Lions' Suh adopts coaches' phony persona

Ndamukong Suh has been labeled dirty, out of control, a thug in the aftermath of what is now known as The Suh Stomp. All have merit.
 
Intentionally stepping on the arm of Evan Dietrich-Smith after the whistle while the Green Bay Packers guard lay on the ground on Thanksgiving was stupid.
 
I will go you one better on labels: The Detroit Lions defensive tackle is a product of his environment.
 
Football teams and players have a way of taking on the personality of their coaches. And Suh's past two coaches — in the NFL and Nebraska — have been belligerent, bullying, raging sideline lunatics.
 
Just this season, Lions coach Jim Schwartz trash-talked Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant on the sideline during a game, chased San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh down for a slap fight after a game and is just a generally combative you-know-what. And he looks tame compared with Nebraska coach Bo Pelini.
 
I am still scarred from watching Pelini verbally terrorize Cornhuskers quarterback Taylor Martinez on the sideline during a particularly gut-wrenching loss to Texas A&M in 2010. And I will never forget a Texas type telling me they were genuinely scared as he chased down officials after the Big 12 championship game in 2009.
 
Wonder where Suh may have learned his anger issues?
 
This does not take away personal responsibility. Suh has to be smarter, better, more in control, and he deserves every minute of the two-game suspension levied by the league on Tuesday. What he did to Dietrich-Smith disrespects the game and those who play it.
 
What Suh also needs is a good come-to-Jesus meeting. He desperately needs somebody willing to tell him talent like his is wasted with cheap shots. They do not make him fierce. They make him look like an act.
 
But what coach in Suh's life has any credibility preaching to him? Certainly not Schwartz.
 
I actually giggled listening to him talk about how Suh needs to be in control. The idea of Schwartz lecturing anybody on emotional balance was funny enough, but his actual words somehow managed to be funnier.
 
"There is accountability for our actions," Schwartz told reporters Tuesday, casually admonishing Suh and trying to sound disappointed and stern.
 
It lacked any credibility. There was also the “truthiness” issue.
 
What Suh has learned from Schwartz and the NFL's handling of him is there are no consequences. The commissioner declined to mete out any punishment at all for Schwartz's machismo silliness with Harbaugh, or any of his other game rage this season.
 
Detroit has been teetering toward train wreck for weeks now with him as a leader. Losers of four of their past six games after going 5-0 to start the season, they have taken to fighting that which they cannot beat. Suh just happens to be the biggest disciple of Detroit's Bluster Doctrine, choosing Thanksgiving — with the whole country watching — for his dirtiest play yet.
 
Oh, he had been plenty dirty before Thanksgiving.
 
He tossed Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton down in preseason. He had run-ins with Jay Cutler and Jake Delhomme that resulted in league intervention last season. And Atlanta players accused Suh of taunting quarterback Matt Ryan after he collapsed with what looked like a serious injury in Week 7.
 
"I had respect for Suh before the game," Falcons center Todd McClure told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the time. "But when Matt was on the ground, the things Suh was saying and the trash he was talking was definitely uncalled for. There are certain things you don't do."
 
They are exactly the things Suh keeps doing.
 
Since he has been in the league, Suh has racked up $42,500 in fines, and he has more personal fouls than anybody else in that span. Some are legit. Some are the result of his reputation for being that guy.
 
What was more troubling, at least for me, was how he responded Thursday after the game. The moment called for an apology. His stomp was impossible to defend. Suh remained defiant, though, talking about how God knew his intentions and declaring himself innocent.
 
This is exactly what Schwartz has bred in Detroit — a culture of fake tough, trash talk, lack of accountability and building anger. Hang around angry people long enough, and you, too, will be angry. All of that yelling and manufactured rage has a way of seeping into who you are and how you go about your day. It is especially true in football, where the personality of the coach so often becomes that of his team.
 
I witnessed it firsthand in Dallas, where former Cowboys coach Wade Phillips talked about the better team losing and bye weeks being like playoff wins and saying he did not want to make any player feel uncomfortable. It was no surprise, then, his team became an undisciplined bunch of excuse makers that won a big bag of nothing in his tenure.
 
And it should be no surprise that Suh has confused what it is to be really tough.
 
Absolutely, football is violent — punishing hits, aggression, intimidation, physically besting the man across the line from you. But there is a line, and Suh too often finds himself on the wrong side of it.
 
If Schwartz really wants to help Suh, really help him, the Lions coach will start by apologizing to his team. He will say he too often has crossed the line from passion to rage. He will say that he no longer tolerates the behavior from himself nor will he from them. He will point out that Detroit is a good team with lots of good players and a decent chance of making the playoffs. He will note that they hurt those chances when they get out of control, when Suh gets out of control. He will hold himself accountable so he can hold them accountable.
 
Of course, he is not going to do this. My guess is he goes all Pelini on somebody before the week is out.

So do not wonder what has gotten into Suh, just look at his environment.

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