The "Suggs Package" to be Employed More Often

John Harbaugh said today in the Baltimore Sun that the "Suggs Package" will be used more often in the Ravens offense.

This is referring back to when Terrell Suggs said that Troy Smith should be used once in a while at quarterback. Such comments got a lot of negative attention, as they were likely misconstrued to make people think he wanted Smith to start over Joe Flacco, but that he never thought that. And of course, the Ravens coaching staff are really good at playing up comments like that. To think, many Ravens fans were angry at such comments, including myself, but now the Ravens are calling in that for fun.

The "Suggs Package" mainly consists of putting Troy Smith at quarterback and using Joe Flacco as a receiver. On Sunday against the Raiders, Cam Cameron used this package to have Smith run the option as well as Smith throwing a ball to Flacco as a wide receiver. Ray Rice is often the running back of choice on the formation due to his speed and knowledge of the option.

The reason this works so well? All the important players are familiar with the option from recently leaving the college level. All the starting offensive linemen were drafted in 2005 or later. The two quarterbacks, Smith and Flacco, were drafted in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Rice is a rookie. Because of the familarity of the option plus the youth of the offense, it is effective to go against a defense, as long as it isn't used often.

But more to the fact, Cam Cameron is the first offensive coordinator to really put some variety and spark to this offense. We never saw this with Matt Cavanaugh, or Jim Fassel, or Rick Neuheisel. It is good to see someone finally putting all of the Ravens weapons to use.

But, one thing remains to be seen. This was first employed against Oakland; let's see how it works against stronger defenses. But for now, it is great to see.

(Photo credit: AP)