The only thing quiet about Terrell Suggs is the way his name is being mentioned as a Player of the Year candidate along with Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Aaron Rogers.
He is in the company with some great quarterbacks. When you're a defensive player and you're in this class, oh, your game is at the highest level.
Through 11 games, Suggs has 49 tackles, including nine sacks, three forced fumbles and two interceptions. His play has been so dominant that few people in Baltimore talk about Ray Lewis' toe injury anymore, and the opposition has to game-plan for him.
The bigger the stage, the better Suggs plays. When the Ravens play the Pittsburgh Steelers, Suggs is usually the best player on the field. On Thanksgiving night in a nationally televised game, the Ravens racked up nine sacks against the San Francisco 49ers, and the biggest star was Suggs, who collected three.
"Prime-time TV," Suggs said of his performance. "All the football players wait their whole career to play on Thanksgiving. I never had a Thanksgiving game. It was my first one, so I knew a lot of my family members and a lot of the people who hadn't seen me play in a while were going to be watching. Knowing that, I kind of got after it and cut it on."
Suggs might be an outside linebacker, but he has a quarterback's charisma. He is a man who plays the game with boyish enthusiasm and knows how to turn it on when the cameras are rolling. On game day, Suggs is shown on the video board at M&T Bank Stadium several times a game.
Arnold Schwarzenegger never flexed that much in his prime.
Who is Suggs' favorite superhero?
"I definitely would say it was the Incredible Hulk," Suggs said. "I like how when he gets angry, he turns into the Hulk and he can just destroy things.
"I definitely practice in the mirror," Suggs, smiling, said about his flexing. "I like when the camera is on me. I like to entertain. I do like the attention, so I have to give the crowd a little something."
There will be those who criticize Suggs because at times he appears to be selfish and arrogant. I'd prefer to know who writes his scripts. Love or hate him, he comes up with some beautiful one-liners.
How about when he said of Ben Roethlisberger, "His soul belongs to God, but his ass belongs to me"?
He had another gem before the second Pittsburgh game this season, when he said: "We're taking 53 men to the apocalypse, and we ain't bringing flowers."
That was only a few days before he announced that he was from "Ball So Hard University" as the Ravens' defense was introduced on NBC.
"They just come right off the top," Suggs said of his one-liners. "I'm going to be totally honest with you. We are a little bit loony. Before we walk into this building, we might have all been normal, but to be a Raven, you have to be special. … I just say whatever comes to my mind, and nine times out of 10, I'm winning and I hit home runs with one."
And for those who don't like him, guess what? He doesn't care.
"There is one thing I'm going to be, and that's me," Suggs said. "I know that everybody is not going to be a Terrell Suggs fan, and that's fine. For the people that are, I'm going to be myself and they are going to love me and they are going to enjoy it."
His teammates love Suggs. He's a throwback to the day of former Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman John Randle. He never shuts up and constantly sings in practice. He, Haloti Ngata and Jarret Johnson are the biggest pranksters on the team.
"I stole a guy's car [allegedly Paul Kruger's] and went and parked it at the park," Suggs said. "Then I gave him a treasure map of where to find it in downtown Baltimore, and it was really right around the corner."
The Ravens know the lighter side, but they've seen a different side this season. Suggs had taken on more of a leadership role and hasn't hesitated about challenging the offensive coaches about their game plans and not handing the ball more to running back Ray Rice.
While stepping up, Suggs hasn't stepped on the toes (pun intended) of Lewis.
"I think it just kind of happened; it wasn't forced upon me," said Suggs, in his ninth season. "I guess you do mature. I didn't think I ever would, but it's more of a 'let's get the job done' this year. I'm still the same guy. I'm still the jokester, but I'm more serious and I pay a little more attention to detail. "
And now, everybody seems to be paying more attention to Suggs. His name is being dropped in national columns, which is an accomplishment in itself with a team that has recognizable stars in Lewis and safety Ed Reed.
Opposing teams are starting to slide their protection toward him or double-teaming him, which should free up other players. A few years ago, Suggs had only one move: pure speed off the corner.
Now, he has an assortment and is setting up moves, which shows his versatility. A few defensive players might have a sack or two more than him, but Suggs is getting constant pressure.
"They've got to take care of him. I think in the last game, on Thursday night, the very first pressure we called, he lined up with two other guys to the right and they turned the protection [there], and we had a blitz coming from the other way," defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano said. "He'd be the first one to tell you that a couple games ago, he was sitting there and every time we came off, we'd design a bunch of things as a staff to try to get him loose just because of the protection issues.
"Everybody's making sure they take care of him. They're doubling, chipping, putting a tight end over there. But our guys do a great job of trying to come up with some different things. We had him lined up on the center one time, and we blitzed him up the A-gap. So we're trying to do our best to manage him to where we get him some singles — at least some singles to where they can't double him."
