Ndamukong Suh says he doesn’t have a mean streak, doesn’t play angry

We already know that Ndamukong Suh does not consider himself to be a dirty player. He has been adamant about it several times in the past, as you would expect. Suh plays incredibly hard, which helps explain why he is such an intimidating presence on defense and also why he tends to be penalized more than others for late hits and unnecessary roughness. If it’s not dirty play, is it anger? Suh insists it is neither.

“It’s like, I open the throttle too much?” Suh said in a recent interview with GQ Magazine. “I get in trouble for opening my throttle…just like being on a jet. Like, you know, when they’re starting a plane, you just gradually, gradually throw it into full throttle. I’m always in full throttle. But they tell me now that I need to be at three-quarters of a throttle.

“A dirty player is somebody who ultimately is trying to hurt somebody. There’s a huge difference. There’s no gray in that. Like, you have no conscience, no nothing, no guilt. I don’t have that mean streak in me. I don’t play angry. It’s not anger.”

When you see plays like this one it is tough to believe that Suh is not either angry or trying to hurt someone. In fact, he’s probably better off admitting that he has a problem controlling his anger. That would be much better than trying to hurt someone, and it’s difficult to believe that neither is an issue for him.

We have seen plenty of plays and heard plenty of opinions from opposing players to believe that when there’s smoke, there’s fire. While you always want a player to give 100% effort, playing at three-quarter throttle probably isn’t a bad idea for Suh if it means not costing the Lions yards or racking up fines and suspensions.

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