Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh has taken a beating this season from critics and pundits alike. Suh is extremely aggressive in his play, and at times catches flak for being extra.
One of Suh’s harshest critics is former NFL great and current network analyst Warren Sapp. Sapp has been overly critical of Suh at times for his play, and criticized him last month for “not evolving as a player.”
Suh for his part avoided responding to a player he has admired since high school, but while interviewing with CBS Sports recently, Suh spoke up about Sapp’s criticism, and he feels instead of constantly telling him what’s wrong with his game, Sapp should offer to help.
“I don’t know what’s exactly going on in [Sapp’s] head,” Suh said. “To me, you can be a fan and just criticize me, or you can be a great person — somebody who can be a legend and who can possibly be in the Hall of Fame — and teach me something. Show me what you think I’m doing incorrectly. Or just continue as a fan, somebody who just wants to criticize me.”
Suh does yearn to learn from Sapp, and he avoid throwing any shots at the former all pro, but instead want to ingratiate himself to Sapp.
According to CBS Sports, Suh and Sapp have damn near identical numbers through their first 3 years or 46 games. Through the first three years of his 13-year career, Sapp had 105 tackles and 22.5 sacks. Suh has 98 tackles and 21 sacks through his first 45 games.
Suh knows he can improve as a player, and he plans to.
“I understand what people are trying to do against me, I can anticipate things better,” Suh said. “I feel like I haven’t done enough to really help us blossom into wins. Playing well, it’s not enough. I can still do more. There are better things that I could do to make other guys around me better.”
“I’m still young in this game, even though it’s my third year,” Suh said. “I’ve got a lot to learn. I’m not afraid to learn from anybody, whether it’s somebody who I’m playing with, or somebody who’s kind of long gone and been out of the league already for five, six years.
“I’m not afraid to, in essence, take a backseat role and learn from somebody who’s gone through the ropes.”
So what do you say Warren, are you going to help the young fella?