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Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs has confirmed that he suffered a torn Achilles tendon while working out last week, but he says that’s not as bad as it sounds.

Suggs told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols that he suffered only a “partial Achilles tear” and will be back on the field by the middle of the 2012 season.

The initial reports on Suggs’ injury suggested that he would miss the entire season (as players who suffer Achilles tears usually do), but Suggs said those reports will simply serve as motivation for him and “make it so much sweeter when I run out of that tunnel and prove everyone wrong.”

In fact, Suggs believes that he’ll be playing at a higher level than ever before when he gets back on the field.

“I’ve never had a real bad injury before,” Suggs said. “Sometimes you have to go through something like this to make you better.”

It’s hard to imagine Suggs being better than he was in 2011, when he was the NFL’s defensive player of the year. But the mere fact that Suggs believes he’ll be on the field at all is very good news for the Ravens.