The Lions lost a second straight game at Ford Field, this time to the Atlanta Falcons, 23-16 on Sunday, and it doesn’t sound like the teams left the experience on friendly terms. But the news may be better on Stafford, who had tests on his right ankle turn up negative. He has been in a walking boot since the game, with the Lions playing things pretty close to the vest about what could be wrong. The Lions play the Broncos in Denver on Sunday.
As for the on-field nastiness against the Falcons, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported seeing the teams jawing before the game. Things continued during play, when quarterback Matt Ryan went down, with a left knee injury. According to Falcons players, Lions defensive linemen Ndamukong Suh and Cliff Avril called Ryan some names while he was on the ground, and made fun of his injury. Ryan left the game, but returned in good enough shape to throw a 49-yard touchdown bomb to receiver Harry Douglas.
“I had respect for Suh before the game,” Falcons center Todd McClure said to the Journal-Constitution. “But when Matt was on the ground, the things he was saying and the trash he was talking was definitely uncalled for. There are certain things you don’t do. [He said], ‘Get the cart’ and several other things that I can’t repeat.”
Wide receiver Roddy White also wasn’t happy with how the Lions treated his injured quarterback.
“I lost a whole lot of respect for 90 (Suh) today, and also 92 (Avril), the (expletive) they were doing when Matt got hurt,” White told the AJC. “That was unacceptable. … Like 92 was kicking his feet, saying, ‘Get him off the field.’ We don’t do stuff like that. We don’t rally over guys when they get hurt. It was just inappropriate behavior. I mean, ‘Get the cart’? Are you serious? Come on. When you compete, you never want to see a guy get hurt.”
And finally, right tackle Tyson Clabo said: “It was N.F.L. Europe-ish. Nobody wants to see anybody get hurt or celebrate somebody get hurt….“[Suh’s] young and he’ll grow up.”
Suh denied that he was taunting Ryan and said on Monday he was tired of hearing accusations of dirty play.
“Go back and watch the film and then come to me and point to where I made mistakes,” he said. “Point to where I cut somebody, where I hit somebody late in the back. Let me know. I want to see it.”
Avril posted his response to the controversy to his Twitter account.
“Come on I’m not in the business of hurting not one guy on the field… I would never taunt anyone on an injury…”, and, “But if we want to talk about dirty players look at the film and see who prides themselves on being durty…,” he posted.
Suh, who is also prolific on Twitter, has not yet commented on the Falcons opinions of his play.
This isn’t the first time this season that Suh has been accused of dirty play, with the Falcons joining a list of others. He’s been fined $20,000 by the N.F.L. for his pre-season hit on Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton. Suh also was fined three times last year for rough hits.
Suh, before the season started, defended his aggressive style of play on the Lions website.
“I’m not a talker on the field, but if you say something to me, I may say something back to you or I may ignore you,” Suh wrote. “It’s funny because a lot of guys usually come up and say something to me like right before, something like ‘Have a good game,’ or whatever, and I just ignore it. I’m not here to meet friends. I’m here to cause you problems and meet your quarterback. I’ll shake his hand when I’m hitting him.”
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