There's still a lot of time before the Ravens and the Patriots play in the AFC Championship Game, but two of this rivalry's biggest adversaries have been on their best behavior -- so far.
After publicly trash talking over the years, Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady have shown each other respect.
Suggs called Brady "a great quarterback" following the Ravens' divisional playoff win over the Houston Texans. "When it's all said and done, it's going to be Johnny [Unitas], him and Peyton [Manning], end of discussion," he said.
Brady was complimentary as well, calling the Ravens "the best team we’ve played all year." On a radio interview this morning, he said, "When you watch them, like you watched them yesterday, they’re physical, they’re tough, they can cover, they have some of the best players in the history of the NFL at their positions like [Terrell] Suggs, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Haloti Ngata."
We'll see if both players, especially Suggs, remain this cordial throughout the week. Their feud started during New England's comeback overtime victory over Baltimore in October 2010 (15 months ago).
After Brady was hit on a long completion, he started to slam his hand on the ground. Many Ravens thought Brady was begging the referee to throw a flag, but there was no penalty called. At that point, Brady and Suggs began jawing at each other.
After that loss, Suggs said that Brady “made some plays ... But like I said, he just better hope he don’t see us again.”
Asked about what was being discussed between him and Brady, he said at the time, "He was trying to tell me how to bag a Hollywood actress. He said, 'If you want to get a Hollywood actress, take my seminar on Saturday.' ... He was going over the Dow and the economy and politics. He doesn't really talk football that much."
Brady didn't sound too amused when he responded the next morning. “Well, he had his chance so maybe if he gets another chance he can try to back those words up," Brady said. "We play those guys a lot and they’ve only beat us once ... they talk a lot for only beating us once in nine years.”
Suggs continued the sparring match in January 2011, when he said Brady and his three Super Bowl championships are "questionable." In a radio interview Suggs said, "Oh, you know, you've got the tuck rule incident and then you've got the videotaping of the other team's practices. It's just like, OK, what's going on here? You know? But, hey, it is what it is. They won the games no matter how you did it. But, um, it's whatever."
On Sunday, Suggs has the opportunity to stop Brady from going after his fourth ring.