Ravens Top 20: Terrell Suggs Becomes Thigh Master

#17: Terrell Suggs Becomes Thigh Master
January 3, 2015

We came up with this list of the 20 all-time greatest Ravens moments in a locked, top secret compound (okay, my office) several weeks ago. So it’s just a coincidence that #17: “Terrell Suggs Becomes Thigh Master” happens to fall on the same week that Suggs tore his Achilles tendon and will be lost to the Ravens for the season. (We’ll pause briefly to let you scream, rock back and forth in a corner, weep like a baby—whatever you deem appropriate. Aaaaand . . . we're back.)

How it happened: Every game against the Steelers feels gigantic. Playoff games, even more so. It was the fourth quarter of a tight 2015 AFC Wild Card between the Ravens and their arch rivals. With the Ravens up 23 to 15, Pittsburgh was driving. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger narrowly averted the rush, spun around, threw a hasty pass which was tipped and then caught . . . between Terrell Suggs’s legs. The play has been known as the Thigh Master play—and, indeed, Suggs has thighs of steel. But if you look closely at the replay, he actually caught it more between his knees. Either way, it took incredible concentration, presence of mind, and, uh, leg grip. The play seemed to take the wind out of Pittsburgh’s sails. The Ravens went on to win the game 30 to 17.