Terrell Suggs, who has been out all season recovering from a torn Achilles, plans to make his 2012 debut Sunday for the Baltimore Ravens against Houston, just in time for a reeling defense.
Suggs practiced Wednesday and a source told ESPN that he will play Sunday: “Yes, that’s still the plan,” one source texted Thursday.
Sources said that Suggs’ family and friends have plans to travel to Houston in anticipation of watching him stage one of the quickest returns from this type of significant injury by any athlete.
Baltimore still wants to make sure there are no setbacks this week, especially Thursday, when Suggs returns to the training facility after his first day of practice since last season. Plus, Suggs appears to have added weight during his layoff that he may try to shed in coming weeks, the source said.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh continually has declined to put a timetable on Suggs’ return, and many have believed it would be mid-November. Getting him back now after the loss of Ray Lewis (triceps) and Lardarious Webb (torn ACL) would be at least an emotional lift to a defense that has been beset with major injuries.
Before this season, Suggs had played in all 16 games in eight of his nine NFL seasons, missing three games in 2009 with a knee injury.
Harbaugh, however, cautioned that the team wasn’t expecting too much too soon from Suggs, who was named the 2011 NFL Defensive Player of the Year after a 14-sack season.
“To what extent, to what he’s able to do, I think we should temper our expectations a little bit,” Harbaugh said. “He’s coming off a very serious injury. I think he’s worked really hard. He’s done a great job with the rehab, he’s followed protocol. He had no setbacks throughout the course of the whole deal.”
