Ndamukong Suh
held a Q&A with some of his 307,861 Twitter followers a couple of
days ago. The good news is he didn’t kick any of them in groin.
The bad news is he avoided questions about his latest misstep. Though if you’re wondering why he keeps making them, the answer has become obvious.
Ndamukong
Suh, with his latest Thanksgiving Day kick, has lost control with the
Lions. Or is it the Lions that have lost control of Suh? (AP Photo)
Suh plays for the Lions. He needs to get out of Detroit, or get the
Detroit out of him. If he doesn’t, nothing will stop one of the most
amazing falls in NFL history.
Think about it. Two years ago, Suh was an All-Pro rookie and a Madison Avenue darling. Nike, Chrysler, Subway and Dick’s Sporting Goods wanted him to peddle their goods.
Now Suh would be lucky if Al’s Pest Control wanted to film him stomping cockroaches. His peers voted him the NFL’s dirtiest player in a Sporting News survey. Fans named him the league’s least-liked player in an E-Poll Market Research poll.
The remarkable thing is Suh didn’t kill dogs or accidentally shoot himself in the leg or slap his girlfriend. His crash is almost completely game-related … and the only thing deteriorating as fast as his image is his actual football performance.
What a waste. The guy looked like the next Deacon Jones. Now he’s one Thanksgiving away from working fulltime for Vince McMahon.
Most of the blame goes to Suh, who has single-handedly started a new holiday tradition. Millions of people used to sit around and watch football players eat a John Madden turkey. Now they watch Suh turn into one.
Last year he stomped on a Green Bay lineman. This year he kicked Matt Schaub in the groin. The NFL started reviewing the incident Monday. Expect Suh to be suspended a game or two. Whatever it is, I just want to hear his explanation.
UPDATE: Suh not suspended by the league
Last year, Suh initially said he was just trying to regain his balance as he pranced on Evan Dietrich-Smith. This year he might say Schaub had jock itch and he was just offering some relief with his left cleat.
“You don’t want a player like that,” Schaub told a Houston radio station. “The stuff that he stands for and the type of player he is, that’s not Houston Texan worthy. That’s not what we’re about.”
It is what the Lions are about, which is a big part of Suh’s problem. Every team takes chances on players with “character issues,” but Jim Schwartz has turned Detroit into a mini Devil’s Island.
Nick Fairley had more arrests (two) than sacks (one) following his rookie season. Mikel Leshoure was suspended for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, while Johnny Culbreath was busted for marijuana possession.
That 2011 draft class just added to the deterioration of discipline. You could see it in all its glory in a crucial game against New Orleans last December, when the Lions committed three personal fouls after the whistle.
Brandon Pettigrew was fined $25,000 for shoving an official. Titus Young was flagged for punching the Saints’ Malcolm Jenkins. He did it right in front of a referee. It was a week after Thanksgiving.
“Didn’t you learn anything from Ndamukong Suh?” exclaimed Cris Collinsworth on NBC.
He learned from Schwartz, whose most famous coaching move was almost getting into a fight with Jim Harbaugh last year during the postgame handshake.
The Lions were the NFL’s third-most penalized team last year. Things have gotten better this year, since they now are only No. 7 on the list. No matter the rank, Schwartz has always denied there’s a discipline problem.
He’s tried to instill an aggressive mentality, and it helped resurrect a franchise that went 0-16 just four years ago. Somewhere in there, that chip on the shoulder went to players’ heads.
When things go wrong, they lose composure. There aren’t enough mature veterans to police the antics, and Schwartz sure isn’t setting much of an example.
Suh was never known as a dirty player at Nebraska. Thanksgivings usually passed without Big 12 quarterbacks grabbing their crotches and doubling over in pain. Maybe there was always a bully lurking inside him, but the Cornhuskers knew how to control it. In Detroit, the coach can’t control himself.
As bad as Suh was on Thanksgiving, the biggest bonehead move came when Schwartz threw his challenge flag while Houston’s Justin Forsett broke an 81-yard touchdown run.
Forsett was clearly down and the automatic review would have nullified the play. But coaches aren’t allowed to challenge scoring plays. If they do, the replay is negated and the team gets a 15-yard penalty.
It’s a stupid rule, but officials remind coaches of it before every game. Schwartz simply couldn’t control himself.
“I was so mad,” he said, “I had the flag out before he got to the end zone.”
At least Schwartz didn’t have Suh stomp on the ref. Considering the Lions are 4-7 and fading fast, we may not have Schwartz to kick around much longer.
