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One thing you can count on with the Detroit Lions is that they are never, ever boring. Follow the latest news including injuries, roster moves and more here daily from Oakland Press beat writer Paula Pasche. Plus you'll find regular commentary about the team.

6/08/2012

Suh's ranking of 38th among top 100 players is a head-scratcher

It’s clear that Ndamukong Suh’s peers see something in him that wasn’t clear to this reporter last season.

The Lions' defensive tackle been ranked No. 38 in the list of top 100 NFL players for 2012 as presented by the NFL Network. The voting is done by NFL players.

Matthew Stafford rated 41st, one spot behind Cam Newton who came in at 40th. (Don't get that one either.)

There should be no question in anyone’s mind that Stafford meant more to the Lions than Suh did last season. Certainly at this point the quarterback has proven his worth while there are still questions about Suh.

Lions’ management defended Suh at the end of the year — his sack production was down from 10 in his rookie season to four in his second season. Numbers don’t tell the whole story. He was suspended two games for the Thanksgiving stomping accident after being repeatedly reminded and fined because of his inability to follow NFL rules. It was a selfish act.

Not only that, but you can easily make the argument that last season Suh was the Lions’ third best defensive lineman behind Cliff Avril and Corey Williams. It was a career year for Avril who topped his personal best of 8.5 sacks in 2010 with 11 sacks in 2011. It helped that he played in every game.

Suh is more high profile due to his ads for Subway and Chrysler. And now his appearance on “The Choice” — a television dating show. He's shown in this photo with Kid Rock at the Detroit Grand Prix last weekend where Suh was the grand marshall.

He needs to step it up on the field to deserve that No. 38 ranking.

The rankings have been released through No. 31. It will be interesting to see how high they place Calvin Johnson.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous JaLohn said...

Its not a head scratcher at all Suh is by far the best D linemen the lions have its not always who has the best stats is the best player. He commands double teams all the time freeing up single blocks for everyone else you think without Suh on that line cliff would have had the season had? The things Suh does sometimes doesn't show up in the stat sheet like his work ethic or relentless motor and may other things the players know these things that's why they voted him so high.

2:44 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The boy named Suh might be a decent defensive lineman, but he's a thug. What he brings in embarrassment to the team outweighs his talent on the field. But like you said Paula, the poll was conducted amongst NFL players. They might run fast and hit hard, but most of them are dumber than bricks in real life. Suh as the grand marshall of auto races is a very bad joke, unless people are only there hoping to see a wreck. If he's going to be the public face of an event, he'd be much better suited announcing matches in the octagon.

2:46 AM 

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