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BY TOM MARTIN

What’s the difference between dirty -- and nasty?
When it comes to the Detroit Lions' Ndamukong Suh -- the Atlanta Falcons say -- not much.

Two Falcons players accused Suh and teammate Cliff Avril of taunting injured Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. Ryan fell to the ground after stepping on his own lineman -- reportedly prompting Suh to say, quote: “Get the cart and get him off the field.”

Monday, Suh fired back.

“I’m not even near their quarterback, so how am I gonna trash talk somebody that has a medical staff all around him -- that’s their own problem. If you look at it, to me, it’s karma, for all the bad stuff they’ve done in the past, their offensive lineman hurt their own quarterback.”

Suh’s history with quarterbacks has a paper trail -- he’s been fined a handful of times for illegal hits, including this head-smashing of Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton.

So does this latest foray make Suh a dirty player? If there is a fine line between dirty and nasty, NFL Network’s Deion Sanders says it hasn’t been crossed.


“Do you think Ndamukong Suh is a dirty player?”
“I don’t think he’s a dirty player. Is he nasty? Oh yeah, he’s nasty. I mean, he’s that good kind of nasty. We want that kind of nasty in the defensive line. Charles Haley was nasty. Leon Lett was nasty. Big (?) Williams on the offense -- they were nasty. You want those type of players. Violent? He’s violent out there on the field but you accept that.”

Nasty players? Violent players? Deadspin’s Barry Petchesky agrees with PrimeTime - as a defensive lineman, it’s all part of the job:


“The NFL is a strange, strange sport where the tackler is supposed to hit the guy with the ball as hard as he can—but not hurt him! … Suh and Avril know exactly what their endgame is—an out-of-commission quarterback—and you'll forgive them if they get a little excited when they achieve it.”

So passionate play is a league standard, but has Suh taken it a step too far? If you ask Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith, for the sake of his reputation -- Suh needs to stop flirting with flags.

“Suh was called for a personal foul for face-masking Ryan during the game, and he easily could have been called for another personal foul for a post-play shove. He’s certainly not doing anything to change the perception that he’s a dirty player.”

Suh’s dirty rep has some experts confused. As Fox Sports’ Jason Whitlock writes, it may not be his fault.

“How has a kid who left the University of Nebraska with such a sterling, on-and-off-the-field reputation transformed into bizarro Mean Joe Greene? … Given the circumstances, he might have the wrong coaches. Head coach Jim Schwartz and defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham are … certifiable — crazy.”