National Football League

Is Suh due for some backlash?

Published Oct. 27, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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Every week, the experts of FOX NFL Sunday reveal their observations and opinions as they prepare for football's top-rated pregame telecast — seen each Sunday at noon ET/9 a.m. PT.

We'll share some of the highlights from Curt, Terry, Howie, Jimmy and Michael grabbed from their weekly conference call with insider John Czarnecki.

Czar: What’s the general consensus on all this back-and-forth talking between the Lions and Falcons this week centering around Ndamukong Suh and Matt Ryan?

Terry Bradshaw: First off, Lions coach Jim Schwartz apparently doesn’t like Mike Smith, either. I didn’t understand why he would treat Smitty so badly.

Jimmy Johnson: He wasn’t the only coach. Todd Haley had some words with Hue Jackson, too.

Curt Menefee: In Detroit, they had a pre-game incident between a lot of players. So that could have set the coaches off.

Howie Long: All these players have been talking all season about Suh, but I never see anybody doing anything about him.

TB: It looks like Detroit has totally embraced the idea that they are bad and also a bunch of bullies.

JJ: Knowing Gunther Cunningham the way I do, I bet he likes that image a little bit.

HL: But the point that I’m making, I’m reading all these players complaining about Suh, saying he did this or that. But I don’t see any players responding to him. Are they that afraid of him?

CM: I really looked at the tape after Ryan went down. You would think one of his offensive linemen would have said something or there would have been a hand gesture toward him or Cliff Avril if they were really taunting the Falcons’ quarterback when he was down. You would think at least one of Ryan’s teammates would be getting in their face and saying something.

HL: Hey, Curt, you hit the nail right on the head. That’s my point. If he had really done what they are accusing him of, you would think somebody would be in his face.

JJ: Then maybe that’s why it might not be true. There was a lot of he-said, he-said between these two teams. But Suh said he wasn’t around Ryan and said he surely wasn’t taunting him. They accused him of saying, ‘Go get the cart,’ when Ryan went down.

CM: Exactly. It’s hard to imagine all those players standing around there and nobody reacts. You would think the visual evidence would prove that something was said.

Czar: So what did you think of Suh’s karma line, alluding that Ryan really got hurt by one of his own offensive linemen?

HL: I kind of agreed with his karma comment, you know. I’ve heard offensive line coaches say to me, ‘I’m going to get five knees this year regardless of what the rules are.’ Jimmy, you know what I’m talking about.

JJ: I can remember my line coach telling me before a preseason game, ‘Watch the first three snaps. (A certain defensive lineman) won’t be worth nothing the rest of the game.’ And sure enough, they cut his knees. The guy didn’t make another play and he left the game at halftime. Some of those offensive line coaches have that kind of attitude.

HL: The karma thing, I get it as a former defensive lineman. I will say it again. If players don’t like what Suh is doing, well, do something about it. And I don’t see anybody doing anything about it.

Czar: Did Drew Rosenhaus, Terrell Owens’ agent, do his client a disservice by holding a workout in which no NFL team scouted the receiver?

TB: Then who was T.O. working out for, the media and onlookers?

HL: It really looked bad.

CM: And Rosenhaus said on ’60 Minutes’ a couple weeks ago that the league would fall apart without him. I got a question for you guys. If you had a choice, would you sign Tiki Barber or Terrell Owens if you had a choice?

JJ: Neither one of them.

HL: Well, what if you had a gun to your head?

JJ: I would take the bullet.

(Everyone laughs.)

TB: Well, I guess it’s time for T.O. to use his college degree.

Czar: The top two seeds in the AFC play Sunday in Pittsburgh, the Patriots and Steelers. Who do you like?

JJ: Tom Brady has been so good against Pittsburgh. I think he’s 6-1 all-time with 12 touchdowns and only three interceptions. The Patriots’ whole philosophy against the Steelers is to throw the ball and spread them out. Pittsburgh’s famed zone blitz doesn’t faze the Patriots.

HL: Jimmy’s right, the Patriots dictate to them. They dictate the matchups. They take the matchup they want and their two tight ends are so drastically different.

TB: You have to give the Steelers a little bit of a chance at home. One thing about Pittsburgh is that Ben Roethlisberger has a lot of offensive weapons, too. He can go deep on these guys.

JJ: Bill Belichick is making a big push right now. They have always been one of the teams that have more meetings than any other team in the league. And he’s even added meetings from what he’s done in the past. He’s been grinding them hard.

CM: Why is Belichick so successful then, if he makes it so miserable for his players and coaches?

JJ: Because he is so thorough on everything. Some people tend to be miserable because they just don’t believe you have to work that hard.

CM: But for a lot of people, that tends to wear them out.

JJ: Yes, but I think the success that Bill and the Patriots have had, the players know what they are getting when they go there and when they start winning a bunch of games, most of them want to stay there.

Czar: Anybody want to pick the winner of Dallas at Philadelphia?

TB: I like the Eagles because I still think they have a chance to win the NFC East.

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