The Sports Xchange

DENVER – Baltimore Ravens pass-rushing linebacker Terrell Suggs suffered a torn left Achilles’ tendon during a fourth-quarter pass rush in Sunday’s 19-13 loss to the Denver Broncos and will miss the rest of the season.

Coach John Harbaugh made the announcement during his post-game news conference.

“You try to define why things happen,” Harbaugh said, “and here is a tough break for a guy who has done nothing beyond work above and beyond to a degree I think, at least as hard as he has worked his whole career, I’d say more. He prepares himself to be the kind of leader that you just admire so much. This guy has been such a leader for us. Why does that happen to a guy on a play like that? I don’t even know what happened. I look back and he was on the ground.

“But these are the things in life that happen. Adversity is all about how you respond to it. It’s about how you react to it. It’s how you come back and play the next game and how our young guys step up and how our older guys wrap their wings around those young guys, and they play the way they need to play. That’s what a team is all about.”

Suggs, who was carted off the field, is one of the NFL’s elite edge pass rushers, and his loss is a big blow to the Ravens’ defense.

“It’s huge,” fellow outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil said. “You can never replace a Terrell Suggs. He’s a big emotional leader for our team. It hurts everybody when you hear news like that. We wish him a speedy recovery, to get through it, because I can imagine how tough that is.”

Suggs, a six-time Pro Bowl performer, was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2011, when he had 70 tackles, seven forced fumbles, two interceptions and six passes defensed. Last year, he recorded 61 tackles, one safety and a pass defensed.