The Detroit Lions and their fan base breathed a collective, massive sigh of relief, as defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh won the appeal of his one game suspension on Tuesday night.
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Suh had been hit with the punishment for stepping on the exposed ankle of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in Sunday afternoon's regular season finale. The suspension would have kept Suh out of this weekend's Wild-Card playoff showdown versus the Dallas Cowboys.
Regaining Suh on their active roster against Dallas is a massive win for the Lions. Suh is far and away the team's best defender against the run, and their best pass rusher. Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray led the NFL with over 1,800 yards rushing this season; no doubt Detroit head coach Jim Caldwell is happy he has Suh on hand to clog the trenches.
Although he won his appeal, Suh did not escape reprobation altogether. The league office still fined him $70,000 for his actions. Suh has a history of questionable-to-outright-dirty plays, having been fined close to $300,000 in his career for physical incidents similar to the one against Rodgers.
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Despite his checkered past, Suh's teammates were quick to come to defense this week.
“I’ve seen the play and I don’t think it was intentional, and like I said he’s been playing his heart out all year,” linebacker Tahir Whitehead said, via ESPN.com. “He hasn’t really done anything to hurt the team for some time, so I don’t look at it as him being the same old Suh or whatever the case of what people may be saying."
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