OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Terrell Suggs once celebrated a Baltimore Ravens win over the rival Pittsburgh Steelers by declaring this about quarterback Ben Roethlisberger: "God can have his soul, but his ass belongs to me."
That was Suggs in November 2011. The veteran pass-rusher this season has been, as coach John Harbaugh put it, a more PG version.
Even when Suggs was teed up for a one-liner, he refused to bite. Asked where he keeps the jersey given to him by Roethlisberger, Suggs smiled and walked away.
No more crazy sound bites. No more irreverent T-shirts.
Suggs used to be this rivalry's larger-than-life character. If Ray Lewis and Ed Reed were the heart and soul of Ravens-Steelers, Suggs was the funny bone.
But Suggs' four-minute media session leading up to Sunday's Steelers game was -- yawn -- the football equivalent of C-Span.
"Maturity, man," said Suggs, who turned 36 last month. "You don’t want to give them any extra locker-room material."
In the past, Suggs was known for the apparel he wore during Steelers week.
In 2009, he donned a shirt that had this line on the back: "You bet your sweet ass I hate the Steelers."
Two years later, Suggs had a T-shirt that sported a Raven bird giving the finger with the words, "Hey, Pittsburgh."
It was only four years ago that Suggs trolled Steelers coach Mike Tomlin for stepping on the field and impeding Jacoby Jones' kickoff return. “We will never forget,” the shirt said. “The North remembers.”
This is the same Suggs who previously described the rivalry like this: "Ravens-Steelers gets everybody’s piss hot.”
"Well, he’s probably a little less crazy on the field. He still says great, funny things," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "[He’s] a little more PG-rated maybe, as he gets a little older, which we appreciate, but every now and then, something will fly, and you’re just kind of stunned by it. The things he says to the guys, I think, is where he’s continued to grow. One-on-one conversations from a mentoring perspective, and then the things he says to the group, whether it’s the team or the defense, have been just spot-on."
Suggs has been muted for most of the season. He now prefers to speak in clichés, rather than give his usually brazen opinion.
There are times when Suggs acts like a wild teenager. His typical arrival for practice is stealing the owners' golf cart, speeding across the field and knocking it into blocking dummies before parking it.
"He’s calmed down. He’s old," cornerback Jimmy Smith said with a grin. "But he’s still him. He will always be him."
The Ravens hope Suggs will make noise Sunday against Pittsburgh. Some of his best games have come against the Steelers. No one has sacked Roethlisberger more than Suggs (17 times, including playoffs).
But Suggs is in the midst of a drought. He has a half-sack in his past eight meetings with the Steelers. His most recent full sack against his AFC North rival came in October 2013.
"Games can be dominated and not manifest in the form of sacks," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "That guy has been a ridiculously dominant player for a long time. We have a lot of respect for him and how he’s capable of taking over a football game."
Suggs, the 2011 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, is tied for the most sacks on the Ravens this season, with 5.5. Entering the final season of his four-year contract, Suggs remains one of the players to watch in what could be his final game in a Ravens-Steelers showdown.
Although Suggs has toned down his war of words with the Steelers, it hasn't diminished his passion for the rivalry.
"I still love these games," Suggs said. "These games are definitely a little bit more edgy than others. It’s still fun."