That might not save Suh, since first he must be mature enough to save himself. But rival quarterbacks and their concerned wives know one thing.
Suh needs to be stopped before next Thanksgiving, and Schwartz isn’t the man to do it.
The bad news is he avoided questions about his latest misstep. Though if you’re wondering why he keeps making them, the answer has become obvious.
Ndamukong
Suh, with his latest Thanksgiving Day kick, has lost control with the
Lions. Or is it the Lions that have lost control of Suh? (AP Photo)Think about it. Two years ago, Suh was an All-Pro rookie and a Madison Avenue darling. Nike, Chrysler, Subway and Dick’s Sporting Goods wanted him to peddle their goods.
Now Suh would be lucky if Al’s Pest Control wanted to film him stomping cockroaches. His peers voted him the NFL’s dirtiest player in a Sporting News survey. Fans named him the league’s least-liked player in an E-Poll Market Research poll.
The remarkable thing is Suh didn’t kill dogs or accidentally shoot himself in the leg or slap his girlfriend. His crash is almost completely game-related … and the only thing deteriorating as fast as his image is his actual football performance.
What a waste. The guy looked like the next Deacon Jones. Now he’s one Thanksgiving away from working fulltime for Vince McMahon.
Most of the blame goes to Suh, who has single-handedly started a new holiday tradition. Millions of people used to sit around and watch football players eat a John Madden turkey. Now they watch Suh turn into one.
Last year he stomped on a Green Bay lineman. This year he kicked Matt Schaub in the groin. The NFL started reviewing the incident Monday. Expect Suh to be suspended a game or two. Whatever it is, I just want to hear his explanation.
UPDATE: Suh not suspended by the league
Last year, Suh initially said he was just trying to regain his balance as he pranced on Evan Dietrich-Smith. This year he might say Schaub had jock itch and he was just offering some relief with his left cleat.
“You don’t want a player like that,” Schaub told a Houston radio station. “The stuff that he stands for and the type of player he is, that’s not Houston Texan worthy. That’s not what we’re about.”
It is what the Lions are about, which is a big part of Suh’s problem. Every team takes chances on players with “character issues,” but Jim Schwartz has turned Detroit into a mini Devil’s Island.
Nick Fairley had more arrests (two) than sacks (one) following his rookie season. Mikel Leshoure was suspended for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, while Johnny Culbreath was busted for marijuana possession.
That 2011 draft class just added to the deterioration of discipline. You could see it in all its glory in a crucial game against New Orleans last December, when the Lions committed three personal fouls after the whistle.
Brandon Pettigrew was fined $25,000 for shoving an official. Titus Young was flagged for punching the Saints’ Malcolm Jenkins. He did it right in front of a referee. It was a week after Thanksgiving.
“Didn’t you learn anything from Ndamukong Suh?” exclaimed Cris Collinsworth on NBC.
He learned from Schwartz, whose most famous coaching move was almost getting into a fight with Jim Harbaugh last year during the postgame handshake.
The Lions were the NFL’s third-most penalized team last year. Things have gotten better this year, since they now are only No. 7 on the list. No matter the rank, Schwartz has always denied there’s a discipline problem.
He’s tried to instill an aggressive mentality, and it helped resurrect a franchise that went 0-16 just four years ago. Somewhere in there, that chip on the shoulder went to players’ heads.
When things go wrong, they lose composure. There aren’t enough mature veterans to police the antics, and Schwartz sure isn’t setting much of an example.
Suh was never known as a dirty player at Nebraska. Thanksgivings usually passed without Big 12 quarterbacks grabbing their crotches and doubling over in pain. Maybe there was always a bully lurking inside him, but the Cornhuskers knew how to control it. In Detroit, the coach can’t control himself.
As bad as Suh was on Thanksgiving, the biggest bonehead move came when Schwartz threw his challenge flag while Houston’s Justin Forsett broke an 81-yard touchdown run.
Forsett was clearly down and the automatic review would have nullified the play. But coaches aren’t allowed to challenge scoring plays. If they do, the replay is negated and the team gets a 15-yard penalty.
It’s a stupid rule, but officials remind coaches of it before every game. Schwartz simply couldn’t control himself.
“I was so mad,” he said, “I had the flag out before he got to the end zone.”
At least Schwartz didn’t have Suh stomp on the ref. Considering the Lions are 4-7 and fading fast, we may not have Schwartz to kick around much longer.
That might not save Suh, since first he must be mature enough to save himself. But rival quarterbacks and their concerned wives know one thing.
Suh needs to be stopped before next Thanksgiving, and Schwartz isn’t the man to do it.
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