The Passion of Ndamukong Suh

Nobody can deny that Ndamukong Suh is an articulate, well-educated behemoth who spends his Sundays trying to penetrate opposing offensive lines made up of similarly built behemoths, in a quest to destroy the opposing quarterback.

He's pretty good at it, too. You don't get named the top defensive rookie for being passive. That honor, coupled with a bit of an unexpected mean streak, appeared to show that the Detroit Lions (finally) had someone special to build around. The fact that he was also named the dirtiest player by his peers seemed overblown. Maybe even an advantage. Surely just a worthless poll created by The Sporting News to fill inches. 

You want to call Suh a dirty player? we asked. Fine. We will still embrace him. Maybe even harder.

But during this year’s annual Thanksgiving game, Suh committed an act on the field that is unforgivable in football parlance: He stomped down on an opposing player with a force that could not be mistaken for accident. If that wasn't bad enough, it came immediately after Suh had rubbed Evan Dietrich-Smith's helmet into the fake grass of Ford Field three times. The stomp was an exclamation mark on the dirty sentence.

If Suh had publicly apologized, perhaps I wouldn't even be writing this column. But he claimed in the post-game news conference that all of our eyes had deceived us. What we saw on TV, he alluded to, was not what actually happened. In some warped, alternate reality, what actually happened was far less bad. In a world that only exists in Suh's mind, he was merely trying to get the opposing Packer to loosen his grip on his foot.

Still, I guess, not terrible unforgivable.

But then he threw God in the mix.

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Men have long looked to give props to God, whether on the battlefield or the football field. Entire wars have been fought in His name. In fact, it's hard to remember a time when baseball players didn't point to the heavens after crossing home plate. We've just sort of allowed this behavior it to become ubiquitous (which is sort of ironic) because, well, who are we to say what people should and shouldn't do when it comes to practicing praise? Most of us don't lose any sleep over it.

But Suh took it a step further.

Here's his quote from the post-game news conference, after he was ejected:

"People are going to have their own opinions – that's fine. The only (people) that I really care about are my teammates, my true fans and my coaches and their opinions, and that's where it lies. And honestly, the most important person in this whole thing that I have to deal with is the man upstairs."

And, no, he’s not talking about Commissioner Roger Goodell.

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From a fan’s perspective, this is frustrating.

You want your hometown players to care about their performance. You want them to suit up with a purpose and passion.

While I have no doubt that Suh does care about how he performs on the field, his claim that God is his ultimate judge is a self-righteous argument that he can hide behind.

This type of argument is something we see politicians do all the time. Faced with certain rebuttal from their constituents, they play the God card, expecting, I guess, that the people they answer to will accept, forgive and forget.

Well, I mean, he did say he answers to God. I guess that's good enough for me.

I demand more. We should demand more.

It's not enough to say you're acting for God, because God will not intervene in the result of a football game. And I bet if you polled the 65,000 who packed Ford Field on Thanksgiving, the majority could care less how religious Suh is - they just want to see a win.

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Every week, Suh participates in an interview on 97.1 The Ticket where he talks to Mike Valenti and Terry Foster about the upcoming game, and how the team is preparing.

Not once have I heard him mention that they're just praying for a victory this week.

To me, that speaks volumes.

When faced with tough criticism, Suh decided to envoke the one entity that is the modern version of a Get Out of Jail Free card.

It was easy and it was a cop-out.

I don't care where Suh worships or who he worships to, but there is a time and a place where an athlete must hold himself accountable for doing something stupid on the field, because it is only he who can control his actions.

Suh is, no doubt, passionate about his craft. But if he wants to take that next step, he has to understand it's all on him. No amount of help from God will take him to that next level. And people tend to grow weary of players who roll religion into their on-field skills. (Just ask Tim Tebow.)

Suh has made mistakes in his young career, and this latest will be the most serious. He compounded the mistake by talking like a player who is entitled to our respect. Until he changes his ways, the only respect he'll receive will be the kind in his head that he thinks he deserves. Unfortunately, we aren't heavenly enough to understand it.

Amen.