When the Lions visited New Orleans during the regular season, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was back home in Oregon because he was suspended for his Thanksgiving stomp. So Saturday’s Lions-Saints playoff game will be the first time the Saints’ offensive linemen have blocked Suh.
And what do they expect to see? Pretty much what everyone expects from Suh: A mixture of dirty play and good play.
“I think some things he does is dirty, after the whistle,” Saints guard Jahri Evans told the Times-Picayune. “He needs to put a cap on that, but he’s a phenomenal player.”
Saints guard Carl Nicks said that the New Orleans line isn’t going to let Suh do anything dirty on Saturday.
“If he tries some of the stuff on us that he does to other guys [in the league] I don’t think it would fly with me,” Nicks said. “At the end of the day if he’s breaking Drew’s neck or grabbing his facemask, that’s on us. First and foremost, we’ve got to stop him. And second of all, we’ve got to nip that other stuff in the bud.”
Even without Suh on the field, the Lions’ biggest problem against the Saints in the regular season was that they couldn’t stop committing penalties, including three after-the-play personal fouls. So the Lions will need to keep the dirty stuff in check if they want to have any chance of pulling off an upset as the biggest underdogs of wild card weekend.