Lions LB Ndamukong Suh escaped league censure for his 2nd annual Thanksgiving attempted-maiming of an opponent, in this case, Texans QB Matt Schaub, but that’s not enough to satisfy the Detroit Free Press’ Drew Shap, who calls the Nebraska grad, “annoyingly arrogant and capricious.” And he likes to step on necks, too!
Only Suh can properly describe his intent on the Schaub kick, but the man’s lost his last benefit of the doubt. I don’t believe he said to himself while flipping to the ground “Hmmm, might this be an opportune time to kick a quarterback in his junk?” Last time, I checked Suh wasn’t a ninja. But I do believe Suh deliberately and angrily initiated a clearly non-football act, justifying in his mind that wherever his cleats met Schaub, so be it.
Suh’s actions aren’t a big deal in relation to the bruising collisions contributing to concussions and neck “stingers.” But his kick did nothing to lessen the perception that he’s no more than a dirty player who thinks he can get away with this stupidity. That won’t work in an NFL now obsessed with purveying a public image that it’s committed to policing extraneous football violence. It’s worried about future lawsuits from former players.But it hasn’t helped the Lions that they’re perceived as thinking they’re above the law — whether it’s a coach throwing a challenge flag when the rules said he couldn’t or a defensive tackle throwing a kick where he shouldn’t have.