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| If Ndamukong Suh doesn't understand why moves like this are illegal, then it's the NFL's job to teach him. |
The Packers knocked off the Lions yesterday to remain
undefeated, but what everyone will remember from the game is Ndamukong Suh taking his dirty play to a new low. Given his history, it didn't surprise me that Suh would shove his opponent's head into the ground and stomp on him. And knowing his attitude, I predicted that he would fabricate a post-game excuse like "what I did was remove myself from the situation the best way that I felt in me being held down." While Suh has repeatedly served up dangerous cheapshots to his opponents, the NFL has too long treated Suh with kid gloves. It's time for Roger Goodell to take them off.
In just his third game as a rookie last season, Suh grabbed Browns quarterback Jake Delhomme by the facemask and slammed him to the ground. Suh was fined $7,500 for the act, or 0.01% of the guaranteed money in his contract. That's the equivalent of 10 bucks for me or you. Even worse, the league still continues to promote the mugging as if it were a WWE highlight. The title of the clip on NFL.com? "First Round Takedown" Now take a look at the link, and what do you see? "Throw him down big man, throw him down."
Later in the regular season, Suh blindsided Bears quarterback Jay Cutler with a forearm. The NFL levied another $15,000 fine. Rather than trying to curtail Suh's unnecessarily aggressive behavior, coach Jim Schwartz instead chided the refs for throwing a flag.
This preseason, after Suh gave rookie quarterback Andy Dalton the same treatment he gave Delhomme, the league fined him $20,000. When asked if he was getting a reputation for dirty hits, Suh unapologetically declared “it’s not my job to really worry about whether I hit a guy too hard
or not. I was just going after the
ball and trying to make a play, and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”
Two weeks later, Suh said in a pregame interview that he wanted the
Lions to make "quarterbacks fear us, offensive linemen fear us, every
single game we step into." Later that night, he threw a punch
at Patriots guard Logan Mankins. After the game, he posted a video to his fans where he boasts about "beating up on the Brady bunch." The league did not fine him.
Suh has slammed two quarterbacks down by the helmet, thrown a forearm at another's head, thrown a punch at a lineman, and now kicked a lineman. And through it all, he thinks he's done nothing wrong. "I think my hits may look a little different because of the type of
strength and athleticism I have," he said earlier this season.
It's poetic that Suh's cheapshot gave four points to the Packers and helped the Lions lose the game. In a tight NFC wild card race, it could also cost Detroit a playoff spot. But it's clear that Suh has yet to learn his lesson. Fines are levied to dissuade a player from committing the same error again, yet Suh has treated them like an expensive parking ticket. His dirty play has been enabled by coaches and tolerated by the league for too long. If Suh's actions and attitude don't call for a two-game suspension, then nothing does.
After meeting with Suh three weeks ago, Goodell remarked
that "we reviewed video showing that [Suh] has clearly made the
adjustments to play consistently w/in the rules." Clearly, he has not. Goodell should not be fooled again.
Image found here.
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