What started as an end-zone celebration for the Ravens' defense ended with two of its top performers nearly coming to blows.
Upset by a perceived snub after Terrell Suggs' safety of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan in an otherwise routine 29-7 Ravens victory in mid-October, linebacker Elvis Dumervil had to be restrained from going after Suggs on the sideline.
"In a game, it can get hostile," Dumervil said, smiling as he recalled the incident with Suggs. "We get very competitive, but we all know, once we get off the field, we leave it on the field. I have a lot of respect for him. He has a lot of respect for me, as well. It's a race to the quarterback, and we both love to hit them."
When the Ravens face the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday night at Heinz Field in the AFC wild-card round, they know that their best chance of containing Ben Roethlisberger is to have the intense personal competition between Suggs and Dumervil play out on the postseason stage.
Teammates for the past two seasons, the relationship between Suggs and Dumervil is best described as competitive. At its core is a burning desire to get to the quarterback, and if that means one-upping the other on their way, so be it.
"We know that it's all about helping the Ravens," said Dumervil, who set a single-season franchise-record with 17 sacks. "If he's having a good year and I'm having a good year, at the end of the day, the Ravens are winning. We both understand that. We both are professionals and we get that part of it.
"It's a friendly competition, but the one thing we preach around here is iron sharpens iron. He's iron and I'm iron. We sharpen each other, and it helps the team."
Dumervil, 30, and Suggs, 32, combined for 29 sacks in the regular season, 4 1/2 more than any other pass-rushing duo in the NFL. They also shattered the previous sack record for Ravens teammates, which was 24, previously held by Trevor Pryce and Adalius Thomas in 2006.
Learning to co-exist, thrive
How the outside linebackers have taken over some games this season is exactly what the Ravens envisioned when they signed Dumervil to a five-year, $26 million deal in March 2013, to book-end Suggs, the franchise's all-time sacks leader.
But it took a while for the partnership to prosper.
Dumervil had 9 1/2 sacks last year while struggling to adjust to a reduced role. Suggs had 10 sacks but nine came in the season's first eight games. Both players dealt with nagging injuries and neither fully embraced what having the other rushing from the opposite side could do to an offense.
Those days, however, appear to be over.
After he broke Peter Boulware's single-season sack record of 15 with 3 1/2 sacks against the Miami Dolphins, Dumervil credited Suggs for the attention that he draws. He said after Suggs notched his 100th sack that his teammate is putting up "yellow-jacket accolades," a reference to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Suggs summed up Dumervil's success by saying: "Let's call a spade a spade: the man is having an outstanding season."
Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees said the competition between the two has benefited the entire team.
"It's funny because you always talk about it as a coach: competition makes you better," Pees said. "Usually, you're talking about the first-string guy and the second-string guy. … But the great thing about it is they both are happy for the other guy when they have success. That just makes our whole defense better.
"It makes everybody play a little harder. Those two guys have fed off each other the whole year."
Different personalities, mutual admiration
Ask other Ravens linebackers about the relationship between Suggs and Dumervil and their response usually starts with a smile or a laugh.
"It's healthy, but then again, it's not," said Pernell McPhee, who has 7 1/2 sacks. "But we all understand in this league, to be successful individually, you have to be real selfish at times. I think they've gotten over the point where it's not about them no more or about stats. It's about winning.
"You see the chemistry between the two. They're growing every day. You see them play off each other more than you saw earlier in the season."
Said Courtney Upshaw: "I see it as them being competitors and wanting to be that guy to get that sack. But at the end of the day, they are always talking about getting that win first."
Dumervil said he and Suggs had a good relationship before he even got to Baltimore because they used to share the same agent. But when Dumervil signed with the Ravens, it was an adjustment for both players.
Suggs, who had long enjoyed being the team's top sack threat, has said numerous times that he had never played with another top pass rusher in the prime of their career. Dumervil had to accept no longer being a three-down linebacker, like he was with the Denver Broncos.
They also had to adapt to each other, a challenge given their different personalities. Suggs is loud and boisterous. Dumervil is soft-spoken and far more reserved.
"We're all different," Suggs said when asked how his relationship with Dumervil has progressed. "We're definitely opposites, but we all just get along. We all have a love for playing defense; we all play physical defense.
"I guess you find something in common and then you just go there, but that's what's so special about our locker room. Everybody is different, and we just accept everybody for who they are."
Dumervil said their different personalities help in the huddle and in meeting rooms.
"It's good for our team to have a guy with his type of personality," Dumervil said. "I'm more of a guy who lets action speak. Some guys relate to the way I go about it and a lot of guys relate to how he goes about it. It's good to see two of the leaders being productive in different ways."
Strength in numbers
Dumervil has been chasing Suggs for a while. When he was at Louisville, Dumervil took aim at Suggs' NCAA single-season sack record of 24. He finished his senior season with 20.
In 12 NFL seasons, Suggs has 106 1/2 sacks in 181 career games. In nine professional seasons, Dumervil has 90 sacks in 122 games. Both, though, are talking more about what they can accomplish together.
Dumervil said he saw a list of the top pass-rushing duos before the season, and he was insulted that he and Suggs weren't included. Months later, Pro Football Focus ranked Suggs and Dumervil as the fourth- and sixth-best outside linebackers in 3-4 defenses. McPhee, who often rushes up the middle, ranked second.
"They are some of the best in the NFL," Roethlisberger said of the Ravens' pass rushers.
In two games this season, the Ravens have sacked Roethlisberger six times. If the Ravens are to make it out of Pittsburgh with their season still intact, that trend probably has to continue.
It's just the kind of challenge that Suggs and Dumervil relish, beating their blocker and meeting at the quarterback in a never-ending competition to see who gets to him first.
"Terrell is an Alpha-type of football player, and I'm an Alpha-type of football player. We have two Alphas who are rushing the passer," Dumervil said. "Things are going to happen, but at the same time, we have that respect for each other.
"He's been doing this for a long time, and he's got over 100 sacks, so you've got to have respect for that. He's awesome, man. It's just an honor and a privilege to play alongside good players."