National Football League

Suh shrugs off talk of playing dirty

Published Aug. 30, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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Ndamukong Suh is answering questions again about his style of play. The Detroit Lions defensive end hasn't been asked by the one person who concerns him.

''I'll consider myself a dirty player when my mom calls me a dirty player,'' he said Monday.

Suh is back in the spotlight after an incident with Patriots lineman Logan Mankins during a post-whistle scuffle in Detroit's 34-10 preseason win Saturday night.

Suh pointed out that an official saw the entire play and that they had discussed Suh's attempt to get Mankins away from the Lions' Lawrence Jackson. Suh was not called for a penalty, while Mankins received a personal foul for grabbing Jackson's face mask.

''I don't regret it at all,'' Suh said. ''What I find funny about the situation is that I wasn't the one called for the 15-yard face-mask penalty, and I also didn't know you could get fined for defending a teammate.''

He said he had a ''great talk about the play with the referee who was right there.''

''He said in the future, I should let them handle those situations, but that he understood exactly what I was trying to do,'' he said.

Lions coach Jim Schwartz saw the latest incident the same way.

''He was trying to get someone off one of his teammate's face mask,'' Schwartz said. ''He didn't get a flag and the other guy got a flag.''

Suh might see himself as a peacemaker when it comes to his teammates, but his motives are totally different when it comes to opposing quarterbacks.

The reigning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year was fined $20,000 this preseason after roughing up Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton. And he was fined twice last year for hits on Chicago's Jay Cutler during the regular season and Cleveland's Jake Delhomme in a preseason game.

This isn't exactly an image Suh shies away from, either.

''Last year, we earned respect, but this year we want fear,'' Suh told a CBS Sports reporter during Saturday's broadcast. ''We want quarterbacks to fear us, and we want offensive lines to fear us.''

Corey Williams plays next to Suh at defensive tackle, and he agreed entirely with the sentiment.

''We don't want anyone to get comfortable against us,'' he said. ''We hit Tom Brady a lot of times Saturday - more than he's used to getting hit - and he didn't like it. That's our goal.''

Bo Pelini, Suh's coach at Nebraska, said he didn't consider him a dirty player.

''He plays violently,'' he said. "I've never seen him play dirty. When you're as big and strong and as physical as he is, sometimes things are going to happen.''

Notes: The Lions waived K Dave Rayner on Monday, choosing to leave the job with the franchise's leading scorer, Jason Hanson. Rayner had filled in for Hanson late last season while the veteran was sidelined with a knee injury. ''Jason's healthy and he's kicking the ball beautifully, and he's our guy. Dave did a great job for us as well, and I have no doubt that he'll be back in the league again this season.'' ... WR Nate Burleson is expected to miss Detroit's final preseason game with an elbow contusion.