Browns left tackle Joe Thomas can’t think of anyone he’d rather spend Christmas Eve with than Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs.

Suggs always gives Thomas his best battles of the season, and Thomas considers him one of the best — if not the best — outside linebacker in the NFL.

“We’ve got to make sure it’s not the Terrell Suggs show,” Thomas said. “He’s going to make his tackles, he’s going to get a sack every now and then, but you’ve got to do whatever you can, whether it’s doubles, chips, run-action, play-action, you’ve got to make it a tough day — otherwise he’s going to make it tough on you.”

In the first meeting Dec. 4, a 24-10 Ravens win, Suggs had four tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss and a pass broken up.

“I think we did a pretty decent job, but he’s a guy that you don’t really shut out in a game,” said Thomas, a four-time Pro Bowler. “You just try to minimize his impact because he’s such a good player that he’s going to get his plays. You’ve just got to make sure that he doesn’t take over the game. That’s kind of the key with him.”

Suggs has 13 sacks this season, tied for fifth in the NFL and tied for third in Ravens history. It tops his previous career high of 12 in 2003. His 13 career sacks against the Browns in 17 games are his second most against any team. His seven forced fumbles against Cleveland are his tops against any team.

“He’s right up at the top of the class, there’s no question,” Thomas said. “He’s such a disruptive force — run and pass. . . . That’s why he fits so well with the Ravens because they like those guys that are kind of the jack of all trades.”

– Mary Kay Cabot

Baltimore Ravens wide receiver
Anquan Boldin will miss the final two National Football League
regular-season games after surgery to repair a slight tear in
his knee cartilage, coach John Harbaugh said.

“He will be back for the playoffs, whichever round we have
to play in,” Harbaugh said yesterday after Boldin’s procedure.
“It will be a little tighter if we have to play in the first
round.”

The Ravens (10-4) have clinched a playoff spot and are tied
with the Pittsburgh Steelers atop the American Football
Conference North division heading into this weekend’s games. If
they finish the season with the second-best record in the AFC,
they will get a first-round playoff bye.

Boldin, the team’s leading wide receiver with 887 yards on
57 catches, will be replaced by rookie Torrey Smith and veteran
Lee Evans for the Ravens’ games against Cleveland and
Cincinnati. They will be the first games Boldin has missed in
two years with the team.

“We’ve got two tight ends that are really good, so we’re
going to go out there and still attack and do everything we know
how to do,” quarterback Joe Flacco said. “Obviously, we’re
going to miss Anquan, but it’s an opportunity for him to get
better and hopefully he’ll come back strong.”

To contact the reporter on this story:
Nancy Kercheval in Washington at
nkercheval@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at
msillup@bloomberg.net

But the Ravens are coming off a miserable performance last Sunday in San Diego, a game in which the Chargers scored on their first five possessions and never punted in a 34-14 rout.

“It’s the NFL. It can be very humbling,” Pagano said Wednesday. “That’s why you take it week to week. Keep it on the highway, we say. Never too high and never too low. We know we’ve got to get over it and move on.”

Pagano and the Ravens (10-4) have turned their attention toward beating Cleveland (4-10) on Saturday to stay on course to win the AFC North.

“There were spots where I could have done a better job in helping these guys out,” he said. “So we go back to work and fix the things that needed to be fixed.”

After spending three years working with the Ravens secondary, the 51-year-old Pagano took command of the defense in January after Greg Mattison left to become defensive coordinator at Michigan.

Pagano calls his new post “a dream come true.”

“If you ask anyone given this opportunity, they’d tell you the same thing,” he said. “We’ve got great assistant coaches, great guys to work with, great players, great leadership, a great organization. I was just in the right place at the right time. I’m very fortunate.

“It’s been more highs than lows and it’s been exciting watching these guys play. It’s been a great experience to this point, but our goal is to get to (Indianapolis, site of the Super Bowl) and be the No. 1 defense in the league. If we don’t accomplish that, it will be a disappointing year as far as I’m concerned.”

Perhaps, but no one in the locker room would blame Pagano if the Ravens fall short of expectations.

“I love playing for coach. I have a ton of respect for the dude,” linebacker Terrell Suggs said. “He definitely gave us our swagger back. He’s a very good chess player. You got to win the chess match. You got to be a strategist. Chuck’s been doing a good job.”

Pagano broke into the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant at Southern California in 1984. He has studied the art of defense for well over two decades, knowledge that enabled him to come up with a multitude of alignments that turned this Baltimore defense into a swarming, unpredictable and relentless crew.

“Chuck is unorthodox,” Suggs said. “He’s like The Joker. You never really expect what he’s going to do, and everything has a motive.”

His players consider Pagano to be just one of the guys.

“What makes him good? He relates to the players a whole lot,” Ravens defensive end Cory Redding said. “He’s almost like a player in a D-coordinator’s position. The guy has so much fun with us. He treats you like more than a player. It’s like we’re his sons. He wants us to do well. He keeps it fresh. He knows everybody’s strengths and puts them in position to make plays.”

