Ndamukong Suh Has Only Self to Blame for NFLs Harsh Judgment: A man stumbles backward, trying to keep from falling. He puts a foot back, the heel accidentally catching another mans leg. He takes another step back, this one directly on the leg, as his shoulders square and he recovers his balance. His weight shifts, he takes a step forward and never looks back—not even when the man hes stepped on angrily slaps him. Did the man need to take that second step to keep from falling backward, or could he have gotten out of the way? Did he not feel the other mans leg under his heel, or did he knowingly take an extra step? Did he linger maybe just a split-second too long as he shifted his weight to walk forward, ensuring his full weight came down on the other mans leg? Did he not feel the slap? Does any of it matter? No, because Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is the man who did the stepping, and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers—visibly hampered by a leg injury—was the one on the receiving end. In announcing a one-game suspension for Suh on Monday—one that will keep him out of the Lions Wild Card Weekend tilt against the Dallas Cowboys—NFL Vice President of Football Operations Merton Hanks said, You did not respond in the manner of someone who had lost his balance and accidentally contacted another player who was lying on the ground. This illegal contact, specifically the second step and push off with your left foot, clearly could have been avoided. Hanks also told Suh that he unnecessarily stepped on your opponent’s unprotected leg as he lay on the ground unable to protect himself. A grainy clip of zoomed-in, slowed-down footage was posted on Vine, and soon the Supreme Court of Social Media put Suh on trial: It was clearly accidental. It was clearly intentional. Suh is the victim of a vast conspiracy. Suh is a dirtbag who should be banned from the NFL. All those reactions and many, many more raced across Twitter (and those were just from media members). ESPNs Kevin Seifert put it in the proper perspective: Compared to the usual on-field infractions, like helmet-to-helmet hits (did he lead with the shoulder?), not only is there a gray area in terms of what Suh actually did, but what his motivation was. If a safety comes across the middle and blows up a receiver, whether he led with his head is reviewable—but he was still trying to blow the guy up. Even if he was trying to make a legal hit, hes subject to punishment if he made an illegal one. In Suhs case, if there was no intent, there was no infraction. But the operative word there is Suh. Again, Seifert is on point: NFL discipline is not about fairly meeting punishment to crime but about punishing a player in accordance with how mad fans are at him. There are a lot of NFL fans, players, media and probably coaches and executives whove more or less had it with Suh, and thats his own fault. This is Chapter Umpteen in whats become an epic novel: Ndamukong Suh, Schrodingers Dirtbag. The number of times Suh has done something thats arguably dirty, probably unnecessary or possibly illegal soars into the double digits. They range from his almost certainly intentional stomp on Evan Dietrich-Smiths arm in 2011 to his its-not-my-fault-I-only-need-one-hand-to-level-Jay Cutler obliteration of the Chicago Bears quarterback. Even after the Smith stomp, per NFL, Suh tried to manufacture a little plausible deniability. He said his intentions were not to kick anybody but that he was removing himself from the situation, ripping himself free of the players holding onto him. Roger Goodell didnt buy that line, and neither did anyone else. Each incident has had its own little bit of wiggle room, but in totality they make it clear: Suh plays on the edge of the line and sometimes crosses it. The real issue here isnt that Suh crossed the line again. Its that he crossed the line in the worst possible way at the worst possible time. Not only has Suh already been suspended for stepping on a Green Bay Packer, but his teammate (and fellow Lions captain) Dominic Raiola was serving a suspension in that very game for stepping on Chicago Bears defensive lineman Ego Ferguson. With only the second playoff game of his five-year career coming up, the one thing Suh could not do was step on a Green Bay Packer, and he stepped on Aaron MVP Rodgers calf after Rodgers had already been carted off with a calf injury. Now, unless NFL appeal hearing officer Ted Cottrell replaces Suhs suspension with a heavy fine, as Cottrell once did for then-Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed, hell miss the opening-round playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys. In the likely event the Lions dont beat the Cowboys in Dallas, Suh will spend his last game under contract with the Lions serving this suspension. Its entirely possible this suspension ends his time in Detroit. If this suspension knocks the Lions out of the playoffs, dissuades them from paying him the franchise-tag salary of $26.9 million for 2015, per CBS Sports Joel Corry, and lowers his worth on the open market, Suh and Lions fans will be even more furious about the punishment. In the end, though, Suh will have to accept whatever consequences he has coming. He made his bed, and thats why hes likely going to spend next Sunday lying in it. Read more NFL news on BleacherReport #Football #NFL #NFCNorth #DetroitLions
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 23:25:36 +0000
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