Lions' Ndamukong Suh has heard enough on 'dirty' play
Chris McCosky/ The Detroit News
Allen Park— Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is sick of hearing about how dirty he is. He wants proof.
"There is no point in these accusations," he said Monday. "It means nothing to me. But it's really unsettling to me that there's media outlets and reporters that don't do their homework. And it's unsettling because that's their job.
"Go back and watch the film and then come to me and point to where I made mistakes. Point to where I cut somebody, where I hit somebody late in the back. Let me know. I want to see it."
Suh, coach Jim Schwartz and several other Lions players disputed charges from Falcons players Roddy White and Todd McClure that Suh and Cliff Avril taunted and even kicked at quarterback Matt Ryan after he appeared to hurt his ankle in the third quarter.
"They are going to say what they want to say," Suh said. "It's a he said-she said thing. I know for a fact that if Cliff or anybody else kicked an opposing quarterback there would have been a riot. If that would have happened to Matt Stafford, somebody kicked him, hell would have broke loose."
Suh had just watched film of the play before addressing the media.
"Me and Cliff were standing next to each other because there are three (Falcons) on the two of us. So that's null and void. That kills it right there," he said.
As for whether Suh said anything to Ryan when he was down — a fact that even Ryan disputed after the game — Suh said, "I am not even near the quarterback. How am I going to trash talk somebody that has a medical staff all around him? That's their own problem. It's karma for the bad stuff they've done in the past. Their offensive line hurt their own quarterback."
Suh, Avril and middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch all said the Falcons offensive line thrives on playing a physical, some would say dirty, style of football. Tulloch said their lineman were chop blocking throughout the game. Defensive tackle Sammie Hill injured his ankle on a chop block.
"I watched film all week of things their offensive line has done and is coached to do," Suh said. "It's not anything that hasn't been said before. We have a 15-play reel that shows everything they've done and then there were plays that happened in that game.
"What am I supposed to do, just let it happen? Nothing is done about it. Until something is done about it I am going to continue to protect myself and continue to play as hard as I can. If I am not going to protect myself, nobody else is."
Suh was asked what prompted the Falcons players to make the accusations.
"Maybe because the media continues to call me a dirty player and yet can't prove it," he said.
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