when McKinnie is ready to play again – and play well – he’ll get back on the field. And the only way to show that he was healthy was via practice and the few snaps he was getting on special teams.
In early December, McKinnie came to Harbaugh and said, “I’m ready to play.”
Harbaugh told McKinnie, “You want me to shuffle the whole offensive line around and move Oher back to right tackle after he’s been busting his ass and move K.O. [Osemele] from right tackle to left guard because you tell me you’re ready?
“I need to see you get your pads down. I need to see you out there moving at full speed, hitting guys,” the head coach told his veteran tackle. At this point, Harbaugh was in the sticky, decision-making phase with Cameron and the team was having offensive turmoil and mired in a nasty slump that was testing all facets of the sanctity of the team. He couldn’t just take McKinnie’s word. He wanted to see it with his eyes. There’s was too much at stake, especially with Cameron’s ouster and moving three guys on the offensive line at the same time.
Simultaneously, Flacco and Caldwell began communicating about an offensive structure that would dictate going back to the up- tempo, no huddle offense that pressured defenses. Part of that was hustling up to the line of scrimmage and being extremely fit, especially as the weather got cold and simply breathing was difficult when the offense was moving and wrestling with other 300-pound linemen. When McKinnie was benched earlier in the year, Cameron would often discuss the inability to run the no huddle when McKinnie and former guard Andre Gurode were on the field in 2011 because they struggled with the pace of it.
McKinnie, who took immense pride in his play on the field, said to Harbaugh, “OK. I’ll show you.”
Meanwhile, Ed Reed had been McKinnie’s biggest campaigner once it was clear that his old pal was healthy. Reed was the one who went to Newsome to discuss his old teammate from The U back in the summer of 2011, when McKinnie was ejected from Minnesota.
Many speculated throughout the holidays that McKinnie was in Harbaugh’s doghouse. It was especially intense when Flacco was getting harassed by the Broncos and pushed around by the Steelers during the protracted slump. The offensive line wasn’t playing well, and McKinnie remained on the bench.
“That dog house crap cracks me up,” Harbaugh said. “If you show you can play on the practice field and that I can trust you and put you in with the confidence that you can help the Baltimore Ravens win games, you’re gonna play. If you can’t practice, you’re not gonna play.”
Everyone knew that the Cincinnati game was a test run, almost like a final preseason game for McKinnie. And once Jah Reid went down with a toe injury, the Ravens had a need. McKinnie knew the team needed him.
“And you know what, he came to practice and busted his ass that week,” Harbaugh said. “And we put him in the game in Cincinnati, and he busted his ass. The whole time I told him I’d play him when he showed me he was ready. He did, and we kept our word. And he proved his point.
“I gave him a huge hug after the game. Bryant made us better. There’s no question about that.”
While McKinnie was trying to play his way back onto the field, many Ravens players were resting in Cincinnati. One sorely in need of a “bye” was Terrell Suggs, who was still feeling the effects of his Achilles injury and had sustained a tear in his right biceps in the second Pittsburgh game in Baltimore three weeks earlier and still played against the Giants in limited duty. It was obvious he was still not healthy.
While he was less than stellar during the 2012 season for actual productivity, the Ravens needed the healthiest Suggs possible to compliment the seemingly imminent return of Ray Lewis for the playoffs.
While Suggs was having trouble getting on and staying on the field, he was struggling off the field. Many in Owings Mills were puzzled and concerned by his entanglement and the way his name was surfacing in the news.
His embattled relationship with his longtime girlfriend put him in the media spotlight in a less-than-flattering light during late November. The Baltimore Sun reported: “Court records show that Suggs filed a custody complaint against Williams on November 19. Williams filed her complaint sometime afterward, Alperstein said. Baltimore County police said Thursday that two calls to 911 were received from Suggs’ address on November 21, but no reports were taken.”
On December 6, it was reported: “A Baltimore woman has obtained a temporary restraining order against Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs after filing a domestic violence complaint, according to online court records. On Friday, a court commissioner ordered Suggs to stay away from the woman and her home, pending a hearing this Friday. The order was granted after the woman, identified as Candace Williams, 26, filed a domestic violence complaint in Baltimore District Court.”
On December 7, The Sun reported that Suggs was ordered to surrender an arsenal of guns – including an AK-47 and six other guns — after his girlfriend accused him of punching her and dragging her alongside his car with their two children inside in September.
A week earlier, On December 1, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher shot and killed his girlfriend before committing suicide in the parking lot of the team’s facility, bringing to sad focus the increasing issue of NFL players with guns.
