Who needs Cam Cameron when you’ve got Terrell Suggs? Last week when the Ravens linebacker criticized Cameron, the offensive coordinator, and coach John Harbaugh after Baltimore’s unsightly loss at Jacksonville on Monday night, the outcry was predictable. Suggs was a know-nothing, loose cannon speaking out of school. Blah, blah, blah.
But guess what? Suggs was right.
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When the Ravens found themselves down by three touchdowns at home in the second quarter to the lowly Cardinals on Sunday, they did exactly as Suggs suggested: more Ray Rice and more Anquan Boldin.
With Rice getting 99 yards and three touchdowns on 25 touches and Boldin catching seven passes for 145 yards, the Ravens rallied to win 30-27 and perhaps saved a season that was starting to look like an episode of “Lost.”
Suggs’ advice was hardly sage.
In Rice, the Ravens have a durable Pro Bowl back in his prime. But on Monday, when he produced 28 yards on an inexplicable eight carries — which matched his fewest in a game since his rookie year (2008) — it appeared Baltimore was ignoring what it does best.
In the same game, Jacksonville showed how to work a stud back. Maurice Jones-Drew carried 30 times for 105 yards despite two early fumbles. His 3.5 yards per carry were nothing to tweet home about, but they helped the Jaguars possess the ball.
Against Jacksonville, Boldin was an afterthought as well with only four receptions for 40 yards. But on Sunday, quarterback Joe Flacco used him masterfully on a key drive late in the third quarter. Flacco threw three passes to Boldin when he wasn’t exactly open, but Boldin made receptions of 9 yards, 27 yards (one-handed) and 21 yards (leaping at the sideline) to set up a Rice touchdown.
“We just woke up in the second half,” Boldin told reporters. “We didn’t have a good taste in our mouth from last week, so we wanted to come out and rectify it.”
One of the rectifiers was the loose-lipped Suggs, who had 13 tackles. Among them were four for a loss, one a sack. Another hit on Cardinals quarterback Kevin Kolb forced the interception that led to the go-ahead touchdown.
All-Pro linebacker. Offensive genius. All in a day’s work for “T-Sizzle.”
– Kevin Dunleavy
