As if an ugly offensive performance in a season-opening defeat to Denver wasn’t enough, the Ravens lost six-time Pro Bowl linebacker Terrell Suggs for the rest of the season due to an Achilles injury.
The 32-year-old tore his left Achilles tendon while pursuing quarterback Peyton Manning in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 19-13 loss to the Broncos. Suggs hobbled to the sideline before eventually being carted to the locker room at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
Head coach John Harbaugh announced the news in his post-game press conference.
“You try to define why things happen,” Harbaugh said. “Here’s a tough break for a guy who’s done nothing but work above and beyond [and] at least as hard as he’s worked his whole career. I’d say more. He’s prepared himself and [has been] the kind of leader that you just admire so much. This guy has been such a leader for us.”
The 13th-year linebacker suffered an Achilles tear in his right heel in the spring of 2012 before returning in mid-October that year to help the Ravens eventually win Super Bowl XLVII.
Chin up Ravens Nation! We've been here before… This changes NOTHING!!! Our mission is still the same!
#2016SanFrancisco #RAVENSNATION
— T.S STARK (@untouchablejay4) September 14, 2015
Suggs is the franchise’s all-time sacks leader and was named the NFL’s AP Defensive Player of the Year in 2011. The 2003 first-round pick ranks fifth among active players with 106 1/2 career sacks and is the longest-tenured Raven on the current roster.
The injury further depletes an outside linebacker group that was already trying to fill the void of free-agent departure Pernell McPhee. Fourth-year linebacker Courtney Upshaw and rookie fourth-rounder Za’Darius Smith will now be expected to fill bigger roles in helping 2014 Pro Bowl pass rusher Elvis Dumervil put heat on opposing quarterbacks.
Smith was a healthy inactive for Sunday’s game in Denver, which doesn’t inspire great confidence that he’s ready to make a significant impact at this early stage of his first season.
With Ray Lewis and Ed Reed now retired and Haloti Ngata in Detroit, Suggs was the undisputed leader of the Baltimore defense, making his loss even more difficult to swallow for a team with high expectations in 2015. Now, the Ravens will depend on younger players to pick up the slack for one of the best players in franchise history.
“These are the things in life that happen,” Harbaugh said. “Adversity’s all about how you respond to it. It’s about how you react to it. It’s how you come back and play the next game and how our young guys step up and how our older guys wrap their wings around those younger guys and they play the way they need to play.”