With the exception of Mattison, every previous Ravens defensive coordinator has gone on to become an NFL head coach. Marvin Lewis, Mike Nolan and Rex Ryan made the step up, and it’s quite possible Pagano may one day follow suit.

“Absolutely,” Ravens linebacker Paul Kruger said. “Chuck has a leadership quality about him. He’s humble but he also knows when to take the reins and take charge. He doesn’t try to dominate you in every meeting. He’s just a coach that knows exactly how players are and what direction they need. He’s a hell of a coach and I really think he’ll be a head coach one day.”

Pagano has been thinking of that moment since he was a young boy.

“When I was a kid growing up, my dad being a football coach, he asked the same question of all the assistants that he ever hired: ‘Is your goal to be a head football coach?’ He always said if somebody had answered him, ‘Not really, I’m OK just being a position coach,’ then I don’t think he really wanted him on his staff,” Pagano said. “Because he wanted ambitious guys.

“I think if you ask anybody they’d say yeah. That would be something you always work for and toward. But for now, my focus and our focus is on the Cleveland Browns. Period.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Baltimore Ravens are in control of their destiny in the AFC North and
the race for a first-round bye. Maintaining that edge, though, will likely be
difficult if they turn in another lackluster performance.

A matchup with the ailing Cleveland Browns on Saturday would appear to give
the Ravens a good chance to stay on track for the division crown and the No. 2
seed, with Baltimore having dominated the series of late.

The Ravens (10-4) have put themselves in control with a sweep of division
rival Pittsburgh and a victory over Houston on Oct. 16, giving them a leg up on
those 10-4 teams.

Baltimore, though, missed out last week on a chance to move ahead of the
Steelers and Texans, both of whom lost. With a playoff berth already wrapped up,
the Ravens were blown out 34-14 in San Diego.

Pittsburgh fell 20-3 to San Francisco on Monday night, and Houston was upset
28-13 at home by Carolina.

“It’s a gift, but we wish we didn’t have to get it that way,” Ravens
linebacker Terrell Suggs said. “We’ve just got to take care of business.”

Baltimore, winner of nine in a row at home dating to last December, appears
to have a good chance to do that with Cleveland (4-10) visiting M&T Bank
Stadium. The Ravens have won seven straight over the Browns, tied for the
longest win streak against an opponent in team history. They’ve also won seven
consecutive games over the New York Jets.

Baltimore’s latest victory in the series came Dec. 4 as Ray Rice ran for a
career-high 204 yards in a 24-10 win. Ricky Williams added 76 yards rushing as
the Ravens piled up 290 on the ground.

Cleveland has made adjustments as it looks to slow down Rice. The Browns
allowed 147 rushing yards in a 14-3 loss to Pittsburgh on Dec. 8, but limited
Arizona to 74 in a 20-17 overtime defeat last week.

“The goal (is) to make sure we minimize his effect on the game,” coach Pat
Shurmur told the team’s website. “We’ve done some things schematically to help
us, and we just keep emphasizing that everyone has to play better. I’ve seen
that.”

At 3-4 on the road, winning this game might prove vital to Baltimore’s
chances of accomplishing its regular-season goals. The Ravens close out their
schedule at Cincinnati on Jan. 1.

“We’re playing two teams that know us very well, two division foes, so it’s
going to be interesting,” Suggs said. “We’ve got to get back to doing what we do
best, and that’s playing Ravens football.”

Suggs, who has a career-high 13 sacks, chased down Colt McCoy for one of
those, but the Browns quarterback likely won’t play this week. McCoy has been
out since taking a hit to the head against Pittsburgh earlier this month.

The controversy surrounding Cleveland’s failure to check McCoy for a
concussion has led the NFL to put certified trainer in every press box. McCoy
still had symptoms of a concussion Wednesday and has yet to be cleared to return
to the field.

“Like anybody that wants to play, he’s anxious to get back out there,”
Shurmur said. “But he understands there is a process that you have to go through
before he will be able to play again.”

With McCoy out, Seneca Wallace is expected to start again after he threw for
226 yards and a touchdown versus the Cardinals. His 76-yard scoring pass to Greg
Little gave the Browns a 17-7 third-quarter lead, but they couldn’t hold it and
suffered a season-high fourth consecutive defeat and sixth in a row on the road.

Wallace’s one start against the Ravens came in the team’s most recent trip
to Baltimore on Sept. 26, 2010. He threw for 141 yards and a TD in a 24-17
defeat, while counterpart Joe Flacco passed for three touchdowns.

Flacco has eight TDs and one interception over his last six matchups with
the Browns, who might need a strong performance from Peyton Hillis to help snap
their losing streak.

In his fourth game since returning from an injured hamstring, Hillis ran for
a season-high 99 yards and a touchdown last week. He rushed for a then-career
high 144 yards in Baltimore last September but has been held to a combined 80
over the past two matchups.

The Ravens might have a new kicker for this game as Billy Cundiff is dealing
with a sore left calf. On Wednesday, the team signed Shayne Graham, an 11-year
veteran who has played for six other teams.