Terrell Suggs talks a lot, especially about the Patriots and Tom Brady. Sometimes Brady fires back, and sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes, he waits until after the game, letting the results speak for themselves.
Brady dipped his toe in the water Wednesday but mostly held back when it came to the Ravens’ veteran linebacker.
Someone asked Brady whether he planned to send his combative counterpart a Christmas card this year.
“No, probably not this year,” Brady said. “Maybe one of these years we’ll get together for dinner or something.”
The hostility the Ravens and Patriots show each other on the field is nothing compared to Suggs’ dislike of New England off it. Suggs has called Brady “smug,” discounted how he measures up to his quarterbacking peers and questioned his Super Bowl success. His favorite thing to do, however, is rip the Patriots, making note of how little everyone likes them and how he considers their championships invalid because of Spygate. Brady, in return, has sniped back, but he’s also taken the diplomatic route several times.
He mostly went that route again Wednesday as Sunday’s Patriots-Ravens matchup approaches. After clarifying his Christmas card plans, he complimented Suggs.
“He’s a great player,” Brady said. “He’s always been a great player. He presents a lot of problems for an offensive line, for an offense. He’s big, he’s rangy, he’s powerful. He plays the run and the pass. For a guy that’s that size and how athletic he is, to play the way he does is amazing. He’s done it for a long time. Then he got injured last year, comes back, plays great toward the end of the year, has a great offseason obviously and hasn’t missed a game this year.”
The Patriots and Ravens have developed a rivalry in recent years, with Baltimore taking more of the pivotal games over the last few seasons after New England’s long string of success against its AFC foe. Sunday’s game has playoff implications for both sides, with the Patriots appearing to have regressed in recent weeks while the Ravens have caught fire after a shaky start to the season.
