Ray Lewis had been the undisputed leader of the Ravens for more than a decade. Terrell Suggs doesn’t think he can fill the leadership void left by Lewis’s retirement all by himself.
Asked on NFL Network’s Total Access whether he becomes the Ravens’ leader now that Lewis is retired, Suggs said that he actually sees quarterback Joe Flacco as the leader the rest of the team will look to.
“We’re not worried about that right now. We’re still on this magic carpet ride, we’re enjoying the championship. Regardless of what anyone says, Joe Flacco, he’s proven he’s one hell of a leader, so I don’t have any problems sharing the role with him,” Suggs said.
Suggs added that the Ravens would “probably not” have won the Super Bowl if it weren’t for Lewis’s announcement prior to the playoffs that he planned to retire. Suggs said the rest of the team became more focused knowing that it would be Lewis’s last ride.
“You could say what sparked it was Ray’s announcement when he said that this would be his last playoff run with us,” Suggs said. “I would definitely say that was hands-down what sparked it and got our minds going in the right place.”
Suggs also said the power outage at the Super Bowl was not an issue.
“We weren’t going to let something like the lights going out steal our glory,” Suggs said. “We were like, ‘Once we get the lights back on, we’re going to get back to this ass-whipping.’”
It was the last ass-whipping Suggs and Lewis got to administer together.