The scouts were right about Terrell Suggs after all.
Suggs' speed in the 40-yard dash, a much-talked about topic heading into the 2003 draft, was the main reason he fell to the Ravens with the 10th pick. His slow rumble toward the end zone after a fumble recovery in the Ravens' 30-13 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday verified his lack of speed, but the fact he had his hands on the ball seconded what Ravens officials always knew about him.
When Suggs is rushing the passer, good things usually happen.
"I keep getting caught," said Suggs, who got caught from behind after a fumble recovery last season. "I need to work on my speed. Forget the offseason weightlifting and conditioning. I need to work on my speed because that is another fumble that I could have taken for a touchdown."
Instead of scoring, Suggs got down to the 1-yard line, and Jamal Lewis scored a relatively easy touchdown one play later for a 20-0 lead early in the third quarter.
Suggs picked up the fumble at the Steelers' 25-yard line after cornerback Gary Baxter stripped quarterback Tommy Maddox on a blitz, knocking Maddox out of the game with an elbow injury in the process.
With many of the players assuming the play would be blown dead because Maddox's arm was moving forward, Suggs alertly picked up the ball and headed toward the end zone. Receiver Hines Ward, though, caught Suggs from behind.
It was the highlight of a day filled with highlights from a Ravens' defense that forced three turnovers and sacked Steelers quarterbacks four times.
Suggs had one of the sacks and also forced an intentional grounding on a third-and-11 from the Ravens' 18 (Jeff Reed then missed a 48-yard field-goal attempt). For a team playing without its most experienced pass rusher in Peter Boulware, Suggs picked up the slack.
"That's Suggs," Ravens safety Ed Reed said. "You can expect that from him. Suggs is a great guy, great player; a Pro Bowl-type player that should have made it last year. He's going to continue to make those plays week in and week out. But he should have got in the end zone."
Ed Reed went on to take the "type" disclaimer off Suggs and pronounce him in the same category as himself, Ray Lewis, Chris McAlister and Boulware, all of whom made the Pro Bowl last season.
It was Suggs, though, who led the team in sacks a year ago, and he appears on his way to duplicating the accomplishment this season.
