Ndamukong Suh Gets Two Game Suspension

There’s a couple things worth considering here. I’m not saying this stuff excuses either Suh or Goodell for some bogus shit going on, but we should keep these things in mind.

Yes, the inconsistency is infuriating, though I think the weaker punishments for guys like Cedric Benson (who were actually charged with crimes and punished) are more egregious and worthy of anger than Suh v. Ben, just because Suh’s stuff has been entirely on the football field. They’re different categories… though it’s still pretty sketchy.

The second thing to remember is that the league wants Suh to be a face of the NFL kind of guy, perhaps the league’s defensive face – they’ve got a ton of quarterbacks, dumping Ben from that category isn’t a huge loss because they have a ton of other options for quarterbacks and Pittsburgh itself. Suh really is the Lions – Stafford and Megatron are far too laid back to really be the symbol of the team, and the city.

Suh has been a model citizen off the field. He came into one of the worst situations in both football and the country and has been an example. He’s doing incredible things for the community and for the team. By all accounts he is also a really, really great guy off the field. I remember reading a story where he was signing autographs for some fans and this high school player was telling Suh about a big game he had coming up. Suh actually shows up for the game, watches it, and, if I recall, bought a ton of the people in the stands concessions. He does that kind of stuff pretty consistently, and the league wants to eat it up. They don’t want to turn him into a villain too fast, because he could be really great press for them, so they’re going to come down lighter.

Let me be clear – Suh has always rode the edge of going to far on the field, and this time he stepped over it, and he deserved to be punished. His post-game rant was immature, but I think it mostly just came from frustration and I think his apology the next day was honest and came after he had cooled down, reflected, and talked to the Lions organization about it. Still, it is worth noting examining the play again.

Suh and Deitrich-Smith go to the ground. They’re scrapping a little bit on the ground and Suh pushes on his head a few times, then tries to get up – at this point you can just make out Deitrich-Smith’s arm coming up as Suh get’s up – he’s clearly been holding on to Suh, which is itself not good. Suh is trying to free himself, Scott Wells starts trying to separate them peacefully. Then number 70, T.J. Lang, charges and knocks Suh back (whose feet are still entangled on the ground with Dietrich-Smith) into number 74, Marshall Newhouse, who lightly puts his hands on Suh (I think partly as a reaction to getting Suh knocked into him and because he’s seen some scrapping going on and wants to end it – perfectly acceptable. At this point, though, Suh’s feet are wrapped up in one Packer, he’s just been shoulder-charged by another, and two more Packers have their hands on him. I really saw this as Suh trying to free himself at the feet from Deitrich-Smith and lashing out unconsciously because he thought – incorrectly, except for the Lang hit – that he himself was under attack. Stupid move, and he needs to keep a clearer head, but this is football and these are offensive and defensive linemen. People seem to ignore that the tempers down in the trenches are higher, and these guys are chopping and slapping and basically assaulting each other on each and every play, and I don’t even want to know what goes on during scrums for fumbles – the stories of these guys biting each other and going for each other’s balls are far too common.

The point is, what would have been a pretty standard post-play scrum we all would have forgotten about two seconds later went a bit too far, and Suh kicked out in frustration. He got ejected, gave up a first down on what would have been a stop, the Packers scored and the rout was on in the biggest game of the year, and now he has a two-game suspension. That seems like pretty fair punishment for a bone-headed move which caused no harm to anyone. If Suh had continued going after any of the Packers and further escalating into a full-blown fight, I can see more than two games, but two games is a LOT, especially for a team in playoff contention near the end of the season.

Good post Spartan, I truly believe Suh gets it now. Will he have another incident? Probably, he’s a crazy beast. Any one of us Steeler fans would love to have him with Tomlin coaching him. This punishment lays a good foundation and start. IMO

Good post on the off-field stuff, which is EXACTLY why I was infuriated with the talk of requiring him to enroll in Anger Management while the NFL does nothing about batterers and the like. Suh is clearly able to channel his anger toward the one place in society where it’s not only acceptable but encourged. He’s doing it how it’s supposed to be done…..just a bit excessively this time. And….for the record…..most of his other supposed transgressions…..were absolutely bogus calls. Wish we had him